Adequate movie getting a bad wrap

Rating: 7/10 (19 February 2005)

There are two things weighing this movie down for most everyone (everyone snobby anyway). there is a) the fact that it's based on a comic book to which it is disloyal, and b) the fact that keanu reeves is in it.
to address a: i'm sure the comic "hellblazer" is terrific and don't let me be the one to tell you not to bother with comics, it's just that i'm a movie-oriented person, and the movie constantine was pretty good regardless of what might have been different, or even better in this comic i never read.
to address b: ho ho he sounds like a surfer. ho ho he's an airhead. that was funny to say back in 1992, but he's had a long tenure acting and he's not bad at it. just lay off the man and enjoy the movies.
the rest is all just a fairly good action movie. there are several real eye catchers like a guy getting hit by a car in the beginning, with unexpected results. the exorcism. some other stuff later.
there's an appearance at the end by a character and actor you probably won't expect(unless you check the cast in advance). i was delighted by both.
the action isn't all-out guns blaring brainless junk. it's more subdued and there's a lot of time between these scenes. sometimes there was a feeling of void where more action might go, just to balance out the deliberately slow pace. one more scene would have probably done it.
and sometimes it does feel kind of silly, but hey that's what you're paying for.