Constantine
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Review: Constantine, aka. The Matrix Trilogy V2, or The Matrix Repeated.
A decent attempt at bringing one of DC Comics’/Vertigo’s more darker characters to the big screen, but ultimately, an unsuccessful one. Keanu Reeves, is, well, Keanu. Or should I say Neo. His interpretation of John Constantine is pretty much a re-hash of his work on the Matrix movies. Not much of a departure here, or a challenge in my opinion. We’ve seen this before.
The film has a lot of potential. Visuals and cinematography are quite decent, but again, it seemed like many of these were blatantly ripped from the Matrix movies. Anyone notice the striking similarities between the scene where Angela gets pulled by some force from one end of the building to the other, and Trinity’s scene in Matrix Reloaded where she’s being chased by an Agent and jumps through a skyrise office window? Eerie.
I’ve read some of the original Hellblazer comics, starring John Constantine, and I used to be a big fan of the Vertigo brand of comics by DC. Had it starred a different actor, I think it would’ve been much better. I just can’t buy Keanu Reeves in these types of serious roles. Point Break? Yes. The Matrix? Sure. But don’t let the man take on serious acting roles. Please.
2.5 out of 5 Dinostars.
A blog of all things moderately uninteresting and irrelevant, written by a genius web auteur living in Southern California. 
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cube
07/28
03:07 PM
Keanu, yeah, well… What I really enjoyed about this flick (weird that I just watched it last night!) was the story. I am not familiar with the comic so I was not expecting anything in advance from comic knowledge. There were some pretty vague concepts that could have used some more in-depth explaination, like the whole ‘half-breed’ thing. I am still not sure what constitutes a half-breed.
I thought there were some really interesting spins on traditional religious beliefs and the struggle between good and evil. And I LOVED the depiction of the devil. That was rad. He was just like this quirky ‘dude’ for lack of a better term. No pitchfork and horns, no red skin, no tail. And the best was Balthazar. It was not until I saw ‘Gavin Rossdale’ in the credits that I realized why that pretty little face of his was bringing some sort of recogition to my senses.
Overall I liked it. It was decent.
AK
07/29
02:07 PM
Hmm, I felt John Constantine’s character did not remotely resemble Neo’s character in the Matrix. In fact, I believe the two characters were diametrical. John portrayed an extremely cynical personality with very selfish motivations while Neo was an idealistic and heroic man out to save the world. I personally enjoyed this derisive side of Keanu and thought he played it well (so sue me). For a music director whose repertoire consists mainly of pop music videos for artists such as J-Lo and Britney, I thought Francis Lawrence did an exceptional job with the visual effects and a pretty decent job with the story. It seemed as though every scene was shot with an artistic flair. I’m neither a fan or believer in stories involving angels and demons but I still found myself somewhat engrossed in the plot and captivated by the creative images of the creatures that were displayed. Unfortunately, the movie’s gross did not even come close to its budget (maybe there wasn’t a wide enough audience?) so perhaps Mr. Lawrence will take that as a hint and delve into other types of genres. I would be interested in seeing more of his work.
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