Shazam! Constantine movie

[Art]

Well, it?s pretty much as good as a Hollywood occult/action movie version of  a Garth Ennis Hellblazer could possibly be? enjoyable enough, and sometimes even reminiscent of the comic, but still got Chaz as a teen sidekick and lots of silly out-of-character  running around with shotguns.

The occult aspects are your basic angels vs demons set-up,  without any of the vague multi-pantheonism of the DCU supernatural world.  It?s roughly Catholic, with a few rules of it?s own ? about angels and demons not being able to do much without breaking a pact or somesuch -  which sound a bit boring, but the details of it are a bit hazy and get dropped pretty quickly. The mechanics of the plot are similarly hazy from time to time

Keano?s okay, if a bit blank, but only has a few flashes of Constantine-like behaviour ? the rest of the time he?s more mopey and bitter than sly and sarcastic. And being the action movie that it is he?s more likely to get out of a scrape by punching things than having a brilliant plan.

Maybe I?m being a little harsh ? it was generally fairly effective, very visually effective, and had some pretty neat twists (though nothing that?ll surprise anyone who?s read the comics much), a very weird performance from Tilda Swinton  which grew on me as the film progressed  and made for some of the best bits towards the end. It?s not completely faithful to the spirit original in the same way that Spiderman or Hellboy were but it?s far superior to something like LoEG or From Hell, and a fan of the comic should certainly be able to watch it without getting too disappointed.

[Art]

Oh, and Keano-Constantine drinks not Guinness or G&T or Jack Daniels but Ardbeg. It's a pretty nice whisky, but not really something I can imagine JC drinking.

[Devons Daddy]

not Guinness or G&T or Jack Daniels

sounds like the marketing team failed to get the sponsors on board to pay for the product exposure.
sort of product placement in reverse.

[DavidXBrunt]

And, as a special treat, Richard and Judy have arranged a screening in Nottingham for thei viewers and they'll be showing their reactions next week. Can't wait.

[therev]

?????!
BWHAHAHA!

I thought it was...ok.
Didn't like the "Holy hand gun of Antiop", the bug crature was cool visually (although the face was abit naff). Keanu wasn't Constantine he was someone like Constantine. Not a bad film just abit slow to begin with. Gavin Whatshisname from Bush was quite good though.

[Art]

The more i think about ity the more I find the Ardbeg thing irritating. It doesn't even woek in terms of the Yankee character: It's just not what a hard-drinking LA-based occult detective/exorcist should be drinking. Single malt is for sitting by the fireside smoking a cigar or something - he should be drinking some cheap, shitty whiskey instead.

[Art]

Out in the UK this weekend...

[Bico]

Or out now if you get it off the web.

I thought it was fucking mince.  It owed a lot to The Prophecy, but just couldn't do horror without silly pantomime cgi monsters.  It tries to sell you the idea that angels and devils are all around us - but we can't see them.  Yes we can!  They're in the fucking film every five minutes!
Pish.  Watch that Night of the Demon movie and you'll see what I mean - it would be a great movie if the demon wasn't actually in it.

[therev]

Oh and "John" smokes Marlboro in the film, he should smoke Silk Cut!

[Oddboy]

Saw this at the weekend - I really enjoyed it.

Yeah okay it's not 'our' John Constantine - but it's close enough.

[Generally Contrary]

I thought it was okay, not great, just okay.

There were some good bits, but I did think that the clip together gun was a bit laughable - so all these relics come with comptible slots and stuff?

It was about as good as Van Helsing - fun.

[LARF]

"Oh and "John" smokes Marlboro in the film, he should smoke Silk Cut!"

could have been worse, could have been a pipe, or herbals...

[Roger Godpleton]

One question:

How long does it take for Rachel Weisz to abandon her scepticism in the film, or is she just like Gregory Peck in The Omen?

[Art]

Watch that Night of the Demon movie and you'll see what I mean - it would be a great movie if the demon wasn't actually in it.

Unfortunately it seems that spooky tsuff with demons and that automatically equals CGI actionfest as far as Hollywood is concerned.

Maybe we should be on the look out for a Japanese John Constantine...

[Quirkafleeg]

Unfortunatly Hollywood seems to currently absorbing and destroying all the great Japanese horror directors (like they did with John Woo)