Constantine

Rating: 5/10 (23 February 2005)

First off, since the Xmen series, practically every other comic book movie has been garbage. The only worthwhile comic book movies are the Xmen series and the first Spiderman. Just wanted to make that a point. As for Constantine, I think it was mediocre. The plot was way too pretentious and in combination with Reeves' acting the entire movie just kept sinking and sinking. Now, I am not one of those critics that jumps on the bandwagon for hating on Keanu. He's a sub par actor - thats as far as it goes, no exaggerations. His only real problem is his lack of versatility with expressing emotion - that emotion being believable on screen. Constantine was meant to be a dark movie and it was...but that alone does not define a quality movie. A quality movie has a lingering effect on the viewer as well as what I like to call the "WOW" effect. The lingering effect refers to the feeling the viewer gets after watching the movie, you leave the theater and constantly relive parts of the movie in your minds eye. The WOW effect is that once leaving the theater upon reflection of the movie you cant help but really scream, "WOW that movie was amazing!" For example, the Kill Bill Volumes and Pulp Fiction. The problem with Constantine is kind of the same problem SAW had. The writer/director/producer, whomever, built up the movie way to much and had so many ideas being thrown around and when on screen was hard to put together well. They killed the movie. Also, the running plot of the movie was diminished at the end by an unlikely character and it ruined the movie even further. Aside from that, the special FX were good...but I feel like that has become so commonplace in movies now. If you have nothing to do one day and you feel like wasting about an hour and a half or so of your life I suggest you watch Constantine.