Product: Constantine [Blu-ray] (2012)
Rating: 4.0
Good movie. Too bad it didn't do well enough to expect a sequel.
Despite the poor critic reviews, I found that I still enjoyed this movie. Keanu Reeves fit the role of Constantine nicely, but I will admit to a bit of bias in liking most every movie he has starred in. Tilda Swinton played a great angel, Gabriel - at least within the confines of Gabriel's plotted role which I believed to be a bit farcical. That was my only real complaint about the movie plot - that it was premised upon Gabriel betraying God and allying with Lucifer's son to bring hell to Earth. But then to be fair, The Prophecy trilogy are among my favorite movies and they are premised upon Gabriel leading a rebellion against Heaven and attempting to wipe out humanity.The story kept a quick pace, perhaps too quick at points in that they didn't really explain much of Constantine's history nor really give much of anything to add any real depth to his character. They seemed to make everything shallow and thus simple. That he is an uncaring prick that is self destructive with booze and cigarettes. It is also asserted by Gabriel that he is trying to "buy" his way into heaven by banishing demons to hell to atone because he committed suicide (though was resuscitated) as a teen, an act deemed a mortal sin destining him for eternal damnation. He was shown briefly as a boy being tormented by the sights of demons and parents who put him through hell by putting him in institutions and allowing electric shock therapy while he was fully awake and without pain relief prior to his suicide and resuscitation. That is all we are shown about his character. There is nothing about his allies, who they were and how he met/came to work with them. They were simply throw aways rather than being used to tell us more about Constantine and his history.I can only assume that they did this because there was an expectation/assumption that the audience be familiar with the comic series. There was certainly little here to really familiarize the character of Constantine to the audience and thus it didn't really create much emotional attachment to his character by the audience. This perhaps more than anything is what damned this movie to poor reviews and poor box office showing.In any case, despite its poor showing in box office revenues, I do hope to see a sequel some day and preferably with Keanu Reeves as Constantine again. Hopefully though with a better defined character that can connect with the audience.