It's not just that this film is full of fireworks; it's more like an explosion in a fireworks factory.
Mind you, the special effects are awesome. But the film starts at a breakneck pace and doesn't let up. Despite its success, I feel there are problems.
Big theme though, the battle between Heaven and Hell for the soul of man; it kept the Bible a best-seller for thousands of years.
Keanu Reeves is John Constantine, an exorcist with attitude able to travel between Earth and Hell interacting with half-angels and half-demons as they invade the "Human Plane". This is married to a plot involving L. A. P. D. Detective Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) who wants Constantine to investigate her twin sister Isabel's death, an apparent suicide, and now ineligible for a ticket to Heaven - like Constantine himself. Constantine has had a reprieve from going straight to Hell, but his epic smoking and nasty cough are likely to see him heading there before long.
I think the transition from graphic novel to film just pushed the filmmakers away from a more considered build up. An illustrated story, unlike a novel, has to have movement from the get-go; different shaped panels, unexpected angles and spectacular action. Graphic novels don't just do static frames of talking heads and text-heavy dialogue balloons.
I have no problem with graphic novels. I'm an artist and part of the reason I became one had to do with a love of comics. Back in the day the closest thing to graphic novels was Classics Illustrated, but there were scores of other publications with brilliant artists demonstrating how a whole world could be brought to life with a 00 sable brush, a bottle of ink and a sheet of Bristol board.
Now we have graphic novels and although some artists use digital tools it's still the marriage of art and story. Maybe Michelangelo would have tried his hand at one if he were around today, although he did sort of create one on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel.
Pacing for film is different. There's a lot of story in "Constantine" and there are just too many characters going through torture and redemption. A movie where all the characters are either eccentric or over-the-top makes for heavy going. Only Rachel Weisz's character seems remotely "normal".
Val Lewton, who made moody, effective horror movies without the budget and the effects of "Constantine", believed that the true test of a horror movie was to try the story with all the horror removed to see if it still worked. That may have been a useful tip for the makers of "Constantine".
Mind you, the special effects are awesome. But the film starts at a breakneck pace and doesn't let up. Despite its success, I feel there are problems.
Big theme though, the battle between Heaven and Hell for the soul of man; it kept the Bible a best-seller for thousands of years.
Keanu Reeves is John Constantine, an exorcist with attitude able to travel between Earth and Hell interacting with half-angels and half-demons as they invade the "Human Plane". This is married to a plot involving L. A. P. D. Detective Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) who wants Constantine to investigate her twin sister Isabel's death, an apparent suicide, and now ineligible for a ticket to Heaven - like Constantine himself. Constantine has had a reprieve from going straight to Hell, but his epic smoking and nasty cough are likely to see him heading there before long.
I think the transition from graphic novel to film just pushed the filmmakers away from a more considered build up. An illustrated story, unlike a novel, has to have movement from the get-go; different shaped panels, unexpected angles and spectacular action. Graphic novels don't just do static frames of talking heads and text-heavy dialogue balloons.
I have no problem with graphic novels. I'm an artist and part of the reason I became one had to do with a love of comics. Back in the day the closest thing to graphic novels was Classics Illustrated, but there were scores of other publications with brilliant artists demonstrating how a whole world could be brought to life with a 00 sable brush, a bottle of ink and a sheet of Bristol board.
Now we have graphic novels and although some artists use digital tools it's still the marriage of art and story. Maybe Michelangelo would have tried his hand at one if he were around today, although he did sort of create one on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel.
Pacing for film is different. There's a lot of story in "Constantine" and there are just too many characters going through torture and redemption. A movie where all the characters are either eccentric or over-the-top makes for heavy going. Only Rachel Weisz's character seems remotely "normal".
Val Lewton, who made moody, effective horror movies without the budget and the effects of "Constantine", believed that the true test of a horror movie was to try the story with all the horror removed to see if it still worked. That may have been a useful tip for the makers of "Constantine".