Hellblazer's Excellent Adventure

I have an impromptu movie review to write. Due to the fact that I have apparently lost the ability to read a TV schedule, I found myself with some free time on my hands last night. I had gone over to a friend’s place to watch “Smallville” and it turns out there was no new “Smallville.” I swear I saw a commercial for a new one, but either the WB has decided to fuck with my head, or I’m just delusional and imagined that whole commercial. I had the same problem with “Scrubs” on Tuesday. I really, really thought we were supposed to have a new one. Maybe it’s a whole network television conspiracy thing. I have been seeing the black helicopters again so that’s always a possibility… ok, let’s just not go there… So anyway, back to my movie review. Since The Lex Show… ummm, I mean Smallville… was not on, we decided to go see “Constantine.” As big a comic book geek as I am, I must admit to never having read the “Hellblazer” books. I’m not sure why. The subject matter is stuff I’m normally into, so my only excuse is that I just never got around to it. Not having a preconceived notion of who John Constantine is probably helped in this case. Any time I go into a Keanu Reeves movie I just expect him to slip into a “Bill and Ted” routine. I had that problem with “The Matrix” films as well as everything else Keanu has ever done. Don’t get me wrong. I liked “The Matrix” movies and don’t dislike several other Keanu films. There is just always that underlying anticipation that at some point a “Whoa!” or a “Dude!” is going to slip out. (Damn. I’m kinda rambly today.) As far as this movie goes, I have to say I really liked it. Like I’ll probably buy it on DVD kinda liked it. The story was good. The script was surprisingly well written. There was not a lot of the horribly cheesy dialogue I was expecting. It was also well cast. Shia LaBeouf was a little annoying and didn’t really do much to move the story along, but the rest of the case was good. Keanu did a good job as the brooding, cynical John Constantine. It was honestly not a performance I was expecting from him. The film was dark and the demons were creepy cool. Lots of atmosphere going on. It just had a nifty, decaying, comic book kinda feel. So thumbs up on “Constantine.” Go check it out if you’re into that whole good vs evil, comic book movie thing.

“There are strange things afoot at the Circle K.” – Keanu Reeves – “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”