Constantine (DVD, 2005, Widescreen)

I love this movie. I think it's one of Keanu Reeves' best and Shia LaBeouf is amazing as well, not to mention Tilda Swinton's wonderful portrayal of the very ambiguous angel Gabriel. The story is about a man who has come back from hell and now faces against demons trying to maintain the "balance" between good and evil on Earth. He meets a female cop who has questions for him in the hope that his answers will help her find the reasons as to why her sister killed herself: reasons many knew but very few believed. An ancient artifact comes into play and a deadly demon is brought to the forefront of the story. All of them are connected for reasons that are not made clear at first but soon leave the audience waiting to see the end and how it plays out. The DVD itself contains very few bonus features: the original theatrical trailer, additional scenes and an alternate ending which I think was better than the one used for the movie. But all in all, the DVD is worth buying if you're like me and love the movie. I highly recommend it.

Decent yet very incoherent adaptation of the Hellblazer comic lacks that book's sense of humor and complexity and goes for the gusto in stupidity with a very bad performance by Keanu Reeves, who manages to make his last two matrix films look like masterpieces compared to his work here. He not only sucks the life out of every scene he's in but manages to bring the film down to his level of acting in certain scenes. Director Frances Lawrence tries hard but lacks focus in certain scenes and lacks a sense of continually with his work. He steals from the best but lacks the substance to pull it off. The only redeeming things this movie has to offer is the performance of Rachel Weisz, who manages to give a strong, complex and moving performance despite the fact that the movie is not worthy of it. I would have liked to have learn more about her character and her relationship with her sister, which would have been a much better movie than this film was if they just could have based the film around her character instead of John Constantine. Djmon Hounsou, who was so great in the film " In America" only has a bit part here and he does well with it but I would have rather had him play a much bigger role than he was allowed to play in this film. Peter Stormare, who was so great in the movies "Birth" and "Chocolat", gives quite an unusual take of the devil. Unfortunately, he's not in the movie very much at all. The special effects are good but the way hell is represented here is more a variation of the sets that was used in the film than something completely original. It's a decent film if you're in the mood for this kind of movie but I you will end up thinking that it could have been better once it's over.

Based on a comic (right there you have fans of the comic who hated it before it began production) and starring Keanu Reeves (more people hate it because Keanu is not known for his acting range) Constantine is about a man who owes god a favor for keeping him out of hell after a botched suicide attempt. So now he is an exorcists and general handyman.

The story is interesting, the special effects and makeup are great, Rachel Weisz is always good, Keanu was ok. This is not Shakespeare - and we know how well he did when it was, YIKES! - so he is not completely out of his league but darn close.

Still, it was entertaining. Another "rent before you buy" recommendation and watch out for the giant cockroaches in hell.

First of all, this movie is based on a comic series from DC comics, so if for some reason you have qualms with movies based on comics...move on. Secondly, I've never even read the comics so I can't even make a comparison between the two. This movie was really interesting, though, because the main character Constantine is like some sort of prophet who goes around fighting off the demons of hell who make their way into the Earth realm or into people's bodies. The story is about him helping some woman find out if her sister committed suicide or if she was murdered, but turns into an edge of your seat plot about the son of Satan trying to make his way into the Earth realm. It's a little bit of a horror film, sci fi/fantasy with some action mixed in. The story is creative, the characters are weird and well developed and Reeves isn't totally intolerable in this film. The special effects are pretty cool and the ideas presented aren't something completely fresh, but they're unique and at some points will really make you think. This film was great in my opinion, and I will say that I was skeptical before watching it just because of the fact that Reeves is the main character and it had a mild focus on religious aspects. I sometimes find movies with religious aspects to be a tad on the boring side, but this one had enough other elements and action to keep the religious factor from becoming the completely dominating theme. If you're a very religious person, you may not like the ideas presented within this fim...so be forewarned. Other than that, it's creative, a great story, good special effects and it's packaged quite nicely. I think any fan of fantasy, sci fi or even horror will enjoy this film.

Constantine was an interesting and bizarre movie about demonic forces at work in the world of the future. The movie is set in urban Los Angelis sometime in the near future. John Constantine is a Catholic Priest who performs exorcisms. His unorthodox methods and behavior (he dresses more like a man in black than a catholic priest) make him a church outsider. The movie, a modern twist on the Exorcist theme, was full of catholic theology, some real and some made up.
A truly excellent performance was given by Tilda Swinton as the angle Gabriel.
Keanu Reeves as Constantine is what we have come to expect from his character in the Matrix.