Review of Constantine (2005) by Sam L — 19 Sep 2010

"I'm John. John Constantine... asshole.".

The above quote just about sums up not only Keanu Reeves' character, but also conveniently summarises the entire two hours of the movie. It's hard, in some ways, not to feel like director Francis Lawrence wasted the premise a little- for such a weighty subject (the eternal struggle between Heaven and Hell), there's very little real thought put into the proceedings to break up the action. In fact, the characters that populate Constantine's twisted, warped portrait of Los Angeles are almost entirely wooden, violent, exceedingly useless or a woeful combination of all three.

But there's John Constantine. Lots and lots of John Constantine.

In fact, as in the movie, John Constantine is the sole saviour of the proceedings- in the film's world, he stands between mankind and whatever fiery death havoc Mammon (the devil's rather emo son) has planned for the earth, in our world he stands between the film and a sorry existence fuelled by the hatred and mockery of all mankind. I think.

Luckily, Reeves pulls it off on this occasion and not without a certain degree of gritty bravado. While the role is totally two dimensional, stereotypical and entirely devoid of even a single redeeming feature worth mentioning, he radiates a James Dean-esque cool throughout that?s captured by a minimalist, guitar-heavy and thoroughly atmospheric score and mimicked by the hyper-stylised visuals presumably courtesy of the years in the music industry of music video aficionado Francis Lawrence.

However, it?s Peter Stormare who steals every one of the regrettably small number of scenes he?s in as Satan himself, deliciously dark and infinitely yet effortlessly sinister as he coolly trades wits with Reeves. He?s playing a balancing act- treading the fine line between bizarrely comical and perversely mischievous- but it pays off, and he leaves his mark on the role of the oldest villain in fiction, drawing from Nicholson?s incarnation and Milton?s vision in equal doses.

All in all, Constantine is a mixed bag- the plot is wholly incomprehensible and one gets the feeling that an element of sly self-parody is not wholly absent in the title role- but even if it?s a case of style over substance, Constantine is simply so damn stylish I can almost forgive it.

Asshole.