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Saturday, February 19, 2005
Constantine
So, Pete and I went to see Constantine tonight. I have a theory, regarding actors. Some actors, when they realize that the movie they're in isn't really very good, decide "to hell with it" and just have fun with their roles. In Constantine that actor is Tilda Swinton, who is quite clearly enjoying playing the angel Gabriel. She's about the only actor in the entire film who isn't either speaking in a robotic monotone or chewing scenery like it's coated with the antidote to the poison they just drank.
Which isn't to say that Constantine was a bad film. It was actually a fairly decent evening's entertainment. But I do rather wish that the film-makers had decided what kind of film they were making before they started filming. There are times when it seems that they want to make a horror film, but then they didn't put anything scary or "horrific" in the film. There are times when you almost think they're trying to make an action film, but the movie as a whole is so slow and plodding that can't possibly be the case. And if they wanted to make an introspective character study about the nature of sacrifice and redemption, they shouldn't have cast such dull actors to play such one-note characters. And as for the supernatural aspects of the film, well, if you're going to plunder the already ill-defined metaphysics of the DC Universe for story material you may as well go whole hog and just throw Zatanna and the Phantom Stranger in there as well.
(And, comics geek moment, while Keanu Reeves is playing a character named John Constantine, he's not at all the character of the same name from the Hellblazer comics. It goes beyond a change in hair color or nationality. The very personality and motivation of the character is fundamentally changed.)
Trailers: Now that I've seen the Sin City trailer on a big screen with an auditorium full of people...it still doesn't look any better. I wasn't terribly surprised that the audience didn't burst into laughter during the trailer, but I wasn't expecting the reactions to range from confusion to disinterest either. Of course, Batman Begins got the same response, so make of that what you will. But since Peter has a thing for Bruce Willis I've been told that I am going to see Sin City no matter what, so it really doesn't matter what I think of the trailer.
The people who put together the trailer for the remake of House of Wax really pushed the presence of Paris Hilton. Either they're sabotaging the film or they think there are enough people out there who are annoyed enough by her to want to see her die in a gruesome way on film to make the movie a hit.
Stealth may very well be the last film anyone involved in it ever makes.