Worth Watching

Rating: 9/10 (21 February 2005)

I enjoyed this movie immensely. I did not find myself looking at my watch or fidgeting in my seat waiting for the film to either move on or end.
I have not read the comic book, so I can not comment how well it did or did not keep to the original story line. The movie uses the fairly traditional good versus evil plot, with the hero having to be one whether he likes it or not. It has been done before, but I found this movie to be somewhat refreshing in comparison to everything else out there.
The supporting cast is colorful and likable. In general, they are used effectively to keep the movie going through their interactions with Reeve's character Constantine. I do think they should have used Shia LaBeouf's character Chas Chandler a little more, but for some reason he seems to vanish at certain points in the movie. Maybe these scenes were left on the cutting room floor to keep the movie condensed and at a reasonable length without killing it.
I did feel some Matrix-like influences on this movie, in the tone, scene site selections, and some of the special effects. But have faith, this movie is not Constantine meets the Matrix. But if you liked the Matrix, regardless of whether you hated Revolutions and Reloaded, I think you will enjoy this movie. It doesn't have the overbearing symbolism or the deafening soundtrack.
If you're a fan of Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Comic Books, the Matrix, or other items along that genre you will hate or love this film. For the casual fan, I think if you want to watch a movie that you will be entertained by I think this is a good choice versus a lot of the other garbage being released today.
But, as always, in the end. Its up to each and every viewer to decide.