Hell comes to Hollywood

Rating: 4/10 (29 June 2006)

I'm not acquainted with the comic book but this was a tepid and dull watch.
Keanu is terrible in this. It's not he's a bad actor, he just lacks charisma. I felt nothing for John who came across as a sulker rather than pained.
Comic books are often more about ideas than films. There are a lot of ideas floating around here and you need a strong lead to pull them together. If you don't feel for the lead, it becomes a mess. Keanu doesn't really convince me of the characters pain. I begin to wonder if he believes in the character. Maybe being so clean, with his well styled hair didn't help. No amount of "fatigue make up" could make him look truly worn out. A serious miscast.
Aside from that, the effects are not mind blowing and while there are some strong signs of decent cinematography and direction, the seems to be a lack of consistency in the visuals to tie it all together. It felt like this film should have been darker. More gritty. It comes across, as neither being mainstream or artistic. It just seems to lack cohesiveness from it's leads or the production.
The script is plodding and the film is far too long. While the last ten minutes builds up well it falters in the last couple as Hollywood formula comes a knocking.
I didn't get any satisfaction from this movie, and while a couple of scenes did have some nice production values and direction, overall this is unlikely to do have done the comic book series any justice. Avoid.