Yet Another Animated Comic Book Creature

Rating: 1/10 (23 July 2005)

The trailer for CONSTANTINE made it looking vaguely intriguing: majestic wingspan lifting above Gabriel's head, murky derring-do in the streets of Los Angeles, the presence of Tilda Swinton (always involved - until now - in interesting dramatic films), Rachel Weisz, Djimon Hounsou, and yes, Keanu Reeves. So what happened? Director Francis Lawrence should stick to his prior experience with making music videos. After the first few minutes of this tired and monotonous script (deliver in tired monotonous bland monotone by Reeves) you know you should just switch it off. But then come monsters emerging from the neck of a young girl undergoing exorcism, silly discovery of a lost spear by a border-crossing Mexican peasant in front of whom all animal life dies, suicides, 'up pops a new monster' episodes etc etc. The apparent struggle between good and evil forces seems it may have been the impetus for this overblown mess, but others have done it better - many, many, many times ad infinitum. When will the public's tolerance (? demand) for this genre be exhausted? Grady Harp