Constanticles: Reviews of Constantine and Pericles, plus a rant about the original Superman

Okay, so let me protect myself first by saying this: I've never read Hellblazer. I know, I'm a bad comic book fan. But it's true. In fact, it's only been relatively recently in my comic reading career that I've been branching out from Marvel to some of the more critically acclaimed series, but I've picked up Watchmen, Gaiman's Sandman (the first nine anyway), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the first two volumes of Hellboy. It's not much, but it's a start. In any case, I do plan to rectify the lack of Hellblazer in my collection, but suffice to say I went to see the movie without my traditional comic-knowledge background. I have no idea what the purists think, but that movie fuckin' rocked. It was fantastic. If you haven't already, you'll probably heard a fair number of mediocre-to-negative reviews. That's because people don't like Keanu. I'm not really sure why: I've never really had a big problem with him, provided he sticks to characters that fit his style. I've only seen him in Constantine, the Matrix movies, Much Ado about Nothing, The Replacements, and Speed. He does better with brooding characters who don't talk so much, and John Constantine is definately one of those. So if for some god-unknown reason you can't stand Keanu, don't see this movie, because he's in most of it (and he even has some lines). But he's far from bad, and has some fantastic scenes, particularily at the end. When Satan shows up at the climax, Keanu's offhand "hey Lu, what kept you?" sets up a final scene worth the price of admition.

You should see Constantine for the atmosphere, the style, and the visuals. The scenes in Hell are beautifully done, the pace is slow enough to build the tension nicely, and keeps you sufficiently in the dark (or at least it did me) for the ending to throw you a couple of curves that you might not be looking for. Perhaps more significant that anything else, this is DC's first good movie in a long, long time, and gives those of us waiting for Batman Begins and the Bryan Singer Superman movie a sign. A sign that DC (and its parent company, Warner Bros) can actually turn a comic book property into a good movie, ending a drought that began with (depending on who you talk to) Batman Forever or, well, the original Superman.
[I'm sorry, but I need to say this. In the comic book world it's widely accepted that Superman set the bar for superhero movies. That it made you believe a man could fly. Well, let me say this, after seeing it for the first time as an adult: Christopher Reeves is the only thing that movie has going for it. And he's amazing. He actually made me buy Superman/Clark's total lack of disguise (other than the glasses). His presence is phenominal. But other than that, Superman bites. And it's not the actors' fault. The script is horrible. The direction (and here I am speaking to the decision to have Gene Hackman play the most campy, ridiculous Lex Luthor I could have possibly conceived in my darkest dream) is awful. So. There, that's off my chest now. Thank you.]
To recap: Constantine good. Go see it, you'll like it. And if you didn't, don't blame me. There's obviously something wrong with you.

Now then, I also finished Shakespeare's Pericles a couple of days ago, in preparation for seeing it at the Guthrie Lab in the near future. Pericles is the first of the Romances, the genre which includes The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline and The Tempest. If you're reading a Shakespearian play with a happy ending that involves reuniting long-lost loves, involves major characters either being brough back to life or revealed to have not died in the first place and no revenge/retribution killings, you're almost certainly reading a romance (or at least in my experience you are). Pericles, prince of Tyre, goes around to some different cities, endures at least two major storms while en transit at sea, and gains, looses and gains a wife and daughter. He doesn't do anything wrong, he has no fatal personality flaw that makes him suffer. Bad shit just happens to him, which makes this one of Shakespeare's simpler plays. Which means, of course, there are 5-10 major angles you can analyze the play from as opposed to the standard 50 or so. At its most basic, I think you can describe the main point of Pericles like this: Life ends up throwing a lot of shit at you, even if you're a king. You can either give up and stop bathing and cutting your hair like Pericles, or you can keep on hoping, even without reason, and retain your virtue by convincing every John that comes to the brothel you've been sold to that they should give up whoring, thus driving the brothel out of business, like Marina (his daughter). Truly a lesson that applies to us all. Like I said, I've only read it at this point, so I'm interested in seeing how its staged. I'll be sure to let you know.