Now, don�t get me wrong: �Constantine� might bomb. The trailer makes it look like a horror flick. This look wouldn�t be a problem except that they have taken what could be a positive and removed all the help that such a positive might bring. How so? The movie is based on a pre-existing, comic-book property, as everyone reading this article already knows. The name of the comic book, �Hellblazer,� is actually a better name for a horror flick than �Constantine� is. The name thing goes double when you consider that in the last several years we have had several high profile movies such as �Gladiator,� �Troy,� �Luther,� �Alexander,� and �The Passion of the Christ� set against both historical times and religion. �Constantine� invokes both these connections for people, so that my father�s wife thought it was about the Roman emperor. Well, so what? There are people who are not going to realize what this movie is about just based on the title. Comics fans might not automatically associate �Constantine� with 'Hellblazer' given that we�ve had several high profile movies on religious and historical subjects recently.
Now, another thing, �Hellblazer� is a spin off from �Swamp Thing.� �Swamp Thing� is already an established horror franchise. Most movies try to tie into prior movies if they can, a la �Aliens v. Predator� or �Predator 2� or even �Once Upon a Time in America� which Sergio Leone named so because his most famous movie was �Once Upon a Time in the West.� It is not unknown for movies to ignore a tie-in, but it can hurt a flick. Look at �Catwoman� and �Elektra.� Additionally, the director of �Swamp Thing� was horror legend Wes Craven. Had this been pitched as a �Swamp Thing� movie, they might have gotten Wes, who is not a moron. I saw the actual director speak at Wizard World and he didn�t know Tilda Swinton and Rachel Weisz were British. Wes would have gotten Sting. The other advantage that having Wes Craven on board would have given is that he would not have then directed �Cursed� which sounds like a horror movie, uses the kind of cast that made Wes hot in the �Scream� trilogy (Shannon Elizabeth, Christina Ricci, Portia De Rossi, like that) and opens the week after �Constantine� thus siphoning off the teen horror audience which one assumes �Constantine� might have been hoping to reach.
Also, while "Constantine" is being promoted more heavily than Don King would hype a match between Michael Moore and Pat Robertson, it's not alone. It's not even the only comic book movie opening that week. �Son of the Mask� is also a February 18, movie, and it is not confusing people about its comic book provenance. So the opening weekend is giving it competition for the comics reading audience. Also, this week, �Hitch� opens starring Will Smith, the greatest box office draw in the world. And his movies always have a fairly big second weekend as well. Plus, �Hitch� is opening on 3500 screens plus Rotten Tomatoes has it at 67% positive reviews, so it looks like it might be good. So, �Constantine� will have to fight with the Will Smith romantic comedy hangover crowd, fight with another comics related movie which is actually letting people know it�s a comics movie in the Mask sequel, and then on its second weekend, it has a Wes Craven horror flick to contend with.
So, I�m not saying it�s not going to bomb. It might bomb. I hope it does not.
What I�m saying is it might be pretty good. Here�s why:
It has Keanu Reeves. Keanu has never risen above his material, which is why Dracula and the Matrix sequels sucked. But Keanu does have a knack for picking classic movies. He�s like a low rent Humphrey Bogart in that regard. Nobody except Bogie thought �Casablanca� or �The Treasure of the Sierra Madres� or �The Petrified Forest� was going anywhere. These movies were made because the director was under contract, the studio owned the material and what the hell. But Bogie could smell a classic. He�d just keep making these great, masterpiece movies one after the other. �Beat the Devil� is my personal favorite in that regard. Keanu isn�t Bogie, but he does have a knack for picking entertaining projects inlcuding �The Matrix,� �Speed,� �Point Break,� �Bill and Ted�s Excellent Adventure� (Same to you, fella.) and �The Watcher.� The fact that he liked the script might mean something.
The source material is pretty good. It appears to be based a little on �Dangerous Habits.� Dangerous Habits was a nifty little story which did have enough theological nonsense in it to let me know Preacher would be a waste of time. (My favorite part is the bit wherein Garth Ennis has never read the Bible. He has John Constantine go to the Archangel Gabriel to cure his lung cancer. Gabriel refuses. Nuh-uh. The mere fact that John asks practically obligates God�s divine healing powers. The New Testament says so.) But it was pretty keen, so at least the movie has some of that going for it.
Also, I saw twenty minutes of various scenes at Wizard World. Clips are on the net. So the parts of the movie I have seen actually look pretty good. It has a score of 50% percent on TomatoMeter, but the three guys who didn�t like it appear to be morons.
Posted by Mike Chary at February 13, 2005 12:49 AM