It has its shortcomings but it's still good fun.

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2005)

I looked at the reviews for Constantine prior to seeing the movie. I must say that I was a bit less than optimistic about how good the movie was going to be. To my surprise, I liked it.
Keanu Reeves plays the role of John Constantine. He is a man who has been to hell and returned to earth with the knowledge that he is damned. Rachel Weisz plays the role of Angela Dodson, an intuitive cop who always seems to know where the bad guys are. The two come together when Angela's sister dies in an apparent suicide and Angela gets the help of Constantine to find out if it was truly a suicide or if it was murder.
Constantine is far from flawless but what it does right, it does very well. One could forgive the holes in the plot and a strange animated movement that Keanu Reeves makes every time he shuts the lid on his lighter. The movie's faults don't seem so bad when you notice that you're having fun watching the movie. The interaction between its characters is interesting and the overall look of the film goes back and forth from exotic to spooky.
Francis Lawrence, the director of Constantine, did a fine job considering that this is his first major motion picture. Prior to this he has directed music videos including those of Britney Spears and Aerosmith. One could say that sometimes it takes a fresh perspective such as that of a music video director to add some new light to the theatrical movie scene. Oddly enough, his road is quite similar to that of Russell Mulcahy when he directed the original Highlander back in the 80's. Incidentally, I liked Highlander as well.
There will always be little things that anyone can say to put down a movie such as this one but after watching countless mind numbingly boring movies as of late, it's nice to finally see something that I enjoyed. I also liked the little bonus that is given after the credits.