Product: Constantine [Blu-ray] (2012)
Rating: 4.0
Spiritual Warfare.
CONSTANTINE follows one story of many in the life of John Constantine (played by Keanu Reeves), an addicted smoker who once tried to took committed suicide as a boy, but was miraculously brought back to life. Since that time he has been able to see the spiritual world manifested in our world wherever he goes. He sees both the forces of good & evil for what they are. However, since he committed the mortal sin of suicide, Constantine is not allowed to enter Heaven. Trying to pay his way to salvation through works, Constantine sets forth on a battle against the demons & other forces of evil to save and rescue as many souls from the clutches of Hell as possible. Along the way, he sends as many half-breed demons as he can back to Hell. Constantine has become so good at doing what he does that they say his is one of only a handful of souls that Satan himself will come to collect when he dies.Anyway, towards the beginning of the movie Constantine performs an exorcism in which a full-fledged warrior demon was attempted to cross over from the spiritual world into our world. This isn't supposed to happen and signals a shift in the balance between good & evil. Constantine knows something big is happening, but he just doesn't know what. It takes him a couple trips to Hell and back and meeting up with a psychic cop to piece the puzzle together and then it's up to Constantine and company to save the world before all Hell breaks loose.CONSTANTINE is based upon the Hellblazer comics and since I've never read the books I cannot at this time comment on the accuracy between the books and the movie. What I can say is that despite the criticism Reeves constantly gets, he does a good job in this movie. For years he has been haunted by the BILL & TED persona, but thanks to a large part to the Matrix, Reeves has come into his own. It is possible that he might now be typecast as a sort of everyman-superhero/action figure, but he fits those roles perfectly.The special effects in the film are pretty amazing, especially the visits to Hell. The action is well-paced and, for an action/comic book movie, the development of the characters is well done.There are certain elements of the plot that are a bit confusing at first (orders of demons for instance or what's the deal with water). There are also some problems with the theology presented in the film. However, if one sits back with an open mind and allows the movie to work it's magic one can be swept away in an adventure that is both entertaing and thoughtful.