Product: Constantine [Blu-ray] (2012)
Rating: 5.0
Hey cynics: worth a look
Putting aside the cheap Keanu jokes, this is his best film of this past decade. The Matrix? Pfft. Yes, I've seen The Lake House, and Something's Gotta Give, and A Scanner Darkly (actually, never finished it), and none of them boast a Keanu performance that can be honestly called 'essential'. He's good, but passable.Surprising, then, that a superhero movie based on an iconic, blond, *English* demonslayer would end up one of Reeves' definitive roles. He nails the jerkiness and been-there-done-that attitude of the character perfectly. (I would have thought James Marsters would be a better fit. Who knew?)Anyone who has seen End of Days will see similarities here. Between the two, I prefer Constantine, if only because the female lead (Rachael Weisz) isn't annoyingly weak in this one. Granted, Angela still finds herself in peril, but at least she isn't a jittery mess, unlike Robin Tunney who had to be dragged place to place by Arnold for the whole movie.The film wouldn't be half the success it is without the dual performances of Tilda Swinton and Peter Stormare as the archangel Gabriel and Satan, respectively. Stormare is supposed to be a surprise, but his version of Satan is already fairly well-known, even if the movie itself is underrated. It just proves that with awesome actors, even such well-trodden ground as a biblical action thriller can be spun in an original direction.