A nice dark try with good effects but the writing and uncertain delivery is a problem

Rating: Null/10 (11 August 2005)

John Constantine is a gifted man  he can see demons and is responsible for sending them out of our dimension when they break the rules. When he tackles one exorcism where it looks like the demon is actually trying to enter the earth rather than just possess the person, he feels something is up. Similar incidents start him asking questions and finding answers that he doesn't like. Living within the demon underworld and knowing that his only destiny is hell thanks to his attempt at suicide earlier in life, John is bitter and angry. Meanwhile police officer Dodson looks into the suicide of her gifted twin sister and finds a path that leads her to Constantine and into his world.
I got the chance to look at this film recently and was looking forward to it because it looked like it would be a dark, cynical thriller with action as well. For some of the time it gets close but it never really hits the mark with any consistency. The plot is simple but the manner of delivery didn't help it; it had far too many moments where it wasn't clear what was happening. I wasn't being thick, a few moments where you are left with questions are fine but to have it happen quite regularly was off-putting and broke up the flow of the story. Without this flow the impact of the story and the scenes is reduced. It is still interesting but it can't settle on a mood that helps. The dark, cynical edge is good but it doesn't go far enough; meanwhile the action misses the Hollywood mark by not being that exciting, despite it mostly looking good and being stylish.
The strong effects do help this and they were impressive across the board, supported by some nice touches from Lawrence. At times it gets close to being style over substance but this was a problem that I go into any comic book adaptation expecting to have to forgive (or try to anyway). The cast suffer a bit with the story and also the script, which really doesn't support the dark vision of the director. I don't care if Reeves doesn't look like the comic book character, but I do care that he tried to play it like a darker version of Neo, I wanted more bitterness, more bile, more self-hate  Reeves could say the words to suggest these things but he couldn't convince me he believed them. Weisz is better but she isn't given that many chances to shine. Support from Hounsou, Rossdale, Vince, Stomare, Swinton and others is all OK but the material is where the problem is. I give it credit for being darker than your average comic book Hollywood film but it isn't thorough enough and often it only looks dark, rather than being ingrained through the characters and story.
Overall this is an OK film but one that doesn't get close enough to what it should have been. It is dark and impressive on the surface but the story is badly told and the characters are not convincing enough within this world. I still enjoyed it due to the tone but I can fully understand why many people also dislike it and see missed opportunity, because there is plenty of that around too. Worth seeing but you will be asked to forgive a lot as well.