Good Occult Thriller

Rating: 8/10 (6 March 2005)

For the record I have read Hellblazer, the source of this film, and I do like the comic.
Also for the record I do like this movie a great deal as well.
Is it the comic? Thats open to debate. I think in many ways it it is. I think the problem is that they've made a film about a very complex character who's been developed over hundreds of issues and distilled him down to what a mass audience could take in.(remember this is a character that runs in DC's alternative, non "mainstream" Vertigo comic line) No, he's not English, its not set in London, and its not always night and raining, but other than that I think they have the feel. Keanu for my money is pretty good. I think the problem for most people who read the comic is he's not a snarky Brit and therefore its not Constantine. I think he's fine and his performance takes other bits of his personality and brings them to the forefront. Its no different than the way different writers have handled the character over the years.
As a movie its a very good. Its not high art and its not Silence of the Lambs scary, but its a really good thriller with neat visuals and a creepy attitude. Any movie that can keep me up and awake until almost two in the morning when going in I could barely keep my eyes open, has to be a very good film.
I must single several of the supporting cast, Tilda Swinton as Gabriel and Peter Stormare as Satan. Both give great performances, though Storemare's devil who desperately wants Constantine's soul is flesh crawling evil at its finest. Talk about evil incarnate.
The plot has to do with the "re-discovery" of the Spear of Destiny, the attempt of the son of Satan to take over the world, and the investigation of the supposed suicide of an LA detectives twin sister. Its not giving anything away to say they are all related nor that there intertwining forms a pretty dark path.
This is a really good movie thats worth seeing if you're into ghoulies and ghosties and things that bump in the night.