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All Movie Info
Starring:
Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Djimon Hounsou, Max Baker, Gavin Rossdale, Peter Stormare, Francis Guinan, Larry Cedar, April Grace, Nicholas Downs, Ann Ryerson, Stephanie Fabian, Laz Alonso, Barbara Pilavin, Edward J. Rosen, Roberto Kawata, Valerie Azlynn, Gus Lynch, Matthew McGrory, Billy Million, Michelle Monaghan, Martin Pierron, Kevin Alejandro, Jeremy Ray Valdez, Robbin Ryan, Jesse Ramirez, José Zúñiga, Alice Lo, Suzanne Whang, Alice Lo, Tanoai Reed, Quinn Buniel, Connor Dylan Wryn, Jose Molina, C.W. Pyun, Sharon Omi, John Gipson, Eileen Dietz, Bryan Holly, Wesley John, Erik Rusnak, Chad Stahelski, Jhoanna Trias, Andres Londono, Abe Pagtama, R.A. Rondell, Mahryah Shain
Directed By:
Francis Lawrence
Written By:
Kevin Brodbin, Frank Cappello, Mark Bomback
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Constantine (2005)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
January 4th, 2008
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'Constantine' is not a biographical look at the famous Roman emperor, but rather about a man, John Constantine (Reeves), who can see what lurks behind human reality, spotting the angels and demons amongst us. Well, they are really half-demons and half-angels, who are proxies in a war between God and Satan, and can exert influence, whether good or evil, on people, but cannot physically harm them, I think. Constantine is a warrior, trying to buy his way back into heaven by eliminating as many demons as he can, though this is futile, according to the androgynous Gabriel (Tilda Swinton), who shows up every now and then to remind John that heaven rejected him, and the reason for this was because he once tried to commit suicide, and Satan (Peter Stormare) is itching to take his soul down to Hell, and is even willing to come and claim it himself.
John finds out he has lung cancer, caused from constant smoking, so death is inevitable no matter how he looks at it, which is maybe why he spends the whole movie morose and depressed. He meets Angela Dodson (Weisz), a cop whose sister Isabel has killed herself, which Angela refuses to believe, since she was a devout Catholic and knew the spiritual penalty for suicide, which is automatic eternal damnation. Angela reveals that both she and Isabel had visions, like John, when they were children, and Isabel was deemed mentally unstable by their worried parents. So, John helps her find out what really happened to Isabel, even traveling into Hell to see if he can find her.
Hell is portrayed here as a whirlwind of dust and fire; it looks a lot like a big city in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust, and is populated by grotesque creatures, some of which spill over into our world, which is not natural, according to John, and to Midnite (Djimon Hounsou), who takes a neutral position in all of this, and runs a bar that offers fun times for angels and demons alike, and is guarded by a bouncer who holds up cards with pictures on them, and prospective customers have to guess what the images represent, like an inkblot test, but with color. John has an assistant, named Chas Kramer (Shia LeBeouf), who drives him around in a taxi, and doesn't like being left out of the action. Early on, John performs an exorcism on a little girl; he draws the demon into a mirror, where it gets trapped, and then he sends the mirror out the window, shattering it and killing the demon.
He has a friend named Beeman (Max Baker), who provides him with information and gadgets, and lives behind the pinsetting devices at a bowling alley. Satan's son, Mammon, plans on coming to Earth, birthed by a woman with the help of the Spear of Destiny, which was used to pierce Jesus' side, and has been missing since the end of WWII, until it is discovered by a Mexican fellow, who finds it wrapped in a Nazi flag. Movies with mystical religious artifacts (like the Ark of the Covenant) usually do have Nazi villains, but not this time, though it might have made things more interesting. The special effects are consistently impressive, particularly the demon made out of snakes and insects, but the story is bogged down by too many details, and the assumption that anyone cares about them.
Reeves's performance is entertaining in its bitterness and cynicism, but , from the perspective of actual personality, he is rather bland and boring. Weisz is actually not that bad, better than the script requires her to be. Swinton just looks weird, yet still manages to be intriguing. The film should appeal to anyone who likes the graphic novels it is based on; I thought it was, in a sense, sandwiched between They Live and The Matrix trilogy, in terms of its general premise. Whatever the case, some will enjoy it a lot more than I did.
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