(MINOR SPOILER AHEAD, but I don't care -- read this post or not, but don't say I didn't warn you. Plus, this is my blog, and I'll leave as much or as little spoiler space as I damn well please.)
E and I saw Constantine on Friday night. I tried to like it, I seriously tried. I only made one "Matrix IV" comment.
Now, to be fair, all the basic elements of the Hellblazer mythos were there. And, I'm not just talking about the smoking and the inclusion of Papa Midnight. I even got past the whole dark hair, black coat, American thing.
But, in the issues of the comic I've read, one thing always stood out to me. Constantine gets by being a con man. For all his knowledge that he possesses and might wish he didn't, the thing that's kept him from Hell so far is, basically, The Grift.
I accept that you can't make a Hollywood movie showing Constantine, or Keanu for that matter, to be as degenerate as he usually appears in the comic. But, the movie violates Constantine's character in one aspect, at least IMO, because one thing wasn't 100% clear (to me). It's too ambiguous whether he conned his way out of damnation or if it really was the result of a fundamental change of heart.
The Constantine I know doesn't have changes of heart. He might have flashes of regret after he does something particularly despicable, though.
E asked me, "Well, then why did you pay money to see it?" I thought about it and then I gave in. "Well, we actually saved money, because we basically got The Matrix, The Exorcist, The Prophecy, and more than one season of both Buffy and Angel all in one sitting and cheaper than if we rented all of them on DVD.
In fact, maybe the problem with the movie is that it was, to me, "Hellblazer for Dummies."
E and I saw Constantine on Friday night. I tried to like it, I seriously tried. I only made one "Matrix IV" comment.
Now, to be fair, all the basic elements of the Hellblazer mythos were there. And, I'm not just talking about the smoking and the inclusion of Papa Midnight. I even got past the whole dark hair, black coat, American thing.
But, in the issues of the comic I've read, one thing always stood out to me. Constantine gets by being a con man. For all his knowledge that he possesses and might wish he didn't, the thing that's kept him from Hell so far is, basically, The Grift.
I accept that you can't make a Hollywood movie showing Constantine, or Keanu for that matter, to be as degenerate as he usually appears in the comic. But, the movie violates Constantine's character in one aspect, at least IMO, because one thing wasn't 100% clear (to me). It's too ambiguous whether he conned his way out of damnation or if it really was the result of a fundamental change of heart.
The Constantine I know doesn't have changes of heart. He might have flashes of regret after he does something particularly despicable, though.
E asked me, "Well, then why did you pay money to see it?" I thought about it and then I gave in. "Well, we actually saved money, because we basically got The Matrix, The Exorcist, The Prophecy, and more than one season of both Buffy and Angel all in one sitting and cheaper than if we rented all of them on DVD.
In fact, maybe the problem with the movie is that it was, to me, "Hellblazer for Dummies."
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