I think Keanu takes a lot of undeserved grief.
I liked Constantine. I did. He certainly has an otherworldly light to him.
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That's not opinion.That's science and science is one cold-hearted bitch with a 14''strap-on.
MovieChat Forums > Constantine (2005) Discussion > I think Keanu takes a lot of undeserved ...
Ditto.
"Rommel...you magnificent bastard, I read your book!"
-- PATTON
Yeah he does get a lot of flack from people, though i will say that his performances all come across as flat and unemotional, it just so happens that that makes his characters appear to have more depth.
Ive liked most of the movies ive seen him in. Cant think of one i havent liked, though i havent seen all of his works yet.
Totally agree, although I can laugh and understand when people say he his flat/unemotional I still enjoy his perfomances and like you, feel like there is a depth to him.
"60 percent of the time, It works every time..."
I love Keanu, he is certainly not the best actor in the world, but as one said on the board, he has an aura, a softness, a depth to him which comes across the screen, and he is soooooo good looking, its ridicoulous. And i also like that you NEVER see him on pictures in magazines going to parties, like all the others do, i think he doesnt like the attention, that makes him likeable. Sorry for my spelling, Im from denmark, i do my best. I LOVED Constantine, i think its underrated, I really enjoyed it for its fantasy world and darkness.
share"Yeah he does get a lot of flack from people, though i will say that his performances all come across as flat and unemotional, it just so happens that that makes his characters appear to have more depth......."
I agree, Reeves' acting is very flat and it was very much evident in "Something's Gotta Give" where he had to act in a mature romantic comedy alongside Oscar winners Diane Keaton, Frances McDormand and Jack Nicholson. He needs to stick to genre movies but even this movie could have used a little more flesh and blood in the lead role. Would have been interesting to see what Cage could have done with this.
Using 'Keanu' and 'wooden' in the same sentence is like saying you love The Godfather. It just means you're too scared to think for yourself so you just repeat what you've heard everyone else say.
For those of you who actually have an open mind and/or like Keanu, check out his roles in 3 movies no one ever talks about when they mention him:
1) Much Ado About Nothing
2) A Walk in the Clouds
3) Thumbsucker
Oddly enough although so many people love to derogate Keanu for being in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, the whole REASON everyone makes fun of him for that movie is because he was so convincing in the role. It's not his fault he was so great at playing an idiotic stoner that many people were never able to come to terms with the idea that he was an ACTOR. They play different roles--it's kinda what they do.
Sean Penn played an idiotic stoner too, and that role has followed him like a curse for years. Maybe no one should ever play an idiotic stoner during the beginning of their acting career.
I wouldn't recommend "A Walk in the Clouds". It's so cheesy (IMHO), I felt embarrassed for Reeves.
The other two are still in my queue.
I would recommend the following Reeves movies:
• A Skanner Darkly. Some people don't like the way it's done technically, I mean the animation thing, but I tend to side with those who say it contributes to the story.
• Street Kings. People say it's like Training Day, but I don't remember that one much, I just remember I didn't really like it. Street Kings is a really cool movie though, in my opinion.
• The Devil's Advocate goes without saying, and everybody has seen it anyway. Reeves gives the best performance of the whole cast there, I think. Theron's character is just a crazy lady (you don't get recognition unless you play a crazy person, why is that?). Al Pachino's character really reminds me of some other role of his, I just forget who exactly... so I'm not amused by him in this movie.
• Feeling Minnesota used to be popular too, and it's somewhat entertaining. You just have to remember that it's a comedy - they tried to make a Coen Brothers movie out of it. Romance part is just weird, but I do love the scenes of the two brothers fighting, the ones in the second half of the movie. Reeves is funny in it, with all the fainting, and throwing rock and chairs at his brother, and committing crimes :)
Er... Just to be clear - I'm not implying that these are the movies nobody ever talks about when mentioning Keanu Reeves, I just think he did a really good job in them. And Constantine of course.
A scanner darkly is me favorite reeves movie. Phillip k Dick is one of the best sci fi writers and a scanner darkly is one if his best works. The movie really captures what it would be like to fall captive to dissociative drug.
"That's nothing. Once I waited a whole year for September."
- Fozzie Bear
Oh, and since then I watched "The Gift" - Reeves REALLY kicks ass in that one. The scene on the pond, when he watches the cops do their job - oh man, all the emotions on his face really gave away his storyline that gets uncovered later in the movie. Good stuff.
Avoid reality at all costs.
Using 'Keanu' and 'wooden' in the same sentence is like saying you love The Godfather. It just means you're too scared to think for yourself so you just repeat what you've heard everyone else say.
Love this!
It's so boring when people jump on the Keanu is rubbish bandwagon. He's no Laurence Olivier or Alec Guiness or Daniel Day Lewis but he's not Jean Claude Van Damme either!
I think he's very good at certain things and that he excels when he is given strong direction.
He was great in Speed, Parenthood, The Matrix, The Gift and in this film.
Someone above disparaged his performance in Something's Gotta Give, but I thought he played that role really well. Diane Keaton was a fool, a FOOL for picking crusty old Nicholson over Keanu's suave and charasmatic doctor.
Of the films I've seen him in, there's really only one I'd call a poor performance - and that was Bram Stoker's Dracula. But as I've said, I believe the actors didn't get much in the way of performance direction from Coppola on that one.
Everything I've ever told you has been a lie. Including that - George Spiggott
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I do agree. He's an easy target. \Is he an Oscar worthy actor, i wouldn't say so, but he's good in action. In two of the greatest action movies of his day with the Matrix and Speed. Not saying he's the reason those movies are good, but he did his part.
Not Oscar worthy? Simply an action movie star?
Apparently no one has seen My Own Private Idaho or The Devil's Advocate. . .
My DVD Collection: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=8504358
or both bill and teds movies
shareDevil's Advocate is almost really, really good, but that penultimate scene is just too much. You know the one. If that had been toned down a couple thousand notches, the film might have been a real critical success.
"It's that kind of idiocy that I empathize with." ~David Bowie
I can only say that I don't believe a single move or line he said in the movie. The overacting is, to my eyes, and most people whose obective opinion I respect, agree with me. I am talking about this Keanu and Constantine. There is no natural move, face, corporal language I see in him that looks legit. Same thing I found in matrix, but that movie didn't have much acting to be notorious.
I'm watching it right now, despite I like the movie, I cannot detect a single sight of good acting, everything he does or says has that small overacting, exageration, lack of sutilty that natural movement or expresion have.
I don't think a critic where the work "like" is involved can be considered as such. Whatever I like is irrelevant to measure the quality of something, because queality parameters are set and can be measured, disregarding my taste or even if I agree of those parameters. Of course I can make a mistake or get confused
AKA Joe78man
well in the comics john Constantine is a prick, a really big prick so i think thats what he was going for. now i'm not a big fan of keanu reeves but i'm the rare Alan Moore fanboy who liked this and most of the movies based on his work....well except watchmen i've tried watching that *beep* sack three or four times and can't make it more then 20 min in
Every time I see Reeves in a movie and something dramatic/cool happens to him, in my mind he says "Bogus".
shareIt is not undeserved. He destroyed one of my favorite comic books and now he ios going to dothe same with one of the most amazing anime series ever - Cowboy Bebop.
BUT... Hellblazer is in my opinion a kind of difficult movie to be made... very dark, complex and with a lot of mythology to be explained before you can actually enjoy it... I don't know, maybe for the general audience... It's sad they took one of the finest horror comics ever written and dumbed it down for the masses...
Keanu deserves all the hate he receives for this movie and in fact, I think he deserves more, given the fact that most people who haven't read the comic think he was great here... So triste!
Had Jack Bauer been a Spartan, the movie would be called "1"
But many of the changes of comic-film were not his fault. He wasn't a producer. I don't think it's fair to blame him for, say, the butchering of Chas or the completely different view they two Constantines have for Heaven/Hell.
I'm not saying he was great in this movie but I think, generally, people blame him not for his performance but for the product overall.
It happens the same thing with Pride and Prejudice and Keira Knightley. Did the movie have faults? Yes. Is she to blame for all of them? No!
"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop."
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