Not a great movie by any stretch, but still worth the price of admission

Rating: 6/10 (9 February 2006)

Let me just start with this. Keanu Reeves is not a very good actor, and, while he tries his best (or does he?), he still ends up bringing Constantine down a couple of rungs.
The thing that surprised me was how this movie was advertised. From the trailers, I thought that this was going to be a movie that was essentially ten minutes of buildup, then-BAM! Keanu shoots demons for the next 70 minutes. No, the truth is that it's about 90 minutes of buildup until finally some shooting happens. Now, with that buildup, the story has to rely on the characters, and this is where Reeves begins to chop into the movie's otherwise fairly engaging philosophical quandaries. He isn't John Constantine, he's just Keanu Reeves in a jacket, with a tattoo on his arm, talking in his normal, almost-but-not-quite-convincing voice to an otherwise great cast of characters. Most noteworthy among them is Rachel Weiz, who owns her character very well as the confused and conflicted Angela Dodson. Other characters are well done and all bring the movie up to a barely good, 7.5 level.
But...if it deserved a 7.5, then why is it getting a 6? Well, that all comes down to the confusing script writing. It's all very vague, and, for all I know, perhaps it was supposed to be that way. But considering that it was the philosophical weight that made Hellblazer such a great comic, Constantine comes off as weak and boring in comparison. At it's root, Hellblazer was about a war between Heaven and Hell, and, more importantly, that war's effects on the people living in the middle, Earth. Constantine, as a movie, never really finds much of a focus, and the whole thing seems very...aimless, random, and kind of pointless. The plot twists and turns like a frightened worm, but it never really goes anywhere, and that is the true failing of the script. It's got character galore (even enough to make Reeves engaging, to an extent), but no real place to put the characters, and not enough force to drive them forward. The movie tries to appeal to both the philosophy lovers, who would completely love the biblical and religious references, and the casual viewers, who just like a good explosion, and it can't really appeal to either. It makes a valiant stand to be a great movie, it's not like the makers gave up, but it lacks the focus and direction that intellectuals would enjoy, and there's not enough gun play and death to keep a normal guy entertained.
And so, much like the titular character, this movie stands at the edge, between light and darkness, bad, and good, it's just...a movie, one with its share of banter and explosions. I'm not ashamed that I watched it, but there were far better ways to spend two hours of my life. It was worth the price of admission, but when there are better movies, ones that can balance out brawn and brains better (cough...the first Matrix...) Constantine feels like white noise, straining to be music. As such, it walks the line between heaven and hell, but never goes beyond the limbo that it seems to be stuck in.
Bottom Line: If you've got nothing else to do, there are worse ways to go than Constantine. However, make it a rent, not a buy. It's really only a movie that will be good one time through.