Constantine (2005) - Honest Review

Read Time: 5 minutes

Year of release: 2005
Run time: 2 hr. 1 min. | Rated: R | Genre: Action / Supernatural / Horror | Language: English

Detective Angela approaches Constantine, a demon hunter, to help her investigate her twin sister’s mysterious death. As he digs deeper, he realizes that demons are trying to enter the human world.

Synopsis

As a suicide survivor, demon hunter John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) has literally been to hell and back — and he knows that when he dies, he’s got a one-way ticket to Satan’s realm unless he can earn enough goodwill to climb God’s stairway to heaven. While helping policewoman Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) investigate her identical twin’s apparent suicide, Constantine becomes caught up in a supernatural plot involving both demonic and angelic forces. Based on the DC/Vertigo “Hellblazer” comics.

Introduction

This is my pick for one of the most underrated superhero films of all time. Released in 2005, Constantine was loosely based on a DC comic titled “Hellblazer”. This is the directorial debut of Francis Lawrence, who did what we have all known and loved, The Hunger Games franchise, Red Sparrow, and I Am Legend. Started off with directing music videos for iconic names such as Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears and more.

The intro alone will psych you up for what’s to come. It starts with the introduction of companies that were involved in the making of this film, Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, and Vertigo DC Comics. Using a visual animation of the logos being in Hell. Surrounded by swirling dust and debris under fiery skies. After which we get a quote, saying:
“He who possesses the Spear of Destiny holds the fate of the world in his hands.”
Then cut straight to someone finding the dagger “accidentally”. Then we get introduced to Constantine performing an exorcism on a little girl. It was a swirl of oohh and aahhs and “what the hell is happening” moments, but it was one hell of an intro.

The story starts off with the film introducing us to a well-seasoned, near retirement, version of John Constantine, and we have no idea how he came to be or what happened for him to become THE John Constantine. Most people were in the dark of who he really was, including me. I wasn’t even aware it was based on a comic book character at the time. But even so, it was a thrill ride. The storytelling was good, even though some of the story’s history was kept from the audience, accepting it as it was, is the better move and you’d end up enjoying the film, rather than asking questions about it.

Characters

Keanu Reeves has already established his name in Hollywood, with familiar works such as Bill and Ted, Speed, and The Matrix. Adding this dark superhero film to his belt was just plain cheating. His performance here was stellar and portrayed a broken, cigarette-addict, dying man, whose sole purpose in living was to buy his ticket to Heaven. It’s always a pleasure seeing Keanu on the big screen.
Rachel Weisz is my top pic for female leading actresses, especially during the 2000s era. She was great in The Mummy with a major role, and here as well. Her pairing with Reeves, at first I thought it wouldn’t work, but as I saw them together, it did. An underrated actress in my opinion.
Shia LaBeouf had a minimal role but was effective in being the comedic relief, even though the film is more on a dark tone/theme, his lines were funny enough to not make it feel forced.
This is where I was introduced to Tilda Swinton. I haven’t seen her earlier works, and this put a stamp on my head. Aside from Narnia, these two were iconic and will forever be engraved on my memory. I love all her roles, no matter how small they may be. Her performance always stands out.

Other key characters

The introduction of different beings and creatures were captivating. The Half-breeds, beings who can influence humans with a whisper. Constantine’s team of individuals were also very intriguing. The likes of Father Hennessy, a priest with a rare ability to communicate with the dead. Beeman, he serves as both a supplier of holy objects (weapons) and relayer of information for Constantine. And Papa Midnight, much like the role Winston Scott of the Continental Hotel from John Wick. Supporting characters but acts as giant pillars to the film.

Mixed reviews

At the time of the release of this, it got mixed reviews. Some liked it, some fell in love with it, but there are others that were confused with it. They’re saying that since the intro, they’ve thrown us, the audience, new information with no nothing to show for how it came to be. An example would be the characters, mainly Constantine’s friends, we know what they can do, but they never told us how they met. Even Gabriel, the half-breed angel, and Balthazar, the half-breed demon, both of which played major roles and early on, they’ve shown us that Constantine had a history with them, but we’re in the dark.
In my opinion, I get where they were coming from, but if you just stick with the film and follow its storyline, its not such a big deal. You’ll be able to work everything out without spoon-feeding you information. Granted there will be some infos about the characters and events that we will never learn about. That’s just how it is.

Honestly, I don’t know why DC didn’t continue with this kind of dark tone of filmmaking. It works very well, specially when Zack Snyder’s Justice League (Snyder Cut) came out, Reeve’s Constantine would fit really well in that universe.

Conclusion

This is what you’re looking for if you want a Spawn-ish edgy superhero film. Reeves was great, effects were spot on, even for the year of release. The concept and creatures in the film were fantastic. Highly recommended.