"Dogma" + "The Matrix" - what made them great = Constantine

Rating: 6/10 (22 February 2005)

Keanu Reeves plays John Constantine, a man who has the ability to see demons in other people. He's dark, misanthropic, and anti-climatic. See, he died when he was sixteen (for 2 minutes on a suicide attempt) and went to hell. Of course he didn't like it much so now he banishes demons in order to 'buy' his way into heaven. The plot of the film picks up when cop Angela Dodson (The wonderful Rachel Weisz) approaches him about the apparent suicide of her twin sister, who was institutionalized. She believes something paranormal caused the death. What unfolds is an apocalyptic scenario...
Sounds good. Too bad it was written poorly.
Keanu is Keanu, in probably his worst performance in a long time. His character is somewhat boring and an asshole, making it hard for the audience to bond with him. Although he does have a few good lines and scenes, his performance is disappointing. Weisz is great, but she can't carry the film. The rest of the cast is either underdeveloped (see Pruitt Taylor Vince's and Max Baker's character) or misused (Djimon Hounsou, Tilda Swinton, Gavin Rossdale).
The story line is also annoyingly incomplete. *SPOILERS* Why does the devil's son want Constantine or Angela? What the hell was going on at the end? The point of the Mexican? Whats the point of him having cancer? I didn't really like Stormare as Satan that much. But I didn't find Shia LaBeouf as annoying as others did.
Basically the plot had loose ends. A lot. And not in a way where you're dying to see the sequel either.
On the positive side, I loved the cinematography, and I'm not big on camera-work. Its a promising start of full length motion picture direction for Francis Lawrence. And there were plenty of neat ideas in the movie (IE God isn't all knowing, he's just playing a betting game with Satan for souls), but they're underdeveloped too.
Overall it gets 6/10. Probably a movie you can wait to rent.