Review of Constantine (2005) by Goran D — 10 Jul 2011

Visuals that will blow you away, but an underwhelming overall package. Based on the character from the Vertigo series Hellblazer, John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is a supernatural detective, and here he is investigating a suspicious suicide case.

I have read one trade paperback of Hellblazer on Garth Ennis' run, so I am not as familiar as I would like to be with the series, but I will soon remedy that, because I did really like what I read.

This movie feels nothing like what I read. Sure, they made him a chain-smoker and they have supernatural elements, but they never grasp the essence. For one thing, they got Keanu Reeves, and Keanu is not John Constantine in any sense or resemblance (but at least they had the common sense to not have him attempt the British accent).

That said, there was nothing that he was doing that peeved or irritated me, and I was able to accept him doing what Keanu does. What the fatal flaw of Constantine really is is that there is nothing to hold it all together.

None of the characters have any definable arcs of any importance, and that alone gives you no reason to care. It's not even that interesting of a story when you get down to it, especially when you consider the source material they had to draw from.

The reason I am rating this as high as I am is solely from a visual perspective. The cinematography is faaaantastic; in fact, it's so competent, it makes it downright shameful that everything else isn't up to snuff.

The visual effects rock, and I love the aesthetic about everything in this movie. This is a movie that is destined to get played on mute at a party, and it's so disappointing that they got it so right and so wrong at the same time.