Engaging from the beginning until the very end!

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2005)

When watching "Constantine" you should completely disregard the comics. It is only based on them, it is not a recreation. When you do that, "Constantine" can be an amazingly good film.
The overall atmosphere is engaging from the first minute until the last, there is not a single moment where you "lose track" of the movie and think of something else, it really gets you into the story.
The comic-book-ish edition of "Constantine" is also very impressive; It focus your attention on a character, but doesn't forget what is going on in the background, always adding an interesting "behind the main scene" effect. Now that's something filmmakers should try doing more often when adapting a comic into a movie, it gives the film a really nice feeling.
It is a rather dark movie, but not like "Interview with the Vampire" in which you had to squirt your eyes to see anything besides the main characters.
The soundtrack is also very good. It's basically rock, yet not too hard as in "DareDevil".
The characters are all pretty well developed and you'll undoubtedly end up taking a liking to one or another. The only one that should have gotten more attention was Balthazar, he really deserved it.
Plot-wise "Constantine" does well: it's not too predictable but not terribly complex either, it's a little bit of both, a perfect combo. The only thing that somewhat bothered me about the ending is "the finger". That was a rather unnecessary scene to the film and to John Contantine's character development-- we all already knew he was a very stubborn, rude man.
Something that also caught my attention was how "couples" were left out! That impressed me immensely and proved that not all movies need a main canon couple, they can do well without real romantic interaction.
** I give "Constantine" 9 out of 10 stars! **