Constantine
Feb. 19th, 2005 04:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenSo, yeah, we got to the theater and I bungled it big time. I was supposed to get tickets for my friend and her friend and I didn't. Idiot. It all worked out though as they bought tickets to another movie and came into our theater. Surprisingly, despite being told the show was sold out, the first few rows were mainly empty. We also got to fill out a survey! That's never happened before. It asked pretty typical questions--why did you want to see this movie?, where did you see advertisments for this movie? etc etc. I think I checked off "I liked The Matrix." I better have. Anywho, that was fun, as was filling out the second half after the movie. In the part where it said 'what were some of your favorite scenes,' I put "Anything with a kitty."
I am still mixed on this. On the one hand, I would probably download it and watch it again, but I wouldn't pay for it in the theater. On the other, it's worth seeing in the theater for some of the effects. I actually wasn't too impressed or unimpressed by the vision of hell. It reminded me of T2 and the post-nuclear fallout. I did like the idea of there being no water in Hell, and that every time someone came back from there they were steaming. It made a decent visual motif that explained to average brain-dead moviegoer that hey, that person was, despite not having shown it, just in Hell.
I wished they'd done more of that--showing not telling. There was so much exposition. I really hated to say it, but I was bored at parts. And the interruptions for action felt, well, kinda just like that: interruptions. The start was killer, with the Mexican guy finding the tip of the spear of destiny (Oh Lord, was I the only one who groaned when that was brought up because it's been done to death? Because of that stupid TV movie with Noah Wyle--The Librarian: Quest for the Spear??). It followed nicely with the exorcism and John going to see Gabriel and then getting attacked by a demon. That much, I was there for. I liked the crazy sister duality that Rachel Weisz had going, and her reactions to John were what made him Constantine.
That's my biggest problem, I think. I could have taken the exposition if it were delivered in a more John Constantine type of way. More beleagured, more put-upon and world-weary at the same time. If there's a problem, it was making John too angsty and not pissy enough. Constantine dips into angst, sure, but he climbs back out, usually on the broken backs of people he called friends, and that's what I like best about him (or when I like him best, rather). The few times Keanu nailed the 'I'm a bastard and I don't care' were great, especially at the beginning before he knew Rachel Weisz' character. The line about saving the world and coincidentally saving her being "It's mostly not about the girl" was enjoyable, as was flipping off Satan at the end, but there just wasn't enough punch in between. It was too tired, too woe-is-me. I like that John's not-too-inconsiderable fear of going to Hell was worked into it, sure, but it lacked pizazz.
The general blah-blah of that aspect was really thrown into sharp relief by the best part of the movie, I think, which was Gabriel. Tilda Swinton is fantastic. Her Gabriel is not evil, more than just a little crazy, and just generally amazingly...innocent. It's one of the better angels I've ever seen on film. Gabriel's whole idea--burn the place down to get souls to come back to God--is psychotic, and yet, she pulls it off as completely benign, as if Gabriel has no idea that it's genocide and completely against what God stands for. Her line at the end is killer, by far my favorite piece--where she invites Constantine to take his revenge on her/him/it for what he/she/it has done or tried to do, and he doesn't. "You could have killed me, John! See how well you're doing!?" Priceless, and so innocent. Gabriel's just tried to unleash Hell on Earth to bring souls back to God, failed, but is still so proud when one man rises above murder. Tilda Swinton's androgeny really worked, as did her innocence. I loved it.
I liked Satan, too. Appropriately creepy, as they cast that freaky guy from Minority Report, so he's got some Eurotrash accent and a physique/face to go with it. I still wish they'd done the whole Hellblazer thing where John tricked several demons into keeping him alive rather than just having him trick Satan (God, how I groaned at the imagery when Constantine was going to Heaven...the last thing I needed was another reminder of the Matrix films, especially not that one). Still, it was pretty clever. I'm miffed, though. They ought to have had him still smoking after he got cured. I get that he knows he's still on borrowed time from Hell and isn't in a rush to put himself back there, but John would still smoke because, well, fuck you.
So, mixed, but we'll see in time how I feel. Maybe after seeing it again, legally or not.
I am still mixed on this. On the one hand, I would probably download it and watch it again, but I wouldn't pay for it in the theater. On the other, it's worth seeing in the theater for some of the effects. I actually wasn't too impressed or unimpressed by the vision of hell. It reminded me of T2 and the post-nuclear fallout. I did like the idea of there being no water in Hell, and that every time someone came back from there they were steaming. It made a decent visual motif that explained to average brain-dead moviegoer that hey, that person was, despite not having shown it, just in Hell.
I wished they'd done more of that--showing not telling. There was so much exposition. I really hated to say it, but I was bored at parts. And the interruptions for action felt, well, kinda just like that: interruptions. The start was killer, with the Mexican guy finding the tip of the spear of destiny (Oh Lord, was I the only one who groaned when that was brought up because it's been done to death? Because of that stupid TV movie with Noah Wyle--The Librarian: Quest for the Spear??). It followed nicely with the exorcism and John going to see Gabriel and then getting attacked by a demon. That much, I was there for. I liked the crazy sister duality that Rachel Weisz had going, and her reactions to John were what made him Constantine.
That's my biggest problem, I think. I could have taken the exposition if it were delivered in a more John Constantine type of way. More beleagured, more put-upon and world-weary at the same time. If there's a problem, it was making John too angsty and not pissy enough. Constantine dips into angst, sure, but he climbs back out, usually on the broken backs of people he called friends, and that's what I like best about him (or when I like him best, rather). The few times Keanu nailed the 'I'm a bastard and I don't care' were great, especially at the beginning before he knew Rachel Weisz' character. The line about saving the world and coincidentally saving her being "It's mostly not about the girl" was enjoyable, as was flipping off Satan at the end, but there just wasn't enough punch in between. It was too tired, too woe-is-me. I like that John's not-too-inconsiderable fear of going to Hell was worked into it, sure, but it lacked pizazz.
The general blah-blah of that aspect was really thrown into sharp relief by the best part of the movie, I think, which was Gabriel. Tilda Swinton is fantastic. Her Gabriel is not evil, more than just a little crazy, and just generally amazingly...innocent. It's one of the better angels I've ever seen on film. Gabriel's whole idea--burn the place down to get souls to come back to God--is psychotic, and yet, she pulls it off as completely benign, as if Gabriel has no idea that it's genocide and completely against what God stands for. Her line at the end is killer, by far my favorite piece--where she invites Constantine to take his revenge on her/him/it for what he/she/it has done or tried to do, and he doesn't. "You could have killed me, John! See how well you're doing!?" Priceless, and so innocent. Gabriel's just tried to unleash Hell on Earth to bring souls back to God, failed, but is still so proud when one man rises above murder. Tilda Swinton's androgeny really worked, as did her innocence. I loved it.
I liked Satan, too. Appropriately creepy, as they cast that freaky guy from Minority Report, so he's got some Eurotrash accent and a physique/face to go with it. I still wish they'd done the whole Hellblazer thing where John tricked several demons into keeping him alive rather than just having him trick Satan (God, how I groaned at the imagery when Constantine was going to Heaven...the last thing I needed was another reminder of the Matrix films, especially not that one). Still, it was pretty clever. I'm miffed, though. They ought to have had him still smoking after he got cured. I get that he knows he's still on borrowed time from Hell and isn't in a rush to put himself back there, but John would still smoke because, well, fuck you.
So, mixed, but we'll see in time how I feel. Maybe after seeing it again, legally or not.
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Date: 2005-02-19 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-20 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-04 07:56 pm (UTC)And can I just say, I started to read the novelization and it pisses the shit out of me that she keeps calling John's brand of cigarettes "Lucky Strikes"! Grrr. And she spells Chas Chaz.