I really enjoyed it

Rating: 8/10 (16 August 2005)

I really did enjoy this movie, up until the last five minutes, and was surprised at how well acted and written it was. I am not a religious guy so am unsure of the accuracy with which the Christian/Catholic framework was followed, and I am not sure it really matters. I also have not read the comic book this movie was based on, which is usually for the best as I had zero expectations going in.
Keanu Reeves stars as a spiritual exorcist/detective/general bad-ass who very early on shows us that he is capable and experienced at sending demons back to hell. This is followed by a mystery that twists and turns down the path of murder, demons, angels and hell. All of this is laced together with the suicide of a female cops twin sister, both played by Rachel Weisz. This leads to the inevitable confrontation with the bad guy, Lucifer, and the special effects ridden ending where the good guys win, etc... Sounds pretty formulaic and boring? Well on the surface it kind of is, and while I enjoyed the effects I did not find them overpowering the story. This, in itself, is getting to be a big deal these days. Further, the movie touches on some issues that speak to our humanity and the nature of God and the Devil. In this story, Lucifer is not really evil, he is just an ex-angel that loved god so much and saw humanity as unworthy of God's love. He then decided to show God our unworthiness by tempting us with all kinds of subtle tricks. A word here, a word there...Better yet, we see this in the actions of the angel Gabrielle when she/he tries to bring forth the son of Satan to our world and bring on the whole apocalypse thing.
So while this movie is very predictable, I was still surprised at the message I got from it, and even kinda pleased if you will. So I would recommend it on these merits, I liked it and hope you like it too.