Constantine

Okay. I'm sure that you guys have already heard the big deal about John Constantine being miscast. I have to admit, that I would have preferred the more evil, dirty, rugged, assholic looking John Constantine from the Hellblazer comic books, but meh, for the movie, it'll do. That aside, I can get to the rest of the review.

The movie was pretty much like watching a sanitized version of the comic book. The city was brighter, people were happier and the world held more Judeo-Christianity than was apparent in the comic book. I understand that most guys who've seen the movie think I'm nuts, but if you'll take the time to flip though Hellblazer, you'll realize that it's like comparing Hello Kitty to Se7en.

As a stand alone however, the movie does well with what it had to work with. John was never a simple character, and his internal struggles were something that comic fans has a lot of time to figure out and come to grips with. As a movie, the challenge was to present him as a total uber-exorcist-badass-chainsmoker with as much appeal to him as possible to make it marketable. In that aspect, the movie works. Keanu Constantine is a fellow you sort of feel for given the fact that he has all his tragedy revealed in exposition.

*shrugs* I'm beginning to notice that all comic book movies suffer from too much exposition. Anyway, moving along...

Action-wise, the fights were cool, as they were flashy, but not Blade, cool but not Matrix. Visceral and cruel but still beautiful in the Hollywood sort of way. I would have prefered action similar to Fight Club, but again, that might be my comic book expectations showing.

The plot was pretty much a blender of a lot of Hellblazer comics with a lady cop thrown in for flavor. It dealt pretty exclusively with a Judeo-Christian take on things, and it amused me to no end that they considered a lot of Catholic legalities and arguments into the story.

In the end, Constantine was a good film definitely worth watching. And like in many other comic book movies, it would be better taken without force fitting it with what you've read. Enjoy each incarnation of JC as they are, and prepared to be very entertained.

Plus:

To those who've played Mage: the Ascension (you guys know who you are) The movie would make a great Mage session.