Much better than expected

Rating: 7/10 (12 February 2005)

Constantine is a surprisingly good movie if you don't have preconception about what to expect. The movie is a cross between Matrix, Exorcist and Prophecy. Unlike many other movies adapted from comic, Constantine has a decent story and the writing quite good. The visuals and FX are done quite nicely except that the demons sometimes look a bit cheesy.
Keanu Reeves does not fit the description of John Constantine from the comic but that is totally fine with me because the movie does not write the character the same way anyhow. It would be really scary if Keanu tries British accent, dye himself blond or use sarcastic remarks liberally. He plays up the weariness and vulnerability of John Constantine, not the heroic aspects. Not a conventional approach but it suits the movie quite nicely, just like Parker in Spiderman 2.
Other actors are good too but Tilda Swanson's Gabrielle has too little screen time to establish her importance in the whole conflict. Apart from that, Lucifer acting like some guy from a casino in LV is such an old trick and a bad fit when they portrait Hell as a furnace with alien-like demons. I much prefer a quiet, menacing Lucifer with contempt for mankind like Viggo Mortensen did for Prophecy.