Movie day!

[agilebrit]

Yeah, I ditched the Hubby and Da Boy this afternoon and hit the matinee and saw "Constantine." What a pleasant surprise, although in retrospect, I guess it shouldn't have been.


Now, I'm not familiar at all with the fandom. Never even heard of the comic books until this movie came out. Then there was all the buzz on the GAFF board--they, of course, were convinced that it would suck big green mossy rocks. "Keanu Reeves? UGH! Constantine is blond and British and a bastard and Keanu can't act canon rape chain smoking holy shotgun chainsaw Gabriel's wings blah blah blah."

But, hey, I didn't have all that baggage to contend with, because I'm a canon virgin in this 'verse. I know nothing. However, I do have a certain amount of other baggage going in because of my deeply held fundamentalist Christian beliefs, which include a good dose of taking angels, demons, Heaven, and Hell pretty seriously, as real things that we just don't really see on a day to day basis, being all human and all. Nine times out of ten, I'll avoid a movie like this, because either my beliefs get mocked in the process of making these films, or they just get it so doggoned wrong that I can't suspend my disbelief (if that makes any sense in this context).

However, the one movie reviewer I trust in matters of faith, Michael Medved, gave this thing three and a half stars (out of four). And a lot of other people I trust in matters of taste liked it pretty well too. Plus Keanu Reeves is teh pretteh, and I like him, even if no one else does. *sticks tongue out* Me = shallow, so sue me.

And, from my POV, it didn't suck. Not by a long shot. The story was interesting, people of faith were treated with respect, demons and angels were real entities trying to influence mankind, and the redemption storyline was handled in an interesting way. Plus, the special effects were totally awesome, the visions of Hell were amazing, and Keanu has beautiful abs. Did they get everything right, from my perspective? Of course not; they never do. But they got more right than they got wrong, which is unusual.

The only things that really jarred me were them leaving Chas's body behind without even a second glance--and the fact that he took out a stick of gum instead of a cigarette in the final fade-to-black scene. Naw, man. He would totally have kept on smoking.

Am I going to buy it? I'm not sure, really. We don't have "Devil's Advocate," which is another Keanu vehicle which got more right than it got wrong, and we loved that movie as well. So, I don't know. But "Constantine" was quite good, and I'm very glad I went.

Comments

[alliterator.livejournal.com]

The only things that really jarred me were them leaving Chas's body behind without even a second glance--and the fact that he took out a stick of gum instead of a cigarette in the final fade-to-black scene. Naw, man. He would totally have kept on smoking.
Heh. I take it you didn't stick around after the credits? I heard from other people who saw it that there was a post-credits scene where Chas rises from his grave with wings since he's an angel now. Which... is terrible. I'm glad I didn't see.

As for the gum, yeah, you're right. The lung cancer plotline came from Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits (which I recommend highly) - and at the end, John basically tricks the First of the Fallen into healing his lung cancer and then lights up a smoke and gives him the finger.

I don't know how you would like the comic series - it's better than the movie, in my opinion, but you might not like the religious tones.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

*sob* No, I didn't see that!!! Argh. *beats head on keyboard* Ah well. Now I have to at least rent the DVD. I've heard interesting things about that anyway...