Product: Constantine [Blu-ray] (2012)
Rating: 4.0
"Constantine" is a solid effort
I went into this film not expecting a whole lot, mostly based on the reviews it was recieving, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked the premise of the film and it has a very cool visual style which I greatly enjoyed. The film does have it's flaws, but considering that Francis Lawrence had never directed a film before, I thought he did a pretty darn good job. He has a good eye for visuals and tone which shows in several scenes. Also, I thought Keanu Reeves was very convincing in the title role. A lot of reviewers said that his performance is wooden but I think he was just playing the character the way he should have been. A selfish, cold, seen-it-all kind of guy and he did a really good job in my opinion.The best performances however come from the supporting roles such as Rachel Weisz and Djimon Hounsou and Tilda Swinton as Gabriel. It was cool to see Gavin Rossdale from BUSH playing Balthazar. He was actually quite convincing I thought. The visuals were the best thing in the film though. The cinematography by Philippe Rousselot was top notch. The look of the film and some of the shots were just fantastic. The visual effects were also great and never over the top. The production design also deserves recognition. The sets were really cool, especially Constantine's apartment and Papa Midnite's (Djimon Hounsou) club. They had very interesting looks to them. The screenplay has some very clever dark humor which i always love and it is actually filled with information. That was the one thing that really suprised me about the film. it is actually not a shoot em' up action film but a dark, bleek mood piece. Most of the film is dialogue above all else but I actually liked that the film wasn't just all action, but had a mind as well. Overall, I liked the film and enjoyed it for what it was. It is by no means for the mainstream audiences looking for another "Spider-Man" or "X-Men" but more for the fans of "Blade" or "Hellboy." A sort of cult film in my opinion. So if you like these types of films I recommend it to you. You may like it or not, I can't be sure. But I thought it was worth the price of admission if you go in not expecting a masterpiece and just accept it for what it is.