A fun, smart, and stylish thriller

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2005)

Keanu Reeves returns to play yet another savior in dark clothing, I'm sorry, but no shades this time around. Reeves plays Constantine, a chain-smoker who has been "blessed with a gift" to see the evil and good spirits that roam the earth. During a near death experience, he finds himself in Hell, and having no faith at all, he then knows there is truly a Heaven and a Hell. After finding out where he will end up when he dies, he tries to use his "gift" to buy his way back into Heaven by vanquishing the demons that do not follow the rules of The Balance. The Balance is a wager made between God and the Devil, seeing how each side influences the world without doing it themselves. There's a problem though, apparently killing off the demons doesn't buy him into Heaven, and he will need to do something better than that before he dies of cancer from all his smoking. Constantine soon meets a detective (Rachel Weisz) and helps her figure out if her twin sister actually committed suicide.
Constantine is based on the popular DC comic book, Hellblazer. At first, Reeves isn't what they really had in mind to play the main role, being that Constantine in the comic is blonde, muscular, and British. And surprisingly enough, Reeves did very well. I mean, I like the guy and enjoy watching him on screen, but about 80% of the time, he's just not that good of an actor. As it turns out, he was perfect for the role and played it beautifully. Also, Peter Stormare, star of films such as Fargo and Windtalkers, comes in for a little cameo as Satan. He gives a quirky, yet demented performance in which I thoroughly enjoyed. Director Francis Lawrence has an eye for well, eye candy. The visuals in this film are absolutely a wonder to look at, with the sort of green shade over most of it, not to mention the special effects that came with it. Usually, I can really notice the stuff that isn't real, but this time, everything looked so realistic; the demons, the possessed, Hell itself, it was the best I've seen in a while. From the advertisements I've seen for this film, it looks like an action flick, but is far from it with only one action sequence (which is worth the price of the ticket all by itself) it is more of a supernatural thriller/drama/mystery. This is not another Keanu Reeves Matrix flick. This is spiritual, interesting, smart, and has enough eye candy to withstand that of any other film I've seen for a while. Constantine is a different type of movie all together, nothing like it has ever been done.