Product: Constantine [Blu-ray] (2012)
Rating: 4.0
Don't take it too seriously and you'll enjoy it.
One thing before I write anything about the movie... I like this movie as much as I do because I never expected it to be a masterpiece, or anything resembling a revolutionary movie. If I expected that of every movie I'd give almost every movie ever made an F-. I like this movie because it has a decent combination of story, action, suspense, etc... that made it fun to watch in the theatre, and will make it fun to watch every now and again at home when it comes out on DVD.With that out of the way, this movie isn't perfect. Some parts of it are even laughable (holy shotgun? right...). Despite all of this, it's very watchable and entertaining. There are a few particular points that I've noticed a lot of people complaining about that I doubt are even half as bad as people make them out to be. Be warned that spoilers follow.1) Hellblazer - Okay, so the movie didn't follow the story of the comics precisely. But so what? I've never read the Hellblazer comics and I enjoyed the movie as a story of its own. Besides, unlike movies such as, oh say, Lord of the Rings, Constantine isn't the movie translation of a classic work or anything like that. Most of the people that I know know a lot about comics and none of them have even heard of Hellblazer, so it's not like someone taking LotR and making Frodo some muscle man hero impervious to evil influence. So basically, unless the only reason you would consider watching this movie is because it's based on Hellblazer, just seperate the two in your mind and it's perfectly enjoyable.2) Keanu Reeves - Blah blah blah, bland boring monotone actor, blah blah blah, etc. Maybe it's true, but I don't see what he did wrong in this role. He's portraying a man who knows what hell is like and knows he's almost guaranteed to go there. He's bitter and pretty much his sole desire is to somehow do enough good that he can redeem his soul in the eyes of God, thus regaining his ability to get into heaven after death. Therefore it's kind of understandable to act the way he does. He would be conflicted between not caring since nothing he did seemed to brighten his situation (hence being the rude, aloof and somewhat selfish anti-hero that his character is), although he does have a glimmer of charity and benevolence (he DOES want to get into heaven after all). Not to mention that knowing as much as he knows about Heaven, Hell and their respective denizens wouldn't make his character any more "positive". So, given his characters situation, how would you expect him to act? Besides, he does change toward the end of the movie. For one, he starts showing compassion for Weisz' character. Secondly, you note that his perspective on Gods plans change near the end of the movie, especially after getting a glimpse of heaven. Maybe this is too late in the movie for some people, but honestly, for a person in his character's position, he has no motivation to change given that up until he gets that glimpse of heaven, things are only continually getting worse for him. I'm not saying that Keanu would necessarily be an awesome actor in any other type of role, but for this role his particular brand of acting suffices, if not fits perfectly.3) Lucifer "saving the world" - Okay, people who say that it's strange that Lucifer would "save the world" need to pay more attention to the plot. Lucifer's son was trying to become born on earth to "redesign" it in his own ways. Lucifer only prevented this because it went against his designs. So really, he was only saving the world for his own designs, since his son's plans would have changed a lot about earth.4) The movie's idea of hell is "bleak", "boring" and "gets old". WELL NO REALLY!? Yes, Lucifer is going to set hell up to be the best amusement park we could ever dream of with endless green grass, lakes, entertainment, etc... I mean, duh, OBVIOUSLY. That's all I have to say about that.Given all of that, yes, there are several flaws with the movie, hence the less-than-perfect rating. However, I found the movie to be perfectly enjoyable for two hours worth of entertainment, an interesting story (not the best, but hey), and something to do on a night out with friends. As long as you don't expect it to be Shakespeare, you should be able to enjoy it at least a little bit. Personally, I plan to buy the DVD when it comes out because it's one of the better movies I've seen of late. It definitely trumps another Harry Potter movie, at the very least.Oh, and it has one other merit in my book. The two most prominent characters are one guy, and one girl, but there is no needless on-screen chemistry. I think at most there was one kiss, but nothing more, and certainly nothing that can only be explained as needless titillation for the coveted young male 18-24 demographic.