Well, we German folks have been lucky to have a Constantine preview-screening yesterday in most cities. With the movie being the first big effects-laden feature of the year and the trailers and TV spots being great, I bought my ticket a week in advance and was very eager to see it. Well, I did, yesterday, and here is my short review (with very mild spoilers):


CONSTANTINE:


Just to say it right away, Constantine is not another The Matrix, by any means, even if the marketing suggests it to be that. Everyone who expects Constantine to have breathtaking action, a very well-thought out and innovative story or some deeper meaning to it, will be serverly disappointed. The studio obviously wanted Constantine to ride on The Matrix' success and therefore decided to market it this way.

In fact, Constanine is probably most comparable with the Blade movies. The film deals with a "supernatural detective" John Constantine, played by Keanu Reeves, who can see the demons and the angels that wander on earth. There is a balance between the forces of Heaven and the forcs of Hell and Constanine is the one who sends the demons who break the balance and attack people back to hell. Only this time, there is something bigger coming along the way than just some mere demons. The twin sister of a police officer named Angela, played by Rachel Weisz, has committed suicide. Angela doesn't believe that her sister could kill herself and her investigations lead her to Constantine who reluctantly decides to help her. This all leads to a final battle between the forces of good and evil.

In contrast to the Blade movies, Constanine is more of a horror movie than a fantasy action movie. I mean, it is also a crowd pleaser, certainly, but has more suspense and "horror images" than Blade. Not much needs to be said about the acting in the movie. Keanu Reeves, is, well, Keanu Reeves. I have never minded his acting, but I know that many people do. If you didn't like him before this movie, your opinion on him won't change much. Rachel Weisz is a good actress, but she was definitely underused in this movie. However, overall the cast is pretty good because there are great over-the-top turns by Tilda Swinton as the angel Gabriel and Peter Stormare as the Devil as well as by Shia LaBeouf as Constantine's sidekick and Djimon Honsou.

Visually, the movie is a treat and no worse than th aforementioned Blade movies. Actually, it is even above them. The style and the atmosphere of the film are very dark, the scenes in hell very well-made. The visual effects are mostly top-notch.

The movie's biggest problem is its screenplay, of course. There are quite a couple of plot holes that cannot be easily overseen and the movie is full of clichees which makes it quite predictable from the beginning to the end. The final showdown is a bit anti-climatic because of a use of a deus ex machina which can never be very good. You'll see what I mean, hehe I could care less for the soundtrack as well. The movie seems longer than it should and while the shown action is good, there is not enough of it. Another problem with the action is that there are no real highlights of it, really. The movie really gets your hopes up for a great action showdown in the end of the movie, but then lets you down once again.

Overall, it is good entertainment, but nothing we haven't seen before and certainly nothing groundbreaking. The movie has some really good humor which I enjoyed and I haven't been bored throughout it, so that's good. But don't have your expectations too high, or you will be disappointed. By any means, don't expect a movie like The Matrix. Just another decent brainless blockbuster with great visuals


Rating:

B (7.5/10)

Incredible review Lecter! I can't wait to see this movie. It looks like it is going to be great.

Yay if it's not another Matrix, best news I've heard about it. I just want/expect pulpy escapism with a little action and some interesting supporting characters. If that's all it is then great, that's all Matrix should have been if it hadn't gotten pretentious.

thx for the review Doc i can't wait.
business wise it's a great move for the studio to market it as if it were another matrix.
hopefully the movie itself will deliever the goods.

Saw it and was a bit disapointed. It just dragged in too many parts and there wasn't enough action for my taste. B-/C+

Just like I said, there is by far and away not enough action in this movie and that is disappointing because it had mucn more potential than it delivered.

You don't understand...it's not only that it's not as deep as The Matrix (I can live with that=, it's also that the action doesn't come anywhere close. Really, almost all of the action that is in the movie can already be seen in the trailers.

The Matrix doesn't have that much action in it. It does have the end and a few things spread out through the movie, but we aren't talking about a Die Hard movie. Im looking forward to Constantine still, still sounds promising.

Well, Constantine has less

It's more of a horror-detective story. More investigation than real action.

It is still an entertaining movie nonetheless and there are some really cool visual effects and very neat villains and demons (with the best of them appearing in the middle of the movie)

Seeing it tomorrow, and if it's not a highly overrated movie that has people believing it's "kewl" because the actors wear shades and strike poses for the camera, it won't hurt my feelings. :grin:

Yeh good review.

Thanks for the review, Lecter. I have massive anticipation for this movie (if you haven't noticed...), so I hope to atleast enjoy it.

Hello, I am a new user. I saw CONSTANTINE one week ago at a special screening and here are my humble thoughts..



John Constantine (Keanu Reeves, SPEED) was born cursed with the ability to see the true faces of angels and demons on Earth disguised as human beings. As a teenager, distressed by his macabre power, he commited suicide, but was unsuccessful. Suicide is a mortal sin and before resuscitation, Constantine saw the horrors of Hell. Haunted by the brief vision of Satan's (Peter Stormare, MINORITY REPORT) domain, Constantine dedicated his life to uncovering demons on Earth and returning them to Hell, in hopes of impressing God and escaping his damnation to Hell. But after every success in battle, the archangel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton, VANILLA SKY) denies his request for forgiveness and God's love, inspiring him to return to the darkness for another conquest.

Chauffeured through Los Angeles by a youthful taxi driver (Shia LaBeouf, HOLES) who wishes to be his protégé, Constantine's battle against the demon warriors on Earth grows even fiercer when he learns his thirty cigarettes-per-day diet has caused terminal cancer. If he cannot persuade God to forgive him his mortal sin soon, he will eternally suffer in Hell.

Constantine's allies are few and far between: Only his protégé/chauffeur, occultist Beeman (Max Baker, THE TIME MACHINE), and supernaturally-aware Father Hennessy (Pruitt Taylor Vince, IDENTITY) count themselves as his friends. The operator of a nightclub where angels and demons stand together in neutrality, Midnite (Djimon Hounsou, IN AMERICA), respects Constantine, but fears his actions may be in vain and only worsen the theological war.

When skeptical police officer Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz, RUNAWAY JURY) visits Constantine after her twin sister Isabel (Weisz) mysteriously claims her own life, Constantine is unsure if he can join with her in her search for the possibly supernatural reason for Isabel's action. But when he sees a demon pursuing her, he feels her investigation may run deeper than one woman's death and with Angela he learns the son of Satan may be planning to escape the pits of Hell, an escape which may signal apocalypse for Earth.

CONSTANTINE is inspired by the DC/Vertigo comic book "Hellblazer," created by Garth Ennis, Jamie Delano, and an uncredited Alan Moore. Though the protagonist's cigarette obsession and name remain, the film's John Constantine is American, not British, and dark-haired. These details, most notably the alteration of setting, infuriated many four-color purists and the casting of Reeves, the controversial A-list star of THE MATRIX trilogy, added insult to injury. The title's decades-old fans were fearful their beloved monthly horror title would be translated to the silver screen as a simplistic, unoriginal, and cut-and-paste mainstream product.

I am here to report Warner Brothers has respected John Constantine and though CONSTANTINE may differ in detail to the publication, it preserves the heart and atmosphere of the title. Also preserved are the thought-provoking theological aspects, including commentary on the rules of entrace into Heaven, the line between God's light and Satan's darkness, and the power of sin.

But debut filmmaker Francis Lawrence (who has helmed music videos for such artists as Will Smith, Sarah McLachlan, and Aerosmith), two credited screenwriters (And possibly shadow screenwriting by producer Akiva Goldsman, the screenwriter of I, ROBOT and A BEAUTIFUL MIND), and cinematographer Philippe Rousselot (PLANET OF THE APES, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES) create a very intriuging, beautiful, and atmospheric film with an uneven screenplay that introduces many dynamic supernatural plot points, but has an ungraceful narrative that becomes highly inconsistent in it's final act before ending awkwardly and oddly.

CONSTANTINE opens in Mexico, where a man finds the Spear of Destiny (The spear used to impale Jesus Christ upon the crucifix), is struck by a vehicle, and awakens posessed and begins to race across the desert towards California unaffected by the elements. This is a prime example of the film's flaw: Repeatedly during the film, the Constantine/Angela plot's drive is interrupted by the Latin American's race towards the US. These sequeces feel crudely edited in and the Spear of Destiny's role in the passage of Satan's son to Earth is never truly developed beyond a few brief lines delivered by a villian. The film noir elements of CONSTANTINE are beautiful, but the odd sub-plots (Another involves Bush musician Gavin Rossdale as Balthazar, a demon who loathes Constantine, but seems to serve no other purpose than to toy with him and stare at his sneering face in a mirror in his office) are wretched. The film's focus blurs when it does not concentrate on the fascinating primary character.

Also excellent in CONSTANTINE are the performances. Reeves is an actor who I feel does not earn the proper respect. He's a charismatic star with a special energy rare in modern cinemas. Though his performance in CONSTANTINE is not Academy Award-worthy, its a fine turn for the star and I would appreciate seeing him develop this character in future installments, if box office and critical reviews permit. Weisz, Hounsou, Swinton, LaBeouf, and Stormare are also superb, especially Swinton who's sadly underused as the enigmatic Gabriel.

Lawrence is not a poor filmmaker and for a feature-length debut, CONSTANTINE's a sensation, but I do hope, in future films, he does not allow the story to become unruly in favor of crafting visuals, which are, as I've previously stated, memorable, including one astounding shot of a demon shattering a window and then slowly gliding through the falling pieces.

And if a CONSTANTINE follow-up is greenlit by Warner Brothers, please realize this character is attractive not because of the plots he shoots his way into, but because of his attitude. The simple fact is: CONSTANTINE's not a memorable film, but the lead character is. And in future installments, I pray he's the main focus, not by-the-text-book plotlines.

7/10

***NOTE: After the credits, there is a brief epilogue concerning a character's fate.***

Is anyone else even comparing this to The Matrix. From the trailers, I never thought of the Matrix.

Gotta love Lecter?

This means I might enjoy it.

75% of the critic reviews have mentioned The Matrix in comparison.


World of KJ's first banned member, Goldie??

Exactly what I was thinking.

The fact that it's not like The Matrix is a good thing in my book.

BTW - I couldn't see it tonight. Tomorrow is 100%, though.

When does this come out in UK?!!

I am intrigued now...

I didn't say "interesting and suspenseful investigation"

From Lecter above.

CONSTANTINE: Just to say it right away, Constantine is not another The Matrix, by any means, even if the marketing suggests it to be that

I wish someone would explain this Matrix connections - from seeing the trailers, I never connected it to the Matrix.

-----

And where is this detective thing Lecter keeps going on about. Everything is told to you straight out. Plus he has his sense where he knows what is happening. So it isn't that or is it horror.

It is more of a thriller with him being an exorcist or a executioner of thoise beings on earth.

Hmm considering the whole trailer looked like it was channeling to another realm like eXistenZ and the Matrix, I see the reason why people connect it to the Matrix

OK, thanks, I just never took it that way.

You didn't see andaroo's post above? Buy glasses.

Well I disagree with those 75 %.

Or maybe I should hire your detective. Cause I don't agree with that either.

I finally saw Constantine last night, and to say I was impressed would be an understatement. I was completely and utterly blown away. Those of you who have said it's more of horror film than an action film are totally right, and I honestly wouldn't want it any other way. It plays perfectly as a horror film. It has such an amazing story that to dilute it with random, five minute long action sequences would be a crime. And oh man, what a story it is. There is seriously enough nuances and subtexts in the film's story to spawn it's own cult following. It's not just the story that is loaded with these little touches, either. The film itself has them, too, and they just add this incredible layer to the film. For example, a man carries the Spear of Destiny north to California which would be a fairly pedestrian event in most films, but in Constantine he walks past a "Got Faith?" billboard, gets hit by a car (a stunning and shocking image, sort of like the "Rabbit In Your Headlight" video from that band UNKLE a couple years back) and walks away unscathed, and has livestock dropping like flies as he walks by them. Also, a cursed priest finds that alcohol bottles refuse to empty their contents into his mouth but as he throws them to the floor they empty out, Satan himself leaves footprints of tar on a tile floor, and a witch-doctor-turned-bartender (the bar he owns is an incredible sight, as it's lite with a harsh, glowing red light and filled with "half-breeds" doing bizarre things to one another) lends Constantine a haunted electric chair so he can literally go to hell. Speaking of hell, the hell portrayed in this film is one of the most unique i've ever seen (time stops when you die, and hell is the exact place you've died - just filled with demons with half of their heads cut off and fire and brimstone). Looking back on this review, I realize it's become more of a description of all of the cool things in this film. It may seem like i'm grasping at straws here, but i'm really not. Constantine is the kind of film that you just have to see to believe. I've never had such a hard time writing a review for a film that I absolutely loved, because the reasons I loved it were the "little things", and those are so hard to put into words. Just know that that nearly everything about this film just works - the visuals (which have a great film noir look to them) are stunning, haunting, and beautiful on a consistent basis that i've seriously never seen before (Francis Lawrence is a huge talent to watch out for), the film itself moves at a great, slow pace and just lets things build to a crescendo and let's things move naturally without the use of annoying action scenes. It's the first comic book based film i've ever seen that isin't made for ADD youth, but for adults that can let a film build naturally and beautifully. So, yeah, I loved Constantine. I think it's a tremendous film, and I can't wait to see when (and if) a film will top it this year. I give it an A-.