The anti-smoking lobby seem to be at work here...

Rating: 4/10 (3 June 2005)

STAR RATING: ***** Unmissable **** Very Good *** Okay ** You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead * Avoid At All Costs
John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) was born with a gift he didn't want - the ability to see the half-breed angels and demons that walk the earth. But he is a bitter, cynical individual who has squandered his gift and, after smoking 30 cigarettes a day since the age of 15, has now been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. To round all this off, he's also survived a suicide attempt- meaning his entrance to Heaven has been blocked. In an attempt to avert this, he wars with the earth-bound minions of evil. But when the twin sister of a female police detective (Rachel Weiez) dies in an apparent suicide, he stumbles onto a plot to take over the earth that is much greater than he ever imagined.
Indeed, the anti-smoking lobby are definitely working their guns here, re-enforcing the cancer and premature death message (not to mention it just being a really filthy habit!) in their downbeat, morbid anti-hero with subtle references and innuendo through-out the film. Indeed, there is an off-puttingly dark, bleak feel to the whole film. That's not helped by a story that is confusing and with a desperate lack of emotional attachment to any of the characters. And then, of course, there's Reeves. He may have head-billed some of the most prominent action films of the last ten or so years, but the fact remains, to paraphrase Jonathon Ross, that we are dealing with an "impossibly wooden" actor here, chronically devoid of charisma and lacking the ability to really make us engage in any of his characters.
The whole thing just seems to be some kind of sub-par take on The Exorcist. Some of the special effects and action are good, but unlike Reeves's previous The Matrix (or, hopefully, even Speed!) one can only see a continuation in the shape of a sequel to this series being, well, a really filthy habit. **