Confusing and convoluted, but action was good

Rating: 6/10 (20 February 2005)

Looks like our world is in peril again. It would seem as if The Incredibles and Spider-Man didn't rid us of all the evil in our midst last year and we have to turn to ole stand-by Keanu Reeves to again come to the rescue of us mere mortals.
This time round, Keanu plays title character John Constantine, a supernatural detective who is anything but your quintessential hero. John drinks, chain-smokes and generally is not the most approachable person in the world (think of him as like your in-laws on valium). But John does have a gift  the ability to see the demons and angels walking amongst us, and John uses this gift to try and gain acceptance into Heaven by deporting these evil spirits back to Hell.
See, God and the Devil seem to have made a wager for the souls of mankind. Their only real rule is to have no direct contact with humans, just influence. That meant that demons and angels are our neighbors, our cashiers and our business partners. They are all around us.
It also just so happens that the son of the devil himself is attempting to encroach our world by using the demons to directly impact the lives of certain humans required for the rebirth of Lucifer Jr. As they say, rules are made to be broken.
This plan is brought to Constantine's attention through detective Angela Dobson (Rachel Weisz) who is investigating the suicide of her twin sister. Angela is in denial about her sister's decision to jump off the roof of her hospital and solicits the aide of reluctant Constantine to help assist with what was obviously evil intervention. Or something like that. The two then put together the evidential pieces bit by bit which leads to the eventual climax full of shouting, screaming, shooting and suicides.
Sounds exciting, huh? Wonder why it wasn't.
Constantine is a mess of a movie that gets by on style and special effects. Based on the comic book 'Hellblazer', it is yet another movie based on a hero of the illustrated page that you would be excused if you had never heard of it (following Hellboy and Punisher). The problems with the film are that it seems as if there is one scene of action followed by an explanation followed by another scene of green screen madness then more revelations as to why what just happened happened. If the film isn't explaining itself it is preparing and setting up another scene of our enlightenment. And when things can't be explained, well, then there is the Devil's bible which contains passages not found in the standard King James version or high level angels and demons that seem intent on revealing important plot points without as much as a feather to the underfoot as necessary truth inducing torture.
All this made it more confusing than a film of this nature should be. With strong roots and references of Catholicism I couldn't help but think anyone without better than basic religious knowledge might be even more confused or uninterested than I was. It was kinda heavy fare for a movie who's trailers lead me into the theatre expecting to see great action and demonic exorcisms.
Don't get me wrong, the action sequences were above average. In fact, the introduction to Constantine as he exorcises a demon from a young girl was high tension and very well crafted. So to were other scenes of fright and fancy that you can get the gist of through any of the commercial advertisements. The design of hell, the ripping of Angela through an office building and a demon made of cockroaches and snakes were all original which allowed me to forgive the mass annihilation of demons at the local hospital which seemed ripped directly from the first Blade movie.
Giving a movie two and a half stars out of five means we could go either way with our verdict. With Constantine, I am giving it a small recommendation even if there seems to be more negative words than positive in the review above. This 'recommendation' is based on the performances (specifically Weisz who looks to be pretty interested in the material even if it probably made no sense on the scripted page) and the special effects. That doesn't mean that Constantine is a good film, but you could do a hell of a lot worse.