posted
Earlier today I was discussing the movie Constantine in class.
Let me begin. I have always been a fan of the Hellblazer comic books. I found John Constantine to be one of the most human and involving characters out there. He was swaggering, comic, and grim. He despised humanity but loved people. He was a man who had seen too much, who had had too much put on his shoulders, who was being torn apart by the work he had to do and the sins his arrogance had driven him to in the past. He was a man who was not meant to be alone, but was forced to because of the incredible danger his friends and loved ones always found themselves in, having learned this from losing countless friends in the past. He was haunted and haunting, and in high school, I could never get enough of them.
Enter the Constantine movie. Constantine is no longer wry, grim, and British. He is now in L.A. and he is being played by the man who is still waiting for Bill and Ted 3. The man who has all the emotional capacity of a piece of dry wall. The plot and the depth of the story had been hacked up and cut up and then sewn together again to fit into a two hour slot.
I tried to tell a few people my problems with the movie, but a lot of them didn't get it. They said that things always get changed from book to screen, that you can't get things piece for piece and expect the same, and that things get changed because it's inevitable, etc, etc, etc.
So I said this:
"Hey, I got an idea. Why don't we get someone to make Huckleberry Finn, only instead of a Southern kid in the American South, it can take place in Eastern China, kinda like a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon thing, because, y'know, that sells a lot, and producers got to make money. Nothing can be verbatim, y'know."
And a few people actually stopped and said, "That actually sounds like a good idea." And this one guy said, "Hey, if you can make a profit, all power to you."
I chose something that was UNIQUELY American, even CLASSICALLY American, and suggested the LUDICROUS idea that we move it to CHINA.... and people would actually sit down and watch it, and then think it's okay that they just do it to turn a profit. The idea that "It's Huck Finn, but with NINJAS!"
This is the same problem I had with Troy. I mean, as long as you get the big picture okay, then I'm fine with a few tweakings. Jurassic Park worked okay because even though they changed a few things they kept the general theme of the book. LOTR was great because they made Tolkein's world so real and they kept the tone and most of the dimensions of the character. However, in Troy, they flipped and flopped who dies and who lives and why. It was a great shclock film, but, dangit, it's classic art I love and you can't just mix things around.
You want a movie about a child and slavery in China? Go find one. I'm sure there's one out there. You don't need to abuse one of America's greatest writers to do it. You want to make a historical movie about a Greek siege? Don't take Troy and mix up the plot. Go find some historical Greek siege and make a movie about it. There are plenty of Greek wars out there to choose from. You want to make a movie about a supernatural guy who fights heaven and hell? Go make one up. I'm sure some writer needs work. Constantine wasn't popular enough to capitalize off of in the first place.
Of course, it's at times like this that I remember the thing Raymond Chandler said when he was asked about how his stories were changed from book to movie. He took the person upstairs, opened his cabinet, and showed them his books sitting there, and he said, "Here they are. They're still here. They're fine."
Which is true. The Iliad has outlasted thousands upon thousands of critics and will outlast me, you, Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom. I guess this is just what you have to put up with, though, when you love certain stories.
[ February 17, 2005, 02:24 AM: Message edited by: Book ]
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I'm not so sure about the ninja's. Zombies would be a much better sell. I'm sure Uwe Boll would love to film it.
Posts: 421 | Registered: Jan 2001
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I was so angry about Troy that when my mother asked me 'how was it?' she really wished she hadn't bothered.
When I was winding to a close, she said 'You do realise that you haven't drawn breath for an hour? And that I was only being polite anyway?' Posts: 1528 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote: Constantine is no longer wry, grim, and British.
This more than anything I could not understand. Constantine is, in a very real way, quintessentially British. He's the third pillar of British magical tradition: the blue-collar working stiff, counterpart to the bearded wacky gent who talks about King Arthur all the time and the wide-eyed schoolboy with thick glasses.
It would not have been difficult -- indeed, it would even have been trivial -- to keep Constantine British in the film. The change makes absolutely no sense.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Except for the fact that Keanu is big box office and he probably couldn't play a convincing Brit if his life depended on it. Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Geez. I know that feeling. I just hate Hollywood ruining a good book, but worse, Hollywood ruining a good book and everyone else loving it! For example, the movie version of Practical Magic is terrible. What were they THINKING? They completely wrecked it! But, everyone else I was watching it just loved it. I tell you, watching movies in a group of people sucks because they always pick the movies I'd never see in a million years. Like "What Women Want." All they want to see, for the most part, are stereotypical boring blockbusters. I don't know much about Constantine though, except he's been in Sandman and was in Book of Magic which was cool and like Harry Potter except the kid has a screach owl and not a snow owl and he didn't go to a school he just got taught by four "guys".
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote: which was cool and like Harry Potter except the kid has a screach owl and not a snow owl and he didn't go to a school he just got taught by four "guys"
And, it's worth mentioning, predated the HP books by a decade. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I dunno. I think the Dark is Rising books sorta lost their edge after a while. I liked the one with Bran, but after that one it got a little difficult.
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey wrecked the potential franchise.
While there were quite a few laugh out loud moments, the innocence of the first movie was gone and their insistance on attempting to make "Station" a buzzword was just pathetic. They should have stuck with the buzzwords they generated in the first movie.
posted
I can't say that all book-to-movie changes are automatically terrible. William Goldman has discussed the change in the hobbling scene in "Misery" (the book has chopping, the movie merely has sledging) and explained why he hated the change to his screenplay of the book, why he thought it was a betrayal of the book, and why ultimately he thought it was the absolute correct thing to do because what was thrilling in the book would have been too graphic for the feel of the movie.
But I agree. I haven't seen it so I can't comment on the quality of the movie "Constantine," but no matter what the movie is like it won't be the character I like. I wanted to see a rumpled and gritty David Bowie (or, possibly, Sting) in the part...
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I have to say that I don't share your anger at the movie undustry for "ruining" books. That might be because I maybe watch six movies a year. I figure that 99% of all movies are always crap. If I'm lucky.
Posts: 1002 | Registered: Feb 2005
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I'm getting a lot of complaint-mileage out of the upcoming Doom movie that involves neither Mars nor demons Posts: 1907 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I watched Troy for the first time the other night. I can't decide if I like it or hate it. It's because they so royally messed with the story of the Iliad. Why screw around with a story that's so beautifully told in the first place?!
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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see i think Bogus Journey was every bit as good as the first one. i love them both. i used to shun bogus journey as lame, but after revisiting it i think its a great flick. its less slapstick and darker, and i dunno i enjoyed it a great deal. i will forever stand by the falling into a pit scene:
Hey! you wanna play twenty questions? Ok. Ok i got one! Are you a mineral? uhhhh...yea. Are you a tank? Woah! YEAH!
[ February 17, 2005, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: Ben ]
Posts: 1572 | Registered: Jan 2004
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(Still liking the idea of Huck Finn in China)
I think while certain stories are tied very much to their original locations, I don't think on its own a switch in location or time is such a bad thing. Huck Finn is about more than a boy and a slave...and even if that were the case, many cultures have and continue to have both!
Stories are told and re-told in different settings and times and if they capture what is essential to a story then I am good with it. Should Mr. Kurosawa avoided using Shakespeare's "King Lear" because the original work was set in old Britian and rob us of the majesty that is "Ran?"
Should we only do one version of Romeo and Juliet?
I could agree with "Troy" as it is not only important for setting but it is also a bit historical. Whether the details are exact is unknown but the setting and time is pretty important. But at the same time, Julius Caesar was a real guy yet our local regional theatre did an AMAZING version of the Bard's play set in modern times with cell phones, laptops and all the trappings. And in the environment it was done (pre-election last year) it was perfect and I didn't miss one single Toga.
Don't get me wrong, I am not defending "Constantine" as I haven't seen it. I am just saying a movie doesn't have to be a slavish interpretation of the book...look at the Potter movies? The first two were sub-par and only the third one showed a spark of joy and creativity...and guess what, it took some liberties with the story and locations.
So yeah, Huck Finn in China...I am cool with that if it is done well and tells a good story and sticks to some of the themes in the original work. Instead of the Duke and King we have the Emporer and the Eunuch. The boy is still a boy and the slave is still a slave. Yangtze instead of the ol' Miss. Hell, it writes itself! Posts: 896 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Constantine was supposed to look like Sting from inception. It's true. Just ask Alan Moore.
Unless he has changed his way, Moore couldn't care less about the movie versions of his characters (he has a more Chandler-esque take this). He was interviewed around the release of "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "From Hell" and he pretty much assumes that once they sign the check the characters are theirs for the duration of the movie. His versions still live on the page where they belong.
Posts: 896 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I sympathize. I was severely traumatized by what they did to The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and, like Synesthesia, Practical Magic. I'm at a point where I dread the movie versions of books I've read.
I've started waiting to read books if I'm interested in the movie. I haven't read the Lemony Snicket books for that very reason.
And sorry, but I'm going to see Constantine. I've never read any of the comics and Keanu Reeves is in it.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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Standing in line for the new "Hip" replacement Surgery.
I just have one thing to say--"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Disney. Take the world's most depressing story, where the ending is the hero sneaking into the grave of the heroine, and laying down with her so their bones rest together to this day, add music and comic relief, and you have a Disney picture.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I was just annoyed that they cut out the, what was it, 10 swears? "Hell and Damnation." And, the fact that he didn't get the girl. How is it fair that the silly lunky dude gets the girl and not the Hunchback?
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