A great movie. Very entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2005)

I've never read anything about the comics nor have i seen any of the trailers in full. So the expectations were for an action movie with little content.
In short it's entertaining. The pacing is excellent in this movie. Very even with no over the top dramatic scenes like in matrix revolutions. The only time it became draggy was nearing the end where the confrontation between the 2 angels could've had a little more excitement. Keanu Reeves is excellent in his portrayal of john Constantine, a tortured soul with a need for redemption. The other characters didn't quite have enough screen time, which would've made the film a lot longer. They could have added a few more scenes where Constantine shows Angela more of the other world, or more fight scenes, but it's pared all the way down without any useless subplots. It's actually quite difficult to portray Constantine's relationship to the side characters without really extending the movie and possibly boring the audience, which is good for those with short attention span, but i wouldn't have minded a much longer movie. So as it is, everyone else except the main characters gets short shrift.
The closest comparison that can be had with this film is Spawn,with effects and the heaven hell slant, but really this film cannot be compared to Omen and Prophecy because with the growing amount of computer wizardry brought into the movies from 2000 upwards, everything else before then is just too unrealistic.
Without the use of an omnipresent adversary, as is usually the case with these films, the enemy is time, and it's a little unfortunate that the screenplay didn't play up the role of the hidden adversary, which would've made the film a lot longer, but would've made the final showdown a lot more satisfying.
This film is great. In a season when there's a lot less action films and a lot of hotel Rwanda, this is a welcome thing indeed.