Review of Constantine (2005) by Gabriela C — 02 Jan 2017
Constantine is an intriguing comic book figure in the DC world, a member of the Dark Justice League and one hell of a badass exorcist. He deals with the mystic arts and has faced demons more times than he can count. in 2005 it was the right time to bring Constantine to the big screen and it had a great leading man in Keanu Reeves. However it's execution fell flat and we didn't see quite the comic book character we wanted to.
John Constantine is introduced to us as a unique kind of exorcist. He is tasked by god to send demons who inhabit human bodies back to hell. In the film we see that there is an unusual case of demons trying to break through into the human world. At the same time Constantine is asked by Detective Angela Dodson to help her solve the mysterious suicide of her sister who may have been influenced by demonic voices to kill herself. Constantine helps her out and hopes that maybe his good deeds will finally buy him his way into heaven.
The film started out with one of the most impressive introductions to a main character I've ever seen in the apartment exorcism scene. It should the intelligence, poise and unique nature of he character. The CGI was not bad the demons came out real well on screen. the scene where he jumps up and the demons try to catch him was an extraordinary shot well placed by Lawrence. Lawrences' camera usage is impressive here and so is the lighting. His directing here isn't anywhere near as sharp and focused as it was for the Hunger Games films.
Some of the sound mixing and editing was lazily done I could hear some distinct mess ups in the sound work. the plot was quite shaky I can see the writers stuggled with the incorportation of theological elements. it did get ridiculous towards the end.
On the acting side of things. Keanu reeves performance as the comic book character was pretty solid. It was more on the serious side than the comedic work from Matt Ryan these days. He portrays more of the exorcist or fallen angel that Constantine is with such a zen like calmness. Rachel weisz's character unforuntatly was poorly written. you constantly forget she is a cop weisz makes very little effort to move her away from a damsel in distress type of woman.
This was overall an ok film but not a great one.
This review of Constantine (2005) was written by Gabriela C on 02 Jan 2017.
Constantine has generally received positive reviews.
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