My Take on the Movies - CONSTANTINE
Constantine (2005) is the latest Keanu Reeves film, but it was the title more than anything that caught my attention. Even after I read a brief description online, I would not be deterred. My bad! Not being a Reeves fan to begin with, I had no idea what dreck was in store for me. Instead of the epic-style movie the title brought to mind, what I found was a cross between a vampire-slayer flick and The Exorcist, with clear influences of The Matrix and Batman.
The film contains some eerie combination of angels, “half-breeds”, and demons, whose manifestations are as often as not deformed skeletons missing their heads and swarms of beetles (or maybe locusts), intermittently interspersed with crabs, of all things.
As best I could decipher the plot, Reeves plays a once-dead detective cursed with “visions,” who spends his time and energies saving the planet from Lucifer (Peter Stormare) and from the corrupted influence of the Angel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton). He is aided by a psychic (Rachel Weisz), whose identical twin has committed suicide to escape her own supernatural gifts. His wanna-be sidekick, a smart kid struggling with his identity, is played by Shia LeBeouf (Disney’s Even Stevens). Midnite, played by Djimon Hounsou (E.R.), is a president of some sort of supernatural secret society. Despite his vow to remain neutral, Constantine’s “charm” eventually convinces him to apply his considerable talents on the side of good.
Constantine is a modern-day version of the timeless tale of good versus evil, taken from the comic book Hellblazer. Although other comics have successfully made the transition to the big screen, perhaps this is one movie that should have remained a comic.
[© 02/19/2005]
The film contains some eerie combination of angels, “half-breeds”, and demons, whose manifestations are as often as not deformed skeletons missing their heads and swarms of beetles (or maybe locusts), intermittently interspersed with crabs, of all things.
As best I could decipher the plot, Reeves plays a once-dead detective cursed with “visions,” who spends his time and energies saving the planet from Lucifer (Peter Stormare) and from the corrupted influence of the Angel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton). He is aided by a psychic (Rachel Weisz), whose identical twin has committed suicide to escape her own supernatural gifts. His wanna-be sidekick, a smart kid struggling with his identity, is played by Shia LeBeouf (Disney’s Even Stevens). Midnite, played by Djimon Hounsou (E.R.), is a president of some sort of supernatural secret society. Despite his vow to remain neutral, Constantine’s “charm” eventually convinces him to apply his considerable talents on the side of good.
Constantine is a modern-day version of the timeless tale of good versus evil, taken from the comic book Hellblazer. Although other comics have successfully made the transition to the big screen, perhaps this is one movie that should have remained a comic.
[© 02/19/2005]
posted by A. L. "Toni" Anderson at 11:23 PM
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