| DIABOLICAL LIBERTIES : Francis Lawrence’s Constantine [5/10] |
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| Thursday, 10 March 2005 | |
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Though the title's historical echoes aren't accidental (Emperor C did after all convert Rome to Christianity) demon-busting thriller Constantine is thankfully not a historical biopic in the now-discredited Alexander mode. We're in a rainy modern-day Los Angeles, where John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is a sharp-dressed, chain-smoking exorcist whose rock-the-house methods are rather more aggressive than those practised by his big-screen predecessors such as Max Von Sydow. Indeed, pop-video director Lawrence's debut owes little to The Exorcist and much more to Angel Heart and Angel - with lesser debts to Prince of Darkness, Blade Runner, Stigmata and (inevitably) The Matrix. The convoluted results, however, end up strikingly similar to last year's raucous God-vs-Satan comicbook adaptation, Hellboy. This time around the bad guy is Satan's son Mammon (erm, wasn't he the god of money?) whose scheme to enter our dimension hinges, as is ever the case in this kind of nonsense, upon an innocent female. Rachel Weisz isn't ideal casting as LAPD cop Angela (she also briefly appears as Angela's suicidal* twin sister Isobel) but at least making the movie will have allowed her to catch up with Reeves, her co-star in 1996's Chain Reaction - at that point, Weisz was a virtual unknown and Reeves' career seemed to be very much on the skids. Both have done surprisingly well since - but both need strong material and similarly forceful directorial handling to make much impact on the audience. They don't get that here - taking some (ahem) diabolical liberties with DC Comics' Hellblazer, Lawrence and company's strenuous efforts towards cult-movie cool are torpedoed by lame dialogue and the very confusing, mumbo-jumbo laden plot, although Philippe Rousselot's cinematography is seldom less than immaculate. The supporting cast is a mixed bag, with Shia LeBeouf underused as Constantine's young "apprentice", Oscar-nominee Djimon Hounsou stuck in the somewhat racist role of bar-owner ‘Papa Midnite' (!) and Pruitt Taylor Vince doing his usual sweaty-fat-man routine as an alcoholic priest. Gavin Rossdale (of Bush ‘fame') channels Lambert Wilson as smarmy, yuppie-ish demon Balthazar, while Peter Stormare - popping up very late in the day as a fey, white-suited Lucifer (think Brando as Capote) - is good for a couple of laughs. But it's really only Swinton, winged and resplendent in her as an androgynous angel Gabriel, who manages to strike the right note of camp, bemused detachment. Neil Young 10th March, 2005 CONSTANTINE : [5/10]: USA 2005 : Francis LAWRENCE : 121 mins seen at Odeon cinema, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK) 10th March 2005 * Lawrence and his screenwriters lazily perpetuate a stubborn theological fallacy, by making their plot pivot around the "fact" that Catholicism regards suicide as a mortal sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (no.2283) states clearly: "we should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to Him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives." So there! |
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