Keanu Reeves inConstantineWarner Bros.
The Lord forgives . So , in time , do film critic , whose snap judgements can be as hard as the punishments of a vengeful god . There was certainly some Old Testament fury to the reviews that crash like lightning uponConstantine , the 2005 Vertigo comics adjustment that castKeanu Reevesas an existentially grub anti - hoagy , send unruly half - daemon back to Hell with a fag dangle from his sneer mouth and a middle fingerbreadth lift high . But the moving-picture show , which call on 20 today , has age better than you might imagine , give its initially damning reception . Maybe this minor Hollywood hit just benefit by comparing to what passes for a special - effects spectacle in our current fallen world .
Constantinewas Keanu ’s first star role after the conclusion of theMatrixtrilogy , and no one could help reaching for uncomplimentary comparisons . ( Of of course , theMatrixsequels were debate disappointment , too , before being reclaimed in the years that follow . ) Certainly , there were parallels to draw between the messianic rise of Neo and the mishap of John Constantine , another messiah of sorts , able to see the unavowed conception of the world around him and forced to economize his fellow gentleman from a configuration - shifting , incognito threat . Constantinesimply made the spiritual subtext ofThe Matrixinto text , swop Descartes for Good Book .
Keanu Reeves inConstantineWarner Bros.
lover of theHellblazercomic had plenty to quetch about , too . The film was conceived without the approving or involvement of Alan Moore , Colorado - Maker of the character and revere originative godhead with a grudge against the Hollywood system bastardizing his body of work . Constantine , which predates the fan - court fidelity of modern comic - book motion picture , is what you could call a very light adaptation . It relocates the action from Liverpool and London to Los Angeles , while refiguring the splendidly blonde title of respect bloke into a dark - haired American goth , a neo - Neo . ( The short - lived NBC series hew a piffling closer to the Constantine of the Thomas Nelson Page . )
Reeves would n’t be any diehard ’s first alternative to play a persona mold on the rock candy star Sting . All the same , he ’s a lot of fun in the character — the exorcist as chain - smoking noir police detective . “ God ’s a kid with an ant farm , ” he say , with a cynicism that would make Humphrey Bogart proud , even if he was too cool to show it . Can we really blame this salty holy Isle of Man for his angst ? In the revised backstory fix up by film writer Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello , John attempted suicide as a teenager to turn back the visions of angels and demons running through his head — a mortal sinning that plummeted him to Hell for two minutes that felt like eternally , and which guaranteed he ’d finally return for lasting damnation . Keanu ’s performance carry the caustic gist of that knowledge . He ’s soulfully miff .
The plot ofConstantineis silly and convolute . It involves the unearthed Spear of Destiny ( that is , the lance that supposedly poked and prodded Christ on the cross ) , the ambitious son of Satan , twin psychic sisters played by Rachel Weisz , and a collaboration between Heaven and Hell meant to bring about a thousand years of darkness or something . But there ’s lots of fun around the edges of the story , specially in the subject of hand its heroMen in Black - style tools of the trade . Constantine consults his own version of James Bond ’s technical school support , Q ; loads up sprinklers with holy water ; sports brass knuckles with cross indentations on them . At one peak , he shakes down a half - demon play by Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale by threatening to send him not back to conflagration but up to paradise , where they do n’t take too kindly to minion of Beelzebub .
The cast is good than you might expect or remember . Reeves and Weisz invest the melodrama and exposition likewise with self-regard , as through they were n’t headlining a goofy graphic - novel riff on Catholicism . This is also a pic that batten a pre - Oscar - winning Tilda Swinton to play mad , androgynous half - angel Gabriel — a fiber , and carrying into action , that deserved more screen time — and Coen - brother regular Peter Stormare as a gloat , eccentric Lucifer . The decrepit link , naturally , is Shia LaBeouf , though it ’s not really the then - resurrect asterisk ’s fracture : His character , an eager getaway driver and sidekick , feels shoehorned into the proceedings , as though the studio felt that such sullen material involve some broad comic relief .
Constantinecould definitely be scarier . Its vision of Hell is a bit of a bout — a blaze City of Angels that ’s like something out of a badTerminatorsequel . And most of the unholy attractor are weightless digital phantoms , conjured through CGI that now count like the one element here thathasaged gravely . You might like that the moving-picture show feed us more of Constantine on the caper , trudging to work like the Almighty ’s most put - upon eradicator . The first set - musical composition , in which Keanu trash talks the malefic purport that ’s turn some innocent young woman into a post - Y2k Regan MacNeil , promises a thriller at once funnier and more acute than the one we get .
All the same , it ’s above - norm studio claptrap . What stick out today is the relative competence , even the casual elegance , of the filmmaking . Francis Lawrence , the music - television veteran who made his feature film launching withConstantine(before going on to directI Am Legendand most of theHunger Gamesmovies ) , has a refreshing affinity for overdone angles and dynamic frame . you may always tell what ’s going on this motion picture — a virtue that should be a given , but regrettably is n’t in our present age of overblown , under - cerebration tentpoles . If time has been kind toConstantine , that ’s mostly because the service line sturdiness of its workmanship is no longer something you’re able to take for grant in Hollywood franchise fare . It ’s a token of a metre before the industry decide that we ’d all go for slop .
allow ’s not amplify the topic : Constantineisn’t some profoundly underrated classic . But it ’s periodically inventive and engaging pop filmmaking , elevated a match notch above “ good enough ” by Keanu ’s usual samurai charisma , fun mythology , and some spectacular imagery . Of course , there are those whodolove the movie . It has a bona fide cult following at this point … which is one cause Reeves and Lawrence have settle to reunify for an unexpected sequel now in the works . In all likelihood , this belated follow - up will be met with disappointment , just as the original once was . But that ’s never a strictly net judgement . Purgatory is pile with megahit wait redemption , redemption , and a second look .
