Bubba Ho-tep is charming and funny. Bruce Campbell maintains legendary status with a classic turn as an aging Elvis. Amazing physical charisma – just watching him in the interviews is a pleasure. Ossie Davis is also amazing (especially given he’s 86). Actually hold on, he just died in February. Shame.
Constantine is, well, OK. About as much as you hope for with these things. Despite the odd flash of levity to remind you that he isn’t Neo, Keanu’s John Constantine is the dullest thing about this distressingly unsophisticated film. This is all the more obvious as just every other key performance is excellent (exception #1: much of Midnite’s mumbly dialogue, #2: no fucking – no, it can’t be – it is, it’s twatting Gavin Rossdale from Bush).
Quick observation: one of the things I like about the character of Constantine is the trait he shares with Spiderman. Namely, a cheeky irreverence – playfully taking the piss out of his enemies. In both Spiderman films I was baffled and disappointed to see this opportunity completely ignored. In this film it’s not much better, as Keanu twice quips “asshole” and at one point throws a middle finger. Oh well.
And finally tonight I stopped avoiding Ring. I think it’s excellent – as much for the way it’s put together as for the (few) scary bits. It reminded me of the old Vanishing film somehow, generating real horror with a low budget.
Saying that there are several minutes in this film (you know the bits) where I could actually feel my heart rate launching, cold sweat on my curling palms, and an involuntary “oh… dear…” escaping my lips. Magic.
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