Better than Spawn, I guess.

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2005)

I never found myself feeling involved by the film (it never seemed like a problem to stop to answer the phone / make a sandwich etc.). It's pretty, with some nice effects, but not amazing. More a collection of scenes & images, with a threadbare plot linking one to another.
The visuals are (almost) arresting - a post-apocalyptic (almost Terminator 2) vision of Hell with 'Lord of the Rings' style demons. Exorcist/Zombie style possessions. One shot of demons in the night straight out of 'Pitch Black'. Lucifer played not as a fallen angel, as a fat, odious looking evangelist. Gabriel as a tall, strong, somewhat androgenous figure (but still with nice hair and funky laced-flares white jeans). Balthazar(?) as a Jude Law-ish yuppie. Transitions / visions / premonitions are all very slick, but ultimately lightweight. The bug demon screams CGI, as does the floor dragging at the end. It's all a bit too 'perfectly rendered' and might have had more weight - literally and figuratively - if the effects were more a mix of CGI, make-up, modelcraft and puppeteering. Rachel Weisz seems to be stuck with some bad lines, an under-developed character, and avoids a blatant opportunity to take her clothes off. But this is Hollywood, where sex is evil but violence is cool. Keanu is Keanu, which I don't have a problem with, but doesn't bring much in the way of characterisation.
Although a comics fan (including Vertigo) I never read Hellraiser, and cannot comment on the translation - but I won't be holding my breath for a sequel. And maybe it was my DVD, but the dialogue seemed very muffled and quiet - I even watched sections with the subtitles on. 'End of Days', 'Devil's Advocate' and 'Dogma' are all better films than Constantine.