In this writer’s humble opinion, the 2005 Constantine movie is one of the most underrated comic book movies out there. Granted, Keanu Reeves’ performance as John Constantine wasn’t at all what fans of the Hellblazer comic book know and love. However, director Francis Lawrence (The Hungers Games 2 – 4) did a solid job building out that world, and the cast was filled with some top-notch talent (besides Reeves, it featured Oscar-level talent like Rachel Weisz, Tilda Swinton and Djimon Hounsou).
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Lawrence is back with his new film, Red Sparrow, which will re-team him with his Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence. During the press junket for Red Sparrow, Lawrence was asked how, looking back, he would’ve done Constantine differently. In the director’s own words to:
“Wow. It’s a tricky question. Now I’ve made seven movies, that was my first. I think there’s definite story issues, I would change some things there… I think the biggest things I would change are in the story… If I’d known we were getting an R I would have really made an R-rated movie. We followed all the PG-13 rules, but still got an R so it’s not really an R. That’s what I would suggest.”
Constantine remains one of the best examples of how the superhero and horror genres can mix into a potentially big blockbuster melding. Ironically that’s a code that Hollywood is trying to crack right now, with films like Fox’s New Mutants (currently being reshot for more horror), or DC’s Justice League Dark, the in-development movie that brings together some of DC Comics’ biggest supernatural heroes into an occult-fighting squad. Ironically enough, the Justice League Dark team is often led by John Constantine.
Last we heard, Justice League Dark still needs a new director to go along with its latest script rewrite. Edge of Tomorrow’s Doug Liman was onboard at one point, but as of last summer, names like Andres Muschietti (IT) have been floated. However, Muschietti is busy with IT: Chapter 2 at the moment, and it sounds like Francis Lawrence has some wishful thinking that could be put to good use. Let’s give Constantine fans the do-over they want!
Red Sparrow will be in theaters on March 2nd.
