Product: Constantine [Blu-ray] (2012)
Rating: 4.0
2 stars for visuals/1 star for Weisz and Tilda/1 for ending
Okay, let's face it, Keanu was not the guy who should have done this flick. Yes, he's pretty. But Constantine's character is really a down, dark guy doomed to hell. It needed an actor who could convincingly portray the emotions, that heavy negativism burying a nugget of hope that heaven might cut him some slack. I needed to see a face that reeked of internal putrefaction (the cancer, the despair) as well as obsession. We needed someone who could really dig in and pull out a performance. Keanu, photogenic as he is, even likable as he is, just can't do this. I don't believe him as a guy dying from lung cancer and well-acquainted with hellfire.Rachel Weisz and Tilda Swinton are good, Rachel VERY good. Tilda seems to be ready to make a career on playing gender-benders (see ORLANDO). She has the look for it, I guess.I kept thinking, too, that Satan should be much more beautiful (the fallen angel of light) and much more threatening. (This guy was creepy, but hardly to the levels of a Lucifer.) This movie reminded me of The Prophecy meets The Matrix meets Spawn. (And wasn't Gabriel also human-hating in The Prophecy?) But Viggo Mortensen's Lucifer was better than this guys, hands down--seductive, yet repulsive. Bring Viggo back!The effects were good. I enjoyed the "vacation gone really, really bad/The Day After" vision of hell. The demons were well done. I liked the apprentice guy, and wish they'd let him do a bit more.Unlike some other reviewers, I liked the ending very much. Then again, I'm not averse to happy endings. :) In fact, I love them. I would have given this a three if not for the hell scenes and the ending.Another negative: What was with the sound? About a fifth of what Keanu says is unintelligible. I had to rewind several times.Still, I sat through it and wasn't bored, even if I wasn't astonished or thrilled to bits. It's an okay fantasy ride. It's a watchable, if not terrific, couple hours of effects-laden Hollywood.Ah, but if only they'd gotten somebody else for Constantine!