Keanu Reeves Against Hell

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2005)

Anti-tobacco advocates will applaud the action-packed Keanu Reeves supernatural saga "Constantine" (*** out of ****) for the way that rookie director Francis Lawrence seamlessly integrates a public service message about the horrors of nicotine into his otherworldly, special effects-laden, metaphysical melodrama. Simultaneously, comparisons between Reeves' "Matrix" trilogy and "Constantine" are inevitable. First, like "The Matrix," an unseen world exists in "Constantine" that nobody knows about except those that battle audacious demons in an eternal war between Heaven and Hell. Second, just as the heroes transported themselves through telephone wires into the hidden world of "The Matrix," the protagonists in "Constantine" follow a similar procedure. Basically, they immerse themselves either partially or wholly in water, so they can cross over into the fiery netherworld. Mind you, "Constantine" diverges enough from "The Matrix," so that you cannot truthfully call it a "Matrix" knockoff. Although this grim but entertaining Warner Brothers release concerns subject matter similar to that in "The Exorcist," "Rosemary's Baby," "Spawn," and the "Prophecy" and "The Crow" movies, "Constantine" manages to carve out a niche all its own. Swiftly-paced, gorgeously photographed by Oscar-winning lenser Philippe Rousselot, with an anti-social, chain-smoking, lung cancer-afflicted hero; a pretty sympathetic heroine, and several intriguing (or perhaps blasphemous) twists on Catholic theology, "Constantine" provides enough thrills, chills, and cheeky humor to make it worth watching more than once.
As John Constantine, Keanu Reeves plays a natty "Men-In-Black" type enforcer who acts as an exorcist of sorts in a perpetual war against evil on Earth. In an early scene, Constantine banishes a skeleton-like demon with half of a skull from the body of a young Hispanic girl. The exorcism doesn't go as easily as Constantine had anticipated, so he appropriates a 300 pound mirror to trap the fiend in and send it to a shattering death. Afterward, Constantine gets the feeling that something just ain't right. Demons have never behaved this rebelliously and Constantine is worried. According to the script by Kevin ("The Glimmer Man") Brodbin and Frank ("Suburban Commando") Cappello, angels and demons can influence humans, but they cannot intervene in their everyday affairs. Unlike most humans who have doubts about Hell, Constantine has no doubts. Born with an uncanny curse to recognize demons on buses as well as anywhere else, young Constantine tried to take his life, but the doctors managed to save him. Nevertheless, during the two minutes that he lay clinically death, our hero toured Hell and saw enough demons to commit him to his current course of action. Constantine serves as a sort of INS agent who--as he says in one scene--"deports" demons back to Hell. Since he committed suicide, Constantine hopes that his reputation as the toughest demon buster in Los Angeles will earn him grace in God's eyes and a place in Heaven. The angel Gabriel (played by "The Beach's" Tilda Swinton as an androgynous entity with wings) doesn't think that Constantine stands a chance in Hell of entering Heaven.
Meanwhile, L.A.P.D. Detective Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz of "Chain Reaction") is grieving over the apparent suicide death of her twin sister Isabel. Isabel (Weisz in a dual role) who took a header off the top-floor of the clinic where she was being hospitalized and plunged to her death. Despite her best efforts, Angela cannot get the Catholic Church to give her sister a proper send-off. When she sees the surveillance camera footage of Isabel's suicide, Angela hears her sister utter Constantine's name. Eventually, Constantine and Angela team up to take on hordes of dastardly demons. While this occurs, a homeless Hispanic dude has unearthed the Spear of Destiny, the same spear that a Roman soldier jabbed into Christ's side at Golgotha, which he finds wrapped in a Nazi flag in Mexico. This invincible spear-carrier sets out for Los Angeles, and nothing can stop him! Seems like there is a second-coming at hand. But it has nothing to do with Heaven. That's just for starters!
Although the Brodbin & Cappello script has some flaws in its logic, "Constantine" is still an exciting, high-octane, summer-time, occult actioneer. Brodbin and Cappello do a good job of laying out the ground rules for dispatching the demons, but it appears as if some of the plot hit the cutting room floor in this two-hour plus, R-rated epic. Nobody has time for sex in this gritty, dark-edged, demon-infested nail-biter. Although it contains horrific elements, "Constantine" doesn't qualify as a chiller. This movie won't give you Technicolor nightmares unless you smoke cigarettes like a chimney. Purists who have read the DC/Vertigo comic "Hellblazer," which served as the basis for "Constantine," may complain because the protagonist was a profane Englishman. Word is that they Anglicized the hero, because Keanu didn't want to fool around with an accent. As hard-boiled as this tale is, the filmmakers supply more than enough humor to off-set some of its more unsavory subject matter. At one point, Constantine traps a spider under a glass, blows cigarette smoke into the glass, and settles back to watch the arachnid with the comment: "Welcome to my world." No sooner has our hero said this than another character frees the spider from its glassy prison. Interestingly enough, "Constantine" isn't the first movie where a Keanu Reeves character has gone to Hell. Does anybody remember "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey?" Further, "Constantine" isn't the first movie where Keanu has met the devil. Anybody remember "The Devil's Advocate?" Constantine" also represents a reunion for Weisz and Reeves who co-starred in "Chain Reaction." Finally, if you do see "Constantine," stick around after the end credits for one more scene that ties up a loose thread in the plot.