Guilty Pleasures

Some may have noticed a decline in content recently. It is an unfortunate bi-product of a personal necessity. As I am now preparing for a very important examination my updates will be rather infrequent over the next few months. That said, I intend to return at full effort by March of next year and anticipate many positive changes to the site.

With that out of the way, I have to talk about Constantine. The three of us are fans of this film, yet we are aware that many people rapidly dismissed it because.... actually I'm not entirely sure. It certainly isn't a perfect film, but it gets a lot right and has so many cool characters and concepts that it is certainly worth a viewing.

I don't want to link you to the trailer because I find it somewhat misleading (as movie trailers often are). The movie is based on a comic book series about a man who is part supernatural private detective and part con-man. Which makes sense as he is doing battle with a variety of super natural creatures, so the best way to combat them is with his wits (as he is only a man). While the character from the graphic novel is more akin to a darker interpretation of Sherlock Holmes (with Satan playing the role of Professor Moriarty); hear Keanu Reeves plays him more like Clint Eastwood. Not to say he is an action hero, rather that he carries the grimace and foul attitude of the man with no-name. Reeves' Constantine is an experienced, and cynical, exorcist for hire preparing for his final showdown.

This is more so a film noir than an action film. Most of the movie is spent unraveling the rules of it's universe as well as the apocalyptic scheme that is unfolding. Unfortunately, there are reasons this is widely considered a guilty pleasure by those who enjoy it. While I am a fan of Reeves and Rachel Weisz, they have absolutely ZERO chemistry together. This works to the movie's credit initially as Constantine should be disconnected from the people around him given his perspective on life. But, as the plot unfolds and these characters have this significant experience together I would have expected some evolution on his part towards her. Though it is there on paper, the performances don't really convey this. That said, I like both of their performances individually; but this is definitely a movie where the supporting cast is even more interesting to me than the headliners. We have a priest with psychic powers, a divine arms dealer, a witch-doctor/bar-tender who operates a club where angels and demons can mingle, and what is one of the best interpretations of the Devil I have seen in a film... just to name a few. There are so many cool supporting players in this movie, you are bound to get attached to some of them. They are what make this world believable, as you aren't given a great deal of time with them; yet they all feel as though they have their own stories to tell (it just so happens this isn't their story).

I'll save some of my other opinions for a future podcast, but suffice to say it is certainly worth seeing. Let me know what you guys think of Constantine; I'd like to know (besides a bias towards Keanu Reeves, since folks seem to be split when it comes to his acting) why you did or did not enjoy this film.



-Alex