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ventaLast night, against my better judgement, I went to see Constantine.
Now, I'm a big fan of John Constantine, mostly as portrayed by Dillon and Ennis. He's a git, an anti-hero, a selfish bastard who occasionally comes through, a realist. He's a cockney. He weaves his way among urban decay, the National Front and racial hatred, and spiralling interest rates; the stories are a product of Thatcherite Britain.
So I was never going to like a Hollywood potrayal featuring Keanu Reeves as the man himself, was I ?
The best thing to do seemed to be to forget everything I'd ever read, and treat the film as just another angels'n demons'n guns (oh my!) blockbuster. And, to be honest, it did a pretty good job of that. The plot was a mish-mash of various Constantine plotlines, but they were at least (originally) good plotlines.
As a portrayal of the character we know and, er, know or his world it was, of course, a failure. In fairness, though, I don't think it was as bad a failure as I'd been expecting. Quite apart from not being cockney, Reeves was a strangely bland Constantine - not much anger, not much vitriol, not much anything and way too polite most of the time. But I'd gone expecting that.
I think my main criticism would be that a lot of it was just too large-scale. Not from a plot point of view; saving the world from damnation and parleying with the beings from other planes is all in a day's work. But blazing big guns, and people flying backwards through building after building ? No. Flicking through my copy of Original Sins last night, I have to concede that some of the scenes with demons, or of hell, are as big and overblown as the film portrayed them - yet somehow they're more believable on the page. The slick, glossy, CGI'd demons looked overdone and out of place.
I did get worried early on - Beeman being told to "consult the scrolls" had a sudden gone-a-bit-Buffy feel about it. Midnite's secret chamber had that look too - I'd rather someone had some runes scribbled on the back of a fag packet than a huge and demonic-looking weighty tome. But then, fag packets are hardly Hollywood, are they ?
In fairness, though, some bits did work well. Constantine slumped dishevelled in a corner, wrists slit with a bit of broken glass, trying to light a fag as he bargains for his soul ? Or punching a demon in the face, mid-exorcism ? That we recognise. Gabriel was, I thought, marvellous both in look and attitude (though I prefer the original story, which closes with him slumped, shivering, under a blanket having had his wings removed with a chainsaw.) People die unnecessarily. Constantine doesn't get the girl. It could have been a lot worse.
I was at the cinema in time to see the trailers - and I must admit the first one really impressed me. Sin City looks gorgeous. I should point out here that I've never read any of the Sin City comics, so I don't have to get snotty about it like I did about Constantine or From Hell or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It seems to be shot in a beautiful, stylized, almost tactile way - largely in black and white, with occasional flashes of colour.
And then... the trailer for Amityville Horror. Why, why, why will that story not die ? For heaven's sake, even the Fortean Times concedes that the supernatural occurrences were pretty much wholly made up by one guy to make a good story. Bleh. "Based on the true story", it says. Right.
And a message to the people who made House of Wax: I've seen the trailer, now I don't need to see the film. Suspense, scriptwriting and horror are not the same as "lots of goop".
And for, I think, the first time ever, the Designated Hero of the Week is someone I've never met. I'm not quite sure we've never had one of those before, but I don't think we have. So: DHW is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stegzy, for unsolicitedly posting out the most marvellous compilation CD. Cheers, mate, it's very much appreciated.
Now, I'm a big fan of John Constantine, mostly as portrayed by Dillon and Ennis. He's a git, an anti-hero, a selfish bastard who occasionally comes through, a realist. He's a cockney. He weaves his way among urban decay, the National Front and racial hatred, and spiralling interest rates; the stories are a product of Thatcherite Britain.
So I was never going to like a Hollywood potrayal featuring Keanu Reeves as the man himself, was I ?
The best thing to do seemed to be to forget everything I'd ever read, and treat the film as just another angels'n demons'n guns (oh my!) blockbuster. And, to be honest, it did a pretty good job of that. The plot was a mish-mash of various Constantine plotlines, but they were at least (originally) good plotlines.
As a portrayal of the character we know and, er, know or his world it was, of course, a failure. In fairness, though, I don't think it was as bad a failure as I'd been expecting. Quite apart from not being cockney, Reeves was a strangely bland Constantine - not much anger, not much vitriol, not much anything and way too polite most of the time. But I'd gone expecting that.
I think my main criticism would be that a lot of it was just too large-scale. Not from a plot point of view; saving the world from damnation and parleying with the beings from other planes is all in a day's work. But blazing big guns, and people flying backwards through building after building ? No. Flicking through my copy of Original Sins last night, I have to concede that some of the scenes with demons, or of hell, are as big and overblown as the film portrayed them - yet somehow they're more believable on the page. The slick, glossy, CGI'd demons looked overdone and out of place.
I did get worried early on - Beeman being told to "consult the scrolls" had a sudden gone-a-bit-Buffy feel about it. Midnite's secret chamber had that look too - I'd rather someone had some runes scribbled on the back of a fag packet than a huge and demonic-looking weighty tome. But then, fag packets are hardly Hollywood, are they ?
In fairness, though, some bits did work well. Constantine slumped dishevelled in a corner, wrists slit with a bit of broken glass, trying to light a fag as he bargains for his soul ? Or punching a demon in the face, mid-exorcism ? That we recognise. Gabriel was, I thought, marvellous both in look and attitude (though I prefer the original story, which closes with him slumped, shivering, under a blanket having had his wings removed with a chainsaw.) People die unnecessarily. Constantine doesn't get the girl. It could have been a lot worse.
I was at the cinema in time to see the trailers - and I must admit the first one really impressed me. Sin City looks gorgeous. I should point out here that I've never read any of the Sin City comics, so I don't have to get snotty about it like I did about Constantine or From Hell or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It seems to be shot in a beautiful, stylized, almost tactile way - largely in black and white, with occasional flashes of colour.
And then... the trailer for Amityville Horror. Why, why, why will that story not die ? For heaven's sake, even the Fortean Times concedes that the supernatural occurrences were pretty much wholly made up by one guy to make a good story. Bleh. "Based on the true story", it says. Right.
And a message to the people who made House of Wax: I've seen the trailer, now I don't need to see the film. Suspense, scriptwriting and horror are not the same as "lots of goop".
And for, I think, the first time ever, the Designated Hero of the Week is someone I've never met. I'm not quite sure we've never had one of those before, but I don't think we have. So: DHW is
stegzy, for unsolicitedly posting out the most marvellous compilation CD. Cheers, mate, it's very much appreciated.
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Date: 2005-03-31 01:22 pm (UTC)Their website is www.unisexsalonband.com and they have a MySpace page too I think....Their stage shows are legendary (apparently)