Movie Review: Constantine
Mar. 6th, 2005 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrixrefugee**** 1/2 out of *****
Whoa... I can't say I've ever seen spiritual warfare depicted in a more unvarnished way before. Sure, there were a few things that bothered me a little, since they seemed implausible (the angel Gabriel becoming human at the end. What? That's changing species...) or they just bothered me a little, for instance, the whiskey priest: I don't feel like they handled his subplot well, but that's just my opinion since I think the character is a bit of a cliche, or it can turn into one in the wrong hands. Also, the way the plotline kept harping on suicide being the unforgivable sin, when it's questionable what happens to the soul of a person who suicides. Sure, there are cases of resucitated suicides who had near-death experiences, and they found themselves in hell, but I doubt that's the case all the time. (Having wrestled with suicidal ideations and a near suicide attempt, I know what that road looks like...)
That said... Hoo... It's hard to "like" a film of this nature: It's like "liking" Dante's "Inferno", since you're dealing with something that by it's very nature is horrific and hellish, and yet artistic. I see John Constantine as a reluctant saint, and as a rough-cut "sensitive" (ie. a person who has the ability to discern spirits, particularly demons). He's a good guy, except that he's battling his own inner demons just as much as he's battling the demons in the world around him, and the worst demons are probably the ones of his own making. I can relate to that whole-heartedly, considering my own rough path, though I could be exaggerating it... I can't say that I liked or disliked this film, since it was something that just *clicked* with me so deeply and on so many levels, spiritually and psychologically and emotionally and artistically. I have to admit to being a little shell-shocked by it, but then again, "The Matrix" and "The Passion of the Christ" had the same effect on me. I may need to see it again, just to digest it, the way I did with "The Matrix: Revolutions".
And they showed the trailer for "Sahara", a kind of "Indiana Jones"/"National Treasure"-type adventure flick about a search for a Civil War-era treasure ship that vanished and may have been hidden in the Sahara desert... I'm mentioning this only because I'm tempted to see it...
Because TEH LAMBERT is in it!! ::Squeeeee!!!:: God, they just showed a couple *short* clips with the sexy French beast, but gad, my loins were on fire!
Whoa... I can't say I've ever seen spiritual warfare depicted in a more unvarnished way before. Sure, there were a few things that bothered me a little, since they seemed implausible (the angel Gabriel becoming human at the end. What? That's changing species...) or they just bothered me a little, for instance, the whiskey priest: I don't feel like they handled his subplot well, but that's just my opinion since I think the character is a bit of a cliche, or it can turn into one in the wrong hands. Also, the way the plotline kept harping on suicide being the unforgivable sin, when it's questionable what happens to the soul of a person who suicides. Sure, there are cases of resucitated suicides who had near-death experiences, and they found themselves in hell, but I doubt that's the case all the time. (Having wrestled with suicidal ideations and a near suicide attempt, I know what that road looks like...)
That said... Hoo... It's hard to "like" a film of this nature: It's like "liking" Dante's "Inferno", since you're dealing with something that by it's very nature is horrific and hellish, and yet artistic. I see John Constantine as a reluctant saint, and as a rough-cut "sensitive" (ie. a person who has the ability to discern spirits, particularly demons). He's a good guy, except that he's battling his own inner demons just as much as he's battling the demons in the world around him, and the worst demons are probably the ones of his own making. I can relate to that whole-heartedly, considering my own rough path, though I could be exaggerating it... I can't say that I liked or disliked this film, since it was something that just *clicked* with me so deeply and on so many levels, spiritually and psychologically and emotionally and artistically. I have to admit to being a little shell-shocked by it, but then again, "The Matrix" and "The Passion of the Christ" had the same effect on me. I may need to see it again, just to digest it, the way I did with "The Matrix: Revolutions".
And they showed the trailer for "Sahara", a kind of "Indiana Jones"/"National Treasure"-type adventure flick about a search for a Civil War-era treasure ship that vanished and may have been hidden in the Sahara desert... I'm mentioning this only because I'm tempted to see it...
Because TEH LAMBERT is in it!! ::Squeeeee!!!:: God, they just showed a couple *short* clips with the sexy French beast, but gad, my loins were on fire!