For some reason, I just can’t resist watching movies based on comics. Equally bad, I kinda sorta like most of the ones I’ve seen (yes, I actually like the Supergirl movie). It’s getting a lot more difficult to catch up on them, though, since a new comic book-based movie pops up every couple of weeks (I still haven’t seen Elektra, The Punisher, Fantastic Four or Sky High yet: some of those I might not actually see for a long time).
Perhaps the most dreaded of comic book movies, though, are those based on Alan Moore characters or stories. I am certain that the makers of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen will occupy a special circle of Hell (along with those responsible for movie adaptations of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Cat in the Hat, among others). From Hell was aptly named (and I bet that the upcoming V for Vendetta will be quite different from the source material as well). Therefore, I approached Constantine, based on the Hellblazer comic, with great trepidation: not only did it have the onus of being based on an Alan Moore character (though the story is cribbed from the Jamie Delano and Garth Ennis written aventures of the character) , but the story and characters were Americanized, with Keanu Reeves as the lead, occult investigator/enforcer John Constantine.
But, despite my initial trepidations, I decided to buy the DVD and take a look.
Imagine my surprise, though, when I actually enjoyed the movie a lot. To do so, though, I really had to forget the comics completely, easy enough to do (which sorta begs the question: why make a movie based on source materials you are going to change it so radically?). The movie glides along mostly on the visuals, though: while the acting isn’t bad, the interesting things in the film are really the visages of Hell: they are simple and effective. Scenes of demons entering the real world are kept short and quick, being much more effective in short bursts.
The plot of the movie is something about the forces of good and evil blah blah blah. It’s the typical set up for movies of this ilk: Constantine is a balancing force, making sure no one gets the upper hand. Unfortunately, someone is trying to alter the balance, as is also usual in such movies.
So Constantine teams up with Angela (a fetching Rachel Weisz, who makes lesser movies better with her presence) who is looking into the apparent suicide of her identical twin. There’s also a bunch of throwaway characters, like Constantine’s apprentice, a priest with a drinking problem, etc. In many ways, this movie felt like it should have been the second or third movie: it introduced some potentially interesting characters, only to throw them away. Along the way, they also meet up with a marvelously androgynous angel Gabriel (played by Tilda Swinton: great casting for that part).
There’s also stupid things, like Constantine’s super gun (reminds me way too much of Van Helsing’s gun from the craptastic movie of the same name), and an ending that doesn’t really ring true to the character (in both the movie and comic, Constantine is dying of lung cancer: let’s just say that he does get cured in both versions of the story, but their reactions to it are quite differrent).
But I did enjoy it. But if you go into the movie expecting to see the much cooler comic book version of John Constantine, you’ll be sorely disappointed: this Constantine isn’t nearly as sarcastic or witty as his comic book progenitor. If you can get beyond that, though, I’d recommend taking a look. There are worse ways to spend a couple of hours. And if the movie leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you can always reread the comics.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 8th, 2005 at 9:02 pm and is filed under DC Comics, Entertainment, Reviews, Vertigo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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