Movie - Constantine - Directed by Francis Lawrence
Constantine is yet another comic book adaptation.
While doing movies based on comic books is truely nothing new, one could recall Dick Tracey and even earlier adaptations, it seems as though every 3rd or 4th summer blockbuster for the last two years is based on a comic. This year alone promises to bring Sin City, The Fantastic 4 and others to the big screen.
Mind you, as long as they are done well, I have no problem with comic book adaptations. Though I'm not personally a fan of the Spider-Man movies, both it and the X-Men series have set the benchmark for superhero films.
Though it may be something of a misnomer to call Constantine a superhero film.
The character of John Constantine is taken from the DC Vertigo Hellblazer series of comics and first appeared in 1985, gracing the pages of the Saga of Swamp Thing by Alan Moore. Born with a gift he didn’t want, the ability to clearly recognise the half-breed angels and demons that walk amongst us unsuspecting mortals disguised in human skin, Constantine was driven to take his own life to escape the torment that this ability caused him. But he failed. Resuscitated against his will, he found himself back in the land of the living, condemned due to his attempted suicide to patrol the borders of heaven and hell, using his unique ability to help others.
True die hards of the comic may not like some of the changes the movie takes. The setting is different for one. Keanu Reeves doesn't really look a lot like the Constantine of the comic book. Then again, when has anyone who is a die hard lover of the book ever really appriciated the movie as well? A movie is a different genre for a different target market... sometimes change is neccessary, and given that about 99% or the cinema-going public won’t have read the comic, how does the film play? Well, large parts of it are great.
Shot in muted colours, director Francis Lawrence has created a suitably brooding, atmospheric-looking thriller that paces itself well. Constantine is enlisted to help a sceptical police detective, played with conviction by Rachel Weisz, to solve the mysterious death of her twin sister, a quest that will take both of them to hell and back and will involve the angel Gabriel (an androgynous Tilda Swinton) and Lucifer himself, who in this film takes the form of Coen brothers’ favourite Peter Stormare.
At the end of the day there have been better comic book films than this, but there have been more made that are far, far worse. Alan Moore has much more source material that can be drawn on, and this could be just the beginning.
Constantine looks great, has some cool moments and is a pretty good set up for what could be a franchise that has potential to get better and better.
While doing movies based on comic books is truely nothing new, one could recall Dick Tracey and even earlier adaptations, it seems as though every 3rd or 4th summer blockbuster for the last two years is based on a comic. This year alone promises to bring Sin City, The Fantastic 4 and others to the big screen.
Mind you, as long as they are done well, I have no problem with comic book adaptations. Though I'm not personally a fan of the Spider-Man movies, both it and the X-Men series have set the benchmark for superhero films.
Though it may be something of a misnomer to call Constantine a superhero film.
The character of John Constantine is taken from the DC Vertigo Hellblazer series of comics and first appeared in 1985, gracing the pages of the Saga of Swamp Thing by Alan Moore. Born with a gift he didn’t want, the ability to clearly recognise the half-breed angels and demons that walk amongst us unsuspecting mortals disguised in human skin, Constantine was driven to take his own life to escape the torment that this ability caused him. But he failed. Resuscitated against his will, he found himself back in the land of the living, condemned due to his attempted suicide to patrol the borders of heaven and hell, using his unique ability to help others.
True die hards of the comic may not like some of the changes the movie takes. The setting is different for one. Keanu Reeves doesn't really look a lot like the Constantine of the comic book. Then again, when has anyone who is a die hard lover of the book ever really appriciated the movie as well? A movie is a different genre for a different target market... sometimes change is neccessary, and given that about 99% or the cinema-going public won’t have read the comic, how does the film play? Well, large parts of it are great.
Shot in muted colours, director Francis Lawrence has created a suitably brooding, atmospheric-looking thriller that paces itself well. Constantine is enlisted to help a sceptical police detective, played with conviction by Rachel Weisz, to solve the mysterious death of her twin sister, a quest that will take both of them to hell and back and will involve the angel Gabriel (an androgynous Tilda Swinton) and Lucifer himself, who in this film takes the form of Coen brothers’ favourite Peter Stormare.
At the end of the day there have been better comic book films than this, but there have been more made that are far, far worse. Alan Moore has much more source material that can be drawn on, and this could be just the beginning.
Constantine looks great, has some cool moments and is a pretty good set up for what could be a franchise that has potential to get better and better.
posted by Blue | 7:53 AM
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