It took nearly twenty years to announce a sequel to this comic book adaptation. Why the wait? Or is it, why bother? The story, as configured on screen, comes across as THE EXORCIST meets JOHN WICK meets ROSEMARY’S BABY, with Keanu Reeves playing a half-dead/half-immortal soul who’s been to hell and back (literally), now charged with keeping a balance on Earth between Satan’s forces and the Better Angels (also literally). But he gets mixed up with a side drama when police detective Rachel Weisz’s twin sister suicides and he starts discovering her secrets. Or something like that. The story plays like a Special Edition/Out-of-Series Deluxe keepsake print run. Higher price; larger format; squared edge; heavy-gauge/high-gloss cover; a Comic Book aiming for Graphic Novel gravitas. Director Francis Lawrence keeps it in a constant state of CGI motion. So much so, often the film plays better if you don’t pay attention. But generally fun to watch. And, good Lord, Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz were astonishingly beautiful people in 2005. On the other hand, what’s with having the one major Black character in the film named Midnite, as if this were 1937. Sheesh. (Let’s assume the name’s a holdover from source material.) The one actual surprise here may be Shia LaBeouf as a likeable sidekick. Whatever happened to this winning lad? Less welcome is that every single person swallows all their lines. Dialogue harder to understand than a British Crime show set in Wales. (Hurrah for subtitles.) And if you’re looking for an answer to the question posed at the top, you only need check out the expanding, chart-topping grosses on JOHN WICK. This one will play to the same crowd.
DOUBLE-BILL: There’s something of THE CROW/’94 to this. A character also on its way back to the big screen.
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