Constantine A Decent Comic Book Movie

Rating: 7/10 (6 June 2009)

Constantine is a decent movie based on the DC/Vertigo comic book Hellblazer from director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend). The movie tells the story of John Constantine a supernatural detective gifted with the curse to see half angels and half demons living amongst us disguised as humans who is mankind's only hope for survival against the sinister forces that threaten their world. Keanu Reeves is solid as the title character portraying a man whose trying to buy his way into heaven for a past mistake by ridding the earth of demons because he doesn't want to damned to hell for eternity. Reeves may not get any nominations for his performance but he does a good job with the role of Constantine. Rachel Weisz is equally impressive as detective Angela Dodson who's investigating the mysterious death of her twin sister and joins forces with Constantine to find out the truth. Weisz continues to show her talent in this movie. Well done. The rest of the cast including Shia Labeouf, Dijimon Honsou, Pruitt Taylor Vincent and Max Baker are admirable in their roles but none of them get much to do and lack screen time. The same can go for Tilda Swinton, Gavin Rossdale, and Peter Storemare in a brief cameo role as Satan himself who are decent in their roles but they like some other characters get the short end of the stick. The pacing of the movie did seem a little slow at times too but other then that Constantine is an above average comic book movie brought to the big screen. Its no Dark Knight or Iron Man but it's certainly not like Spider-man 3 or Punisher War Zone. The special effects are state of the art and the few scenes where hell on Earth is shown are magnificently done. It's a nightmarish landscape overrun by demonic creatures from the darkest pits of hell. The music seemed to match well with what was going on the screen and the tone of the film. This film may be a bit light on action but what it does have is some character development, suspense, a few surprises, solid acting, an interesting story, and cool special effects that make for a good movie to watch. It may not be a classic or a masterpiece but the movie is better than some other ones that failed to entertain.