Product: Constantine [Blu-ray] (2012)
Rating: 3.0
Fans of the comic book will be disappointed
Constantine marks the feature film debut of music video director Francis Lawrence who, judging by the look of this movie, would like to follow in the footsteps of David Fincher. For his first time out, Lawrence takes on the daunting task of adapting the excellent comic book, Hellblazer. Its main character, John Constantine first appeared in the pages of Swamp Thing, during an illustrious run by Alan Moore. Eventually, Constantine got his own series with the launch of DC Comics' Vertigo line. Jamie Delano was the primary writer and fleshed out the character's backstory, his friends (like Chas the cabbie) and family. These stories typified late `80s comic book horror and provided a bridge between Moore and the next creative heavyweight to tackle the character, Garth Ennis. His run on Hellblazer is where the movie gets most of its material from. Constantine is a chain-smoking, hard-drinking guy suffering from terminal lung cancer. He becomes embroiled in a complex war between Heaven and Hell with humanity caught in the middle.Fans of the comic book are probably not going to like this movie. Constantine is supposed to be world-weary, a sarcastic drunk and womanizer but Reeves doesn't quite pull it off. He presents a more sanitized version of the comic book character and even that feels forced. Another major betrayal of the character is having him wield a gun (a cool-looking crucifix shotgun), something that the Constantine of the comic would never do. Reeves is unable sell the character convincingly and is miscast in this role. Guy Pearce or Clive Owen would have been a much better choice to play Constantine.Despite the miscasting of Reeves and Weisz in the two main roles, Lawrence's take on Constantine is actually quite entertaining, even more so if you haven't read the comic book. However, fans of the series will have problems with the major liberties the filmmakers have taken with the characters - especially Constantine and Chas. Like most comic book adaptations, this film only sprinkles certain elements from the source material, just enough to vaguely resemble it while watering it down for mainstream consumption. It's a shame because in the right hands, Constantine could have been this year's Hellboy instead it's closer to the flawed, missed opportunity of The Punisher.On the first DVD there is an audio commentary by Francis Lawrence, producer Akiva Goldsman and screenwriters Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello. Lawrence does his best to keep on topic and actually comment on what we are watching while Goldsman does his best to come off as very annoying and unfunny.Also included is a music video for the song "Passive" by A Perfect Circle. It's pretty standard stuff with the band playing through distorted visuals with lots of clips from the movie.There is also the teaser and theatrical trailer.The catch phrase of the extras on second DVD is how everyone wanted to "stay true to the spirit "of the comic book. Everyone involved makes a point of defending the changes made from comic to film. "Conjuring Constantine" traces the character's origins from The Swamp Thing to Hellblazer. Not surprisingly, Alan Moore and Garth Ennis are not interviewed as I'm sure they'd have a few things to say about the liberal changes made."The Production from Hell" features Lawrence talking about the pressures of making his first feature film."Imagining the Underworld" takes a look at the film's version of Hell. Lawrence wanted it to resemble Los Angeles' highway after a nuclear bomb test explosion. Several other special effects set pieces are examined and shown how they were put together."Constantine Cosmology" examines the role mythology plays in the movie and how it compares to the heroic journey according to the writings of Joseph Campbell."Foresight: The Power of Pre-Visualization" shows how certain scenes were mapped out in terms of point-of-view, angles, and camera moves via computer animation with an optional audio commentary by Lawrence.Finally, there are four deleted scenes with optional commentary by Lawrence. He talks about why they were cut, usually for reasons of pacing. A character from the comic book, Ellie the demon, was cut from the film and her scene is included.A nice touch with this deluxe edition is the inclusion of a mini-comic book that includes stories by Delano and Ennis.