Dark Vision of Heaven versus Hell doesn't quite measure up ...

Rating: 7/10 (3 March 2005)

When i say 'doesn't quite measure up' I'd better explain.
If your idea of the dark side is the kind of world we are given with the Gothic Hollywood brush of 'Underworld' - or perhaps the more urban street-samurai style of 'Blade' - then you won't be disappointed.
Reeves does a surprisingly good job of the quintessential wise-cracking anti-hero positioned between the forces of Heaven & Hell - and yes the SFX are pretty spectacular. The vision of Hell is particularly well done and a climactic end-scene with 'time-slice' photography and plenty of smashed-flying glass will keep even 'Matrix' fans happy.
So why doesn't it measure up? Well if your dark vision of hell isn't quite so glossy & SFX based as all the above, then you may not be quite so impressed.
In fact one of the problems lies perhaps in disassociating Reeves from his 'Matrix' character - add the sunglasses and he's pretty much there! And also a touch too 'Dirty Harry' or 'Snake Plisken' at times.
And what is the obsession with the current crop of sci-fi/horror genre with faux-techno weapons? Both 'Blade' & 'Underworld' had their 'vampire-vaporising' guns...now we have 'Demon-destructing' crucifix-shotguns.
But i'm afraid my main gripe is that I was a fan of the comics (oh oh comic geek) Whereas I could just about deal with the fact that the chain-smoking, hard-living, British occultist - with the signature ash blonde hair and pale trench-coat - was now a dark-haired American with an almost Armani sharpness to his image; I couldn't deal with the lack of bitter sarcasm and the fact that you were never sure in the comic books whether John Constantine would save the world or watch it burn to make a point. Reeves is made out to be too much the hero and not enough anti-hero; seemingly this version of the Constantine character wants redemption from heaven!
All this aside there were some highlights - Tilda Swinton as the androgynous Gabriel, Djimon Hounsou as the enigmatic Papa Midnight and last but by no means least Peter Stormare as Lucifer. Now that was some great casting - the denouément between Constantine and Lucifer is probably the highlight of the film.
Most of the male audience will probably enjoy Rachel Weisz's performance; she's an attractive lady and brings a real sympathy to her performance (as well as being in a wet T- shirt for the latter half of the movie!) But acting and screen-presence aside I found her character a little flat. And the less said the better concerning Shia Le Boeuf's interpretation of Chas, the East End Cab driver from the comic books, into some kind of plucky side-kick.
In summary i felt like I did with 'Judge Dredd' - to quote another film dramatisation of a comic-book classic. Hollywood has done a decent job of shoe-horning about 3 or 4 great story lines from the comic book into one average action-packed script, made the 'world' convincing enough to uphold said storyline, added an implausible but nonetheless impressive weapon and some other paraphernalia, and updated the image to make it more palatable to a mainstream audience.
But that misses the point with John Constantine - he should be unpalatable!