Constantine
2/4
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LeBoeuf, Tilda Swinton, Djimon Hounsou
Rated R for Violence and Demonic Images
"Constantine" is a mixture of film-noir and religious horror. In the right hands, this could be intriguing and a lot of fun. But in the hands of Francis Lawrence (who made his feature film debut here), it's dull and a little depressing.
John Constantine (Reeves) is a demon hunter. Born with the "gift" to see demons in our world, he attempted suicide to be rid of it. Since suicide is a mortal sin, he's been slaying demons ever since in order to get back into heaven. Of course, it's not that easy, as the angel Gabriel (Swinton) delights in telling him. He doesn't have faith and is a selfish jerk. Making matters worse, a cancer diagnosis has only given him a short time to live. Redemption may have come in the form of Angela Dodson (Weisz). She's a cop whose sister Isabel (Weisz again) just killed herself. Angela doesn't believe that her sister, a devout Catholic, would have condemned herself to Hell, and she wants Constantine to help her find out what really happened.
There are a lot of things wrong with this movie and few things that are right. First is the story, which, frankly, isn't all that interesting. This isn't so much a suspension of disbelief problem as it is being a dime store detective story with no sense of fun. Reeves coughs up (no pun intended) a few obligatory one-liners, but none of them are witty or amusing. They're just cynical.
The performances don't help much either. The two leads, who have done effective work in the past, are not in top form. Reeves and Weisz are walking through their roles, neither of which are tailored to their strengths. I'll give them credit for trying to expand their ranges, but they should have done so with a better script and a more experienced director. Tilda Swinton shows up, but she doesn't seem androgynous enough (ironic, considering her appearance) for the character. Djimon Hounsou is just awful. Shia LeBouef is good, but has nothing to do but beg Constantine to let him tag along.
Clearly, the highlight of the film was meant to be the visuals, and boy, are there a lot of them! Unfortunately, few of them are any good. They're the sort of thing you can find in any decently budgeted movie (considering the final product, I'm guessing that the majority of the film's bloated $100 million budget went to the salaries of Reeves and Weisz). The whole movie feels really small, which speaks to Lawrence's lack of experience and imagination. I kept wishing that someone like David Fincher would have directed this movie...now that could have been something!
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LeBoeuf, Tilda Swinton, Djimon Hounsou
Rated R for Violence and Demonic Images
"Constantine" is a mixture of film-noir and religious horror. In the right hands, this could be intriguing and a lot of fun. But in the hands of Francis Lawrence (who made his feature film debut here), it's dull and a little depressing.
John Constantine (Reeves) is a demon hunter. Born with the "gift" to see demons in our world, he attempted suicide to be rid of it. Since suicide is a mortal sin, he's been slaying demons ever since in order to get back into heaven. Of course, it's not that easy, as the angel Gabriel (Swinton) delights in telling him. He doesn't have faith and is a selfish jerk. Making matters worse, a cancer diagnosis has only given him a short time to live. Redemption may have come in the form of Angela Dodson (Weisz). She's a cop whose sister Isabel (Weisz again) just killed herself. Angela doesn't believe that her sister, a devout Catholic, would have condemned herself to Hell, and she wants Constantine to help her find out what really happened.
There are a lot of things wrong with this movie and few things that are right. First is the story, which, frankly, isn't all that interesting. This isn't so much a suspension of disbelief problem as it is being a dime store detective story with no sense of fun. Reeves coughs up (no pun intended) a few obligatory one-liners, but none of them are witty or amusing. They're just cynical.
The performances don't help much either. The two leads, who have done effective work in the past, are not in top form. Reeves and Weisz are walking through their roles, neither of which are tailored to their strengths. I'll give them credit for trying to expand their ranges, but they should have done so with a better script and a more experienced director. Tilda Swinton shows up, but she doesn't seem androgynous enough (ironic, considering her appearance) for the character. Djimon Hounsou is just awful. Shia LeBouef is good, but has nothing to do but beg Constantine to let him tag along.
Clearly, the highlight of the film was meant to be the visuals, and boy, are there a lot of them! Unfortunately, few of them are any good. They're the sort of thing you can find in any decently budgeted movie (considering the final product, I'm guessing that the majority of the film's bloated $100 million budget went to the salaries of Reeves and Weisz). The whole movie feels really small, which speaks to Lawrence's lack of experience and imagination. I kept wishing that someone like David Fincher would have directed this movie...now that could have been something!
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