Not great, but entertaining

Rating: 5/10 (21 February 2005)

John Constantine (Reeves) is a thirty-something detective who hunts a certain type of criminal; they are demons from hell that are now on earth. As a teenager, Constantine tried to kill himself, was declared dead for two minutes, but was brought back to life by some pretty good doctors. Since it was an attempted suicide, he is technically destined for hell right out of box, so he has dedicated his life to trying to get back in the good graces of god by hunting down demons and saving lives. Unfortunately, this doesn't quite cut it because Gabriel (Swinton) is not very impressed. Meanwhile, Angela Dodson (Weisz), a police detective (of the "normal" variety) learns her mentally disturbed twin sister has just committed suicide, and when it is suspected that she was under the influence of a demon, Constantine gets involved to help Angela solve the mystery of her sister's death and to possibly get her out of hell.
The plot to "Constantine" is actually kind of complicated, so hopefully I managed to encapsulate the plot enough to give a hint as to what is going on with the film. Frankly, I wasn't very impressed with the story, but I pretty much enjoyed the characterizations and the visuals. Constantine is a great, complicated character; it is really easy to tell that the film is derived from a comic. His constant search for redemption based on a mistake he made years prior lays a great foundation for a tragic character. Throw in the fact that he has cool metrosexual hair, the always hip white shirt and black suit combo, is an unabashed chain smoker and has such wonderful toys only adds to his appeal as a good character. Reeves actually did a pretty good job in this role; I was really expecting a "Neo II" based on what I was seeing in the trailers, but he managed to distinguish this role well. Weisz's Angela was not bad as far as heroines go, but some of her acting bits were kind of funny, particularly after she "crossed over" in the tub. I really liked the character of Gabriel  Swinton has always been able to play androgynous well, and she brings a lot of class and intrigue to the role. The mirth that she obviously feels when she is dealing with Constantine is obvious, and enjoyable to watch. Though their scenes together are short, they definitely had a decent chemistry. There were other small roles (Shia LaBeouf as Constantine's apprentice/whipping boy, Chas, Djimon Hounsou as Midnite, an intermediary between heaven and hell, and Peter Stormare as a very memorable Satan) that made up a pretty interesting cast.
The only other Marc Forster film I've seen is "Monsters Ball", and though I was less than impressed by it, I was interested to see what he would do with a film that is of a completely different genre. Stylistically, "Constantine" was pretty cool. There was nothing very futuristic involved, but his shots of Los Angeles - both the shiny skyscraper areas and the back street underground-type areas  were pretty stunning. The film itself was actually pretty religious, (and sacrilegious depending on who you talk to) but there was never a time when I felt this theme was becoming overbearing or obnoxious. Unfortunately the film was rife with pacing issues (there was one time when my boyfriend asked me if I was sleeping. I wasn't, but I sure could have been) which really dragged the film down, and frankly I felt some of the intricacies of the story a little complicated for what was, technically, an action film. There is also a moment when Constantine flips off someone (I'm not going to spoil it here) but instead of laughing, which I think was the intended reaction, I wanted to get a big IL' foam finger and flip off the film for stooping to such lameness.
When you mix the good with the bad, you get so-so, and that's how I felt about "Constantine". Actually, time for rumination has probably raised my opinion on it because I was pretty disappointed when I first left the theater on Friday. But upon further reflection, I do think that it is a pretty decent comic book movie, and that overall it was less, rather than more painful than it probably could have been. If I could rate films with a half scale, I would give this one a 5.5/10, but since only whole numbers are allowed, I'm going to give it a 5. If the film continues to do well, watch for a sequel, it's inevitable.
--Shelly