...maybe I'm just the only person on the planet who thought Constantine was a comedy and enjoyed its whimsy.
And there are some good lines: "I don't believe in the devil," says Angela. "Well, you should," responds Constantine. "He believes in you." Or Angela's observation, "I guess God has a plan for all of us" and Constantine's reply, "God's a kid with an ant farm." Unfortunately, there are not many such lines. Mostly, there's just a truckload of CGI graphics interspersed with the occasional quick rejoinder.
Yes, Constantine is a pretty cynical fellow and has a smart-ass comeback for everything. Too bad he's nothing like the Constantine of the comic books, who is much more rugged looking, with light, sandy hair. This is yet another thing to incite the wrath of the books' most devoted followers. But as one who had never read the comic books, did I care?
Eventually, Constantine learns that in order for the penultimate demon, the Devil's son, to cross over into our plane, he would need God's help, which comprises the second half of the film, where elements of Kevin Smith's "Dogma" come into play and everything gets even sillier. By the end of the movie, it's impossible to follow any of the action or tell what's going on, but what, me worry? The special effects are all the show, and Reeves's wooden acting fits the absurdity of the situations perfectly.
Understand that "Constantine" does not work as a superhero comic-book flick any more than the original theatrical release of "Daredevil" worked. But "Constantine" has a lot more in it that can be viewed from a purely comical angle. Heck, even Keanu Reeves comes off as funny the way I see it. Pretty bizarre, huh?
Video:
Like its standard-screen counterpart, this HD-DVD offers one of the wider screen ratios you'll come across on disc, measuring very close to its original theatrical-release dimensions, here rendered at about 2.20:1. The 1080 high-def transfer displays an image that is sharper and clearer than the SD version, but the slight color oversaturation continues, probably intentional on the director's part. The definition is superior, too; and the already excellent black levels I noted in the standard-definition transfer are even more intense for maximum color contrasts. The touch of fine grain I noticed before seems more noticeable to me in HD, though, especially in some of the darker scenes, but I suppose that is to be expected.
Audio:
The regular Dolby Digital 5.1 audio on the SD disc was top-notch, and now it's even better in Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD, channeled through a player's 5.1 analogue outputs. The surround sound is all-encompassing, enveloping the listener in a complete aural experience. The frequency response is wide, the bass deep, the midrange clear, the dynamics strong, and the stereo imaging precise. The "Dragon's Breath" flamethrower makes an especially hair-raising noise in the surrounds, as do various rain storms, thunderclaps, telephone rings, weird voices, and fires of Hell. More important, in DD+ and TrueHD, everything good about the sound on the SD edition is a tad improved: cleaner, better focused, the bass tauter, especially so in TrueHD. If there is any minor problem at all, it's that the dynamic range is so extended, it may annoy some listeners who will want to keep turning the sound up and down every few minutes. No problem; it's as it should be.
Extras:
Warner Bros. have taken most of the extras found on their standard-definition two-disc special-edition and included them on this single HD-DVD (albeit still in SD 480), along with one important new addition. You can now access an "In-Movie Experience" that uses voice-overs and visual inserts of the director and various others commenting on the action of the film, the acting, the costumes, the makeup, etc. It's like having a behind-the-scenes documentary running simultaneously during the movie. I have to admit it beats the usual voice-over audio commentary.
The rest of the extras are the ones I discussed in my review of the previous edition. These would be audio commentaries by director Francis Lawrence and producer Akiva Goldsman, and screenwriters Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello. Their comments can be informative, if when the first two are not kidding around.
After that is a long series of short featurettes. These are "Channeling Constantine," "Conjuring Constantine," "Director's Confessional," "Collision with Evil," "Holy Relics," "Shotgun Shootout," "Hellscape," "Visualizing Vermin," "Warrior Wings," "Unholy Abduction," "Constantine's Cosmology," "Foresight: The Power of Pre-Visualization," "Demon Face," and "A Writer's Vision."
A music video, "Passive," by A Perfect Circle. The items last anywhere from a minute-and-a-half to fifteen minutes each and contain a lot of repetition. You'll be clicking for days.
Things conclude with fourteen widescreen deleted scenes, including an alternate ending in a graveyard, again with optional director's commentary; a widescreen teaser and a widescreen theatrical trailer; WB's zoom-and-pan feature; thirty-four scene selections, but no chapter insert; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles. The disc is packaged in an Elite Red HD case.
Parting Thoughts:
By every standard of good filmmaking, "Constantine" is a pretty ragged affair. Yet I did not find it one of those so-bad-it's-good movies. I've honestly enjoyed it all three times I've seen it, viewed from my admittedly distorted perspective as one who interpreted every scene in it as comedy.
I have no idea if the filmmakers intended their movie to be a comedy or not. On one of the commentaries, they say they did try to infuse the film with some humor. Do I care? I can't second guess how others will react to something, so it's only my own point of view I can describe to readers. In the case of "Constantine," the movie tickled my funny bone. Yeah, I recognize that a lot of other people don't see it that way, but I'll have to live with it. And the HD-DVD makes it even better to look at.
Yes, Constantine is a pretty cynical fellow and has a smart-ass comeback for everything. Too bad he's nothing like the Constantine of the comic books, who is much more rugged looking, with light, sandy hair. This is yet another thing to incite the wrath of the books' most devoted followers. But as one who had never read the comic books, did I care?
Eventually, Constantine learns that in order for the penultimate demon, the Devil's son, to cross over into our plane, he would need God's help, which comprises the second half of the film, where elements of Kevin Smith's "Dogma" come into play and everything gets even sillier. By the end of the movie, it's impossible to follow any of the action or tell what's going on, but what, me worry? The special effects are all the show, and Reeves's wooden acting fits the absurdity of the situations perfectly.
Understand that "Constantine" does not work as a superhero comic-book flick any more than the original theatrical release of "Daredevil" worked. But "Constantine" has a lot more in it that can be viewed from a purely comical angle. Heck, even Keanu Reeves comes off as funny the way I see it. Pretty bizarre, huh?
Video:
Like its standard-screen counterpart, this HD-DVD offers one of the wider screen ratios you'll come across on disc, measuring very close to its original theatrical-release dimensions, here rendered at about 2.20:1. The 1080 high-def transfer displays an image that is sharper and clearer than the SD version, but the slight color oversaturation continues, probably intentional on the director's part. The definition is superior, too; and the already excellent black levels I noted in the standard-definition transfer are even more intense for maximum color contrasts. The touch of fine grain I noticed before seems more noticeable to me in HD, though, especially in some of the darker scenes, but I suppose that is to be expected.
Audio:
The regular Dolby Digital 5.1 audio on the SD disc was top-notch, and now it's even better in Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD, channeled through a player's 5.1 analogue outputs. The surround sound is all-encompassing, enveloping the listener in a complete aural experience. The frequency response is wide, the bass deep, the midrange clear, the dynamics strong, and the stereo imaging precise. The "Dragon's Breath" flamethrower makes an especially hair-raising noise in the surrounds, as do various rain storms, thunderclaps, telephone rings, weird voices, and fires of Hell. More important, in DD+ and TrueHD, everything good about the sound on the SD edition is a tad improved: cleaner, better focused, the bass tauter, especially so in TrueHD. If there is any minor problem at all, it's that the dynamic range is so extended, it may annoy some listeners who will want to keep turning the sound up and down every few minutes. No problem; it's as it should be.
Extras:
Warner Bros. have taken most of the extras found on their standard-definition two-disc special-edition and included them on this single HD-DVD (albeit still in SD 480), along with one important new addition. You can now access an "In-Movie Experience" that uses voice-overs and visual inserts of the director and various others commenting on the action of the film, the acting, the costumes, the makeup, etc. It's like having a behind-the-scenes documentary running simultaneously during the movie. I have to admit it beats the usual voice-over audio commentary.
The rest of the extras are the ones I discussed in my review of the previous edition. These would be audio commentaries by director Francis Lawrence and producer Akiva Goldsman, and screenwriters Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello. Their comments can be informative, if when the first two are not kidding around.
After that is a long series of short featurettes. These are "Channeling Constantine," "Conjuring Constantine," "Director's Confessional," "Collision with Evil," "Holy Relics," "Shotgun Shootout," "Hellscape," "Visualizing Vermin," "Warrior Wings," "Unholy Abduction," "Constantine's Cosmology," "Foresight: The Power of Pre-Visualization," "Demon Face," and "A Writer's Vision."
A music video, "Passive," by A Perfect Circle. The items last anywhere from a minute-and-a-half to fifteen minutes each and contain a lot of repetition. You'll be clicking for days.
Things conclude with fourteen widescreen deleted scenes, including an alternate ending in a graveyard, again with optional director's commentary; a widescreen teaser and a widescreen theatrical trailer; WB's zoom-and-pan feature; thirty-four scene selections, but no chapter insert; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles. The disc is packaged in an Elite Red HD case.
Parting Thoughts:
By every standard of good filmmaking, "Constantine" is a pretty ragged affair. Yet I did not find it one of those so-bad-it's-good movies. I've honestly enjoyed it all three times I've seen it, viewed from my admittedly distorted perspective as one who interpreted every scene in it as comedy.
I have no idea if the filmmakers intended their movie to be a comedy or not. On one of the commentaries, they say they did try to infuse the film with some humor. Do I care? I can't second guess how others will react to something, so it's only my own point of view I can describe to readers. In the case of "Constantine," the movie tickled my funny bone. Yeah, I recognize that a lot of other people don't see it that way, but I'll have to live with it. And the HD-DVD makes it even better to look at.
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[release]19070[/release]