Product: Constantine [Blu-ray] (2012)
Rating: 5.0
Moody, dark, genre-busting piece
I've been struggling to come up with a category for this film since I first saw it. Not horror, not sci-fi. Thriller? Not in the conventional sense. But I do know one thing - it's completely engrossing, and had me ruminating on the themes and ideas it brought up long after I left the theater.There are so many times this movie could have become overblown - thanks to the surprisingly skillful hand of director Francis Lawrence, that never happens. It is fantastical, but not silly. Full of dark humor, but no cheese. It takes its time in telling its story, evolving steadily but always holding interest.Keanu embodies John Constantine with all the wry cynicism and aloofness the character requires, managing to make you care something about this chain-smoking, hell-sentenced wretch dying of lung cancer. There are quiet moments of humanity that shine through at the most unexpected of times, and Reeves plays John's emotional arc with a deliberation that most people wouldn't give him credit for. Constantine's body language and demeanor are the anti-Neo: getting up in peoples faces, invading their personal space, harassing them for answers, etc. With his jet black hair, pallor and atypical facial structure, he almost looks like a fallen angel himself. He carries the movie with ease.Rachel Weisz is stunning as always; her Angela Dodson is a strong, layered female character that deftly avoids being the damsel in distress. She and Keanu's Constantine make a brilliant, if reluctant, team. And for once, whatever romantic tension there is is left unresolved - just another cliche this movie manages to do away with.The film makes no qualms about the fact that it is presenting a mythology, not a theology... yet it is still very much reality-based, the grit of LA left untouched and the people flesh-and-blood. Slick, ugly, beautiful, human: it's all here. "Constantine" is destined for cult status. It may not get its due recognition right now, but its audience is out there... the fan communities already being born for the movie are testament to that.