Success, total success.

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2005)

Keanu Reeves fights demons, in a movie with Shia LaBeouf, that sounds terrible. But this movie is a fine contrast of terrible, Reeves does the melancholy jackass type with perfection, his inability to show emotion does him favor as John Constantine has the same trouble. The theology of the movie is perfectly done and everything is adequately explained, even though at some points the theology is read in dialog form and it doesn't work to entertain enough. The performances and the casting are done with great excellence, my only two problems in that department were Rachel Weisz's reading lines of her background story and Djimon Hounsou's accent changes, the first couple of lines he had were in cockney and I was excited as hell to hear that, but it faded to American English then back to the creole accent. The story unfolds beautifully with twists and turns I didn't expect, and the direction is spectacular. The scene in midnight's club with the half-breeds and the perfect circle song playing was a cool element, and anytime Balthazar(Gavin Rossedale) was on scene there was a burst of awesomeness in the style of the legendary movie bad-asses. But the Prize of the entire movie is the scene between Satan and John Constantine, Peter Stormare brings in a devlish form of the timeless carachter never seen before. Every time you look at him you get the feeling he's about to burst from his skin, he has an unusual eccentricity that is almost sick, it's totally deranged, almost a Kubric like monster. And any scene that an angel was shown, there was a lightening and outstanding presence on screen, most notably was Tilda Swinton's Gabriel, she played it spectacularly, the angel knows no feeling or emotion but she made a feeling of attraction to Constantine that was delightful, as small a screen presence as she had, it radiated throughout the movie. Shia LaBoeuf's carachter hadn't much use but a failed comic-relief and was lost throughout the movie. Pruitt Taylor Vince was perfectly cast as alcoholic father Hennesy, a psychic priest, his creepy, one of a kind eye movement utilized in Identity served amazingly in this one. All in all I loved this movie, I've always loved theology and history and this was a great touch to that sweet tooth, it's with defiance worth seeing more than once.