The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
As a long time (over fifteen years) fan of the character in his various comic appearances (from his appearance in Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and various other cameos like the Books Of Magic) I sat down last night to watch what I hoped wasn’t an utter train wreck of a movie adaptation called Constantine. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen still leaves a bitter taste. (on a side note, I've seen LOEG 4 times now, almost desperate to like it, but it's not to be)
I will not go into plot here. You can read that on IMDB, and any other review site. What I’m interested in is the transition from comic to screen, and shock horror...
...It’s actually pretty good and not bad at all. It’s not a horror, but more of an Angel Heart by way of Buffy the vampire slayer, with elements of the Blade movies. It's also massively influenced by "The Prophecy" (watch this movie if you have not already. The first with Walken as Gabrial only. The sequels SUCK)
After the initial very aggressive exorcism, I had high hopes for it and while it never quite reaches that level of excitement again, the invention shown in the ideas throughout the movie far surpass the opening buzz.
Reeves manages to convert the Liverpudlian ex-punk street magician (not in the David Blane sense) into a Los Angeles native, his long suffering friend Chas into comic relief and I’ll always hate that element of the movie, but surprisingly they have managed to get the essential essence of the character. Namely, he’s a b’stard, and will leave pain and suffering in his wake with a wisecrack and a tab flicked in your face.
Some knowledge of the comics is at times a bonus “You’ll just die, and be another ghost to follow me around”, but it is no means essential. The closing gesture to a major bad guy is straight out of the comics too, and gave me a massive grin while I nodded my appreciation.
One element I had thought looked totally ridiculous in publicity stills was the “holy shotgun” and it’s still pretty daft but in the context of where he gets it from, it begrudgingly makes sense. Hell, he later breaks out a pair of gold knuckle dusters, complete with Christian crosses engraved on them at which point I had "And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'Oh, Lord, bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow thy enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.' running through my head. Fortunately, I was so into the universe the movie created by this point I just thought “why not?”
So, to summarize.
The good
Fairly good anti hero character
More of a plot than your average popcorn horror
Some excellent religious imagery
A corking opening scene
Some Blade style ass kicking
A creepy scenery chewing devil
A bit of a twist
Keano Reeves actually doing a fairly good job (even though he really can’t shake that Bill and Ted “whoa dude” factor)
Some nice effects
Hell as a parallel dimension. Nice.
The Bad
Some silliness
A bit of an ambiguous plot
Some people might lose a bit if they aren’t acquainted with the character
A few ripped off ideas.
* The chair – Xmens “people finder” (cant remember what it’s called)
* A scene almost identical to the popcorn one in “Big Fish”
Chas is now the young comic relief character. Criminal.
All in all, a solid introduction to the world of John Constantine, and far better than crap like “house of the dead” and “boogyman”.
I’ll confidently say that if you enjoyed the Blade movies, you’ll have a blast with this. Roll on the sequel.
IMPORTANT NOTE. The first time someone says on these forums "Oh, but it's not scary" I'll slap them. It's more of a supernatural action movie than a horror. I'd have prefered a straight horror, but you can't have everything......
I will not go into plot here. You can read that on IMDB, and any other review site. What I’m interested in is the transition from comic to screen, and shock horror...
...It’s actually pretty good and not bad at all. It’s not a horror, but more of an Angel Heart by way of Buffy the vampire slayer, with elements of the Blade movies. It's also massively influenced by "The Prophecy" (watch this movie if you have not already. The first with Walken as Gabrial only. The sequels SUCK)
After the initial very aggressive exorcism, I had high hopes for it and while it never quite reaches that level of excitement again, the invention shown in the ideas throughout the movie far surpass the opening buzz.
Reeves manages to convert the Liverpudlian ex-punk street magician (not in the David Blane sense) into a Los Angeles native, his long suffering friend Chas into comic relief and I’ll always hate that element of the movie, but surprisingly they have managed to get the essential essence of the character. Namely, he’s a b’stard, and will leave pain and suffering in his wake with a wisecrack and a tab flicked in your face.
Some knowledge of the comics is at times a bonus “You’ll just die, and be another ghost to follow me around”, but it is no means essential. The closing gesture to a major bad guy is straight out of the comics too, and gave me a massive grin while I nodded my appreciation.
One element I had thought looked totally ridiculous in publicity stills was the “holy shotgun” and it’s still pretty daft but in the context of where he gets it from, it begrudgingly makes sense. Hell, he later breaks out a pair of gold knuckle dusters, complete with Christian crosses engraved on them at which point I had "And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'Oh, Lord, bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow thy enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.' running through my head. Fortunately, I was so into the universe the movie created by this point I just thought “why not?”
So, to summarize.
The good
Fairly good anti hero character
More of a plot than your average popcorn horror
Some excellent religious imagery
A corking opening scene
Some Blade style ass kicking
A creepy scenery chewing devil
A bit of a twist
Keano Reeves actually doing a fairly good job (even though he really can’t shake that Bill and Ted “whoa dude” factor)
Some nice effects
Hell as a parallel dimension. Nice.
The Bad
Some silliness
A bit of an ambiguous plot
Some people might lose a bit if they aren’t acquainted with the character
A few ripped off ideas.
* The chair – Xmens “people finder” (cant remember what it’s called)
* A scene almost identical to the popcorn one in “Big Fish”
Chas is now the young comic relief character. Criminal.
All in all, a solid introduction to the world of John Constantine, and far better than crap like “house of the dead” and “boogyman”.
I’ll confidently say that if you enjoyed the Blade movies, you’ll have a blast with this. Roll on the sequel.
IMPORTANT NOTE. The first time someone says on these forums "Oh, but it's not scary" I'll slap them. It's more of a supernatural action movie than a horror. I'd have prefered a straight horror, but you can't have everything......
Page:
looks rubbish.
I'm expecting it to be a crappy action type movie in the vain of elektra and van helsing. Made better by the fact that the main character is actually a bit famous. Not that this would sway my judgement.
Light wrote:
> I'll have to give it a whirl. And in the meantime, I shall nourish my
> twisted little fanboy soul by worrying incessantly over the coming
> adaptations of V for Vendetta, and Watchmen.
Believe me, I was almost looking forward to tearing into Constantine, but the fact was, I was entertained by it and at no point wished I could string the makers up by the nuts and beat them like with LOEG. There's a respect there that's similar to the Spiderman movies. Well, nationality change apart. It's not perfect by any means, and the interpretation of the character is both criminally liberal, but at the same time almost fanboyisly (new word!) dedicated.
V for Vendetta is a wonderful graphic novel. The first draft script involved goatmen and aliens. Bad. The one being filmed is the Warcowski (sp) brothers version and it's supposedly pretty close, but skimps on character development . Still, it's set in Britian, and there's no Goatmen (sorry Goaty, much as they would be cool to see, they have to be in the right context. ;) )
Watchmen. Hooooo boy. The first draft script I read was very, very close to the grpahic novel. Until the last few pages where it went gloriously and horrendously tats up. It closely resembled a 60's Batman show to be honest.
I pray they have changed it.
Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a dream (but you know that)) was billed to direct, but now it;s gone to music video director no 6. Shame, Aronofsky might have given it a bit of style..............
> I'll have to give it a whirl. And in the meantime, I shall nourish my
> twisted little fanboy soul by worrying incessantly over the coming
> adaptations of V for Vendetta, and Watchmen.
Believe me, I was almost looking forward to tearing into Constantine, but the fact was, I was entertained by it and at no point wished I could string the makers up by the nuts and beat them like with LOEG. There's a respect there that's similar to the Spiderman movies. Well, nationality change apart. It's not perfect by any means, and the interpretation of the character is both criminally liberal, but at the same time almost fanboyisly (new word!) dedicated.
V for Vendetta is a wonderful graphic novel. The first draft script involved goatmen and aliens. Bad. The one being filmed is the Warcowski (sp) brothers version and it's supposedly pretty close, but skimps on character development . Still, it's set in Britian, and there's no Goatmen (sorry Goaty, much as they would be cool to see, they have to be in the right context. ;) )
Watchmen. Hooooo boy. The first draft script I read was very, very close to the grpahic novel. Until the last few pages where it went gloriously and horrendously tats up. It closely resembled a 60's Batman show to be honest.
I pray they have changed it.
Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a dream (but you know that)) was billed to direct, but now it;s gone to music video director no 6. Shame, Aronofsky might have given it a bit of style..............
I never thought it looked like a horror at all, just thought it was some comic book adaption the studios have bought up as a blockbuster action flick something like Blade but does actually look good in the trailers and will go and see it when it opens over here
Hmmm...Big Surprise there; I was expecting a page and a half of bile.
I'll have to give it a whirl. And in the meantime, I shall nourish my twisted little fanboy soul by worrying incessantly over the coming adaptations of V for Vendetta, and Watchmen.
I'll have to give it a whirl. And in the meantime, I shall nourish my twisted little fanboy soul by worrying incessantly over the coming adaptations of V for Vendetta, and Watchmen.
i saw trailers of this in Paris. "oooh Keanu Reeves, he was in the MAtrix, he must be good. lets all watch this film and jump on the Keanu bandwagon"
looks quite good though
looks quite good though
I am surprised you didn't tear it to pieces having read your dread previous.
Which means if it can entertain a hardened comic-version fan, then an innocent to this character should have a blast.
Nice one.
Oh, and The Prophecy is a genius film. Walken's annoyance with his pet-people still makes me chuckle "Sssssh, I hate that. Stop it"
Which means if it can entertain a hardened comic-version fan, then an innocent to this character should have a blast.
Nice one.
Oh, and The Prophecy is a genius film. Walken's annoyance with his pet-people still makes me chuckle "Sssssh, I hate that. Stop it"
As a long time (over fifteen years) fan of the character in his various comic appearances (from his appearance in Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and various other cameos like the Books Of Magic) I sat down last night to watch what I hoped wasn’t an utter train wreck of a movie adaptation called Constantine. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen still leaves a bitter taste. (on a side note, I've seen LOEG 4 times now, almost desperate to like it, but it's not to be)
I will not go into plot here. You can read that on IMDB, and any other review site. What I’m interested in is the transition from comic to screen, and shock horror...
...It’s actually pretty good and not bad at all. It’s not a horror, but more of an Angel Heart by way of Buffy the vampire slayer, with elements of the Blade movies. It's also massively influenced by "The Prophecy" (watch this movie if you have not already. The first with Walken as Gabrial only. The sequels SUCK)
After the initial very aggressive exorcism, I had high hopes for it and while it never quite reaches that level of excitement again, the invention shown in the ideas throughout the movie far surpass the opening buzz.
Reeves manages to convert the Liverpudlian ex-punk street magician (not in the David Blane sense) into a Los Angeles native, his long suffering friend Chas into comic relief and I’ll always hate that element of the movie, but surprisingly they have managed to get the essential essence of the character. Namely, he’s a b’stard, and will leave pain and suffering in his wake with a wisecrack and a tab flicked in your face.
Some knowledge of the comics is at times a bonus “You’ll just die, and be another ghost to follow me around”, but it is no means essential. The closing gesture to a major bad guy is straight out of the comics too, and gave me a massive grin while I nodded my appreciation.
One element I had thought looked totally ridiculous in publicity stills was the “holy shotgun” and it’s still pretty daft but in the context of where he gets it from, it begrudgingly makes sense. Hell, he later breaks out a pair of gold knuckle dusters, complete with Christian crosses engraved on them at which point I had "And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'Oh, Lord, bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow thy enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.' running through my head. Fortunately, I was so into the universe the movie created by this point I just thought “why not?”
So, to summarize.
The good
Fairly good anti hero character
More of a plot than your average popcorn horror
Some excellent religious imagery
A corking opening scene
Some Blade style ass kicking
A creepy scenery chewing devil
A bit of a twist
Keano Reeves actually doing a fairly good job (even though he really can’t shake that Bill and Ted “whoa dude” factor)
Some nice effects
Hell as a parallel dimension. Nice.
The Bad
Some silliness
A bit of an ambiguous plot
Some people might lose a bit if they aren’t acquainted with the character
A few ripped off ideas.
* The chair – Xmens “people finder” (cant remember what it’s called)
* A scene almost identical to the popcorn one in “Big Fish”
Chas is now the young comic relief character. Criminal.
All in all, a solid introduction to the world of John Constantine, and far better than crap like “house of the dead” and “boogyman”.
I’ll confidently say that if you enjoyed the Blade movies, you’ll have a blast with this. Roll on the sequel.
IMPORTANT NOTE. The first time someone says on these forums "Oh, but it's not scary" I'll slap them. It's more of a supernatural action movie than a horror. I'd have prefered a straight horror, but you can't have everything......
I will not go into plot here. You can read that on IMDB, and any other review site. What I’m interested in is the transition from comic to screen, and shock horror...
...It’s actually pretty good and not bad at all. It’s not a horror, but more of an Angel Heart by way of Buffy the vampire slayer, with elements of the Blade movies. It's also massively influenced by "The Prophecy" (watch this movie if you have not already. The first with Walken as Gabrial only. The sequels SUCK)
After the initial very aggressive exorcism, I had high hopes for it and while it never quite reaches that level of excitement again, the invention shown in the ideas throughout the movie far surpass the opening buzz.
Reeves manages to convert the Liverpudlian ex-punk street magician (not in the David Blane sense) into a Los Angeles native, his long suffering friend Chas into comic relief and I’ll always hate that element of the movie, but surprisingly they have managed to get the essential essence of the character. Namely, he’s a b’stard, and will leave pain and suffering in his wake with a wisecrack and a tab flicked in your face.
Some knowledge of the comics is at times a bonus “You’ll just die, and be another ghost to follow me around”, but it is no means essential. The closing gesture to a major bad guy is straight out of the comics too, and gave me a massive grin while I nodded my appreciation.
One element I had thought looked totally ridiculous in publicity stills was the “holy shotgun” and it’s still pretty daft but in the context of where he gets it from, it begrudgingly makes sense. Hell, he later breaks out a pair of gold knuckle dusters, complete with Christian crosses engraved on them at which point I had "And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'Oh, Lord, bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow thy enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.' running through my head. Fortunately, I was so into the universe the movie created by this point I just thought “why not?”
So, to summarize.
The good
Fairly good anti hero character
More of a plot than your average popcorn horror
Some excellent religious imagery
A corking opening scene
Some Blade style ass kicking
A creepy scenery chewing devil
A bit of a twist
Keano Reeves actually doing a fairly good job (even though he really can’t shake that Bill and Ted “whoa dude” factor)
Some nice effects
Hell as a parallel dimension. Nice.
The Bad
Some silliness
A bit of an ambiguous plot
Some people might lose a bit if they aren’t acquainted with the character
A few ripped off ideas.
* The chair – Xmens “people finder” (cant remember what it’s called)
* A scene almost identical to the popcorn one in “Big Fish”
Chas is now the young comic relief character. Criminal.
All in all, a solid introduction to the world of John Constantine, and far better than crap like “house of the dead” and “boogyman”.
I’ll confidently say that if you enjoyed the Blade movies, you’ll have a blast with this. Roll on the sequel.
IMPORTANT NOTE. The first time someone says on these forums "Oh, but it's not scary" I'll slap them. It's more of a supernatural action movie than a horror. I'd have prefered a straight horror, but you can't have everything......
Page: