Effects hurt it

Rating: 7/10 (3 March 2005)

A great idea and theme was hurt by over the top digital effects. Although the scenes in hell were quite effective and cool, getting attacked by cartoon demons looked really bad. It should have been a lot more subtle and metaphorical with the whole "good vs. evil" theme but I suppose in order to be a blockbuster it had to try to appeal to the masses and be as literal as possible. Aside from the obvious similarities to The Matrix, there is a lot of great ideas in this movie that really delve into theological history. I never really got absorbed into this movie though and it could have been a lot darker in tone and in presentation. This film has nothing to do with film noir, but for some reason that is how it is often being described. Also, the sidekick that Constantine has is utterly pointless and was obviously thrown in for comic relief. Tilda Swinton is awesome as Gabriel and Rachel Weisz is quite effective as a torn detective. It's worth seeing, but it's definitely not a classic.