Constantine

Okay, I'm usually pretty blaise about movies. I heard once that most big budget movies are consciously created and marketed with 19-24 year-old in mind. I think the reason that this is true is because after 24, it's hard to find movies that have an original idea. Constantine is far, far away from predictable movie making! I laughed through most of the film (although it's not intended to be a comedy) at all the things that I didn't learn in Seminary. (For example, I wish I would have stayed in school longer to get the brass knuckles to beat down demons with!) But, unlike most movies that I've seen recently (with the exception of Garden State) I am still thinking about Constantine 2 days later. So here's a couple thoughts about the movie... 1. At first I was telling people that this movie is great as long as you keep in mind that it is based upon a comic book series (Hellblazer). But this is almost exactly antithetical to the director's own purpose. Here's what he said in a Relevant Magazine article: "I didn't want to make a comic book movie. I tried to base it in reality, in Los Angeles today. Real people in real places make it much scarier. It is easier to believe in the supernatural when it appears common and everyday." I think that one of the cool things about this movie is that it makes the supernatural real...Okay, the details might be a bit crazy (I haven't shown you my cross-shaped gun? Every card-carrying pastor has one, don't you know?), but I always get excited when people actually decide to think as if the supernatural really exists! 2. The second thought is that while this is a supernatural/spiritual movie, it is not a Christian movie per se. Check out this quote from Relevant: "The spiritual battle raging around and within Constantine echoes classic literature like Dante's Inferno and Milton's Paradise Lost. Jamie Delano and Garth Ennis wrote most of the Hellblazer comics and the Constantine screenplay. They didn't approach the material with any particular Christian intentions or sympathy. In fact, both writers have made their disdain for organized religion quite clear." Interesting that people who despise organized religion so much are still so taken by the possibility of something greater than ourselves... Okay, I could go on...but I'll just let you comment if you'd like... Here's the link to the Constantine website and to Relevant magazine.