Review of Constantine (2005) by Meritcoba — 11 Feb 2016

Hodgepodge is a word that springs to mind after having seen Constantine. Not in a bad sense mind you, but more in the way that the movie intersperses impressive moments with lesser ones. Overall I was amused by Constantine as he is portrayed by Keanu Reeves: a chain smoking film noiresque anti-hero whose has the gift to send demons back home: back from where they come: Mexico.. eh Hell. He reminds me a bit of Rick Deckard as played by Harrison Ford in Blade Runner in the way he seems like the same kind of a loner, more prone to silence than chatting and possessed with unique skills or powers in the case of Constantine.

Here however the two deviate in what I find the lesser -Constantine- and the better one -Deckard -. While the latter has skills, but otherwise isn't really different that you and me, the first is special because he has unique gifts. This is is because Constantine is another one of those marvel heroes bestowed with special powers. Something that seems to intrigue the American mind to the point of bafflement. For a country that so advocates the idea of being able to make oneself: from rags to riches they are oddly fascinated by people inflicted or blessed with supernatural powers by birth. While these two angles seem to be in opposition, one is achieved, the other 'bestowed' it really isn't in the result: either way the person involved soars above the humdrum of the grey unremarkable masses of people. It is something intrinsic in the culture I guess.

The movie makes sure that we never get bored. There is a lot going on although in the rush they kind of forget to develop the tale well. It almost feels like someone took a stack of dc novels and cut out the best parts and turned them into scenes. So it feels like the movie jumps from one scene to the next without slowing down to establish character or take a breath. This jumble of, granted otherwise cool images, makes the movie sometimes laden with scenes that feel superfluous and feels unfocused. There are lots of scenes around the guy who picks up the spear of destiny, an important object in the story, and who makes his way to an unknown destination wreaking havoc on the way. It is almost glued onto the movie as an afterthought and the guy who picks up the spear is a total nonentity. He isn't even given a single line of text but gets a lot of screentime.

The mix of better and lesser parts is also visible in the way the camera is handled. At times there are cools shots one of which is where the camera looks down on Reeves and LaBeouf exiting a building and pausing for a short moment in the most left of the screen in front of the doors so Reeves can light a cigarette. The next shot however is a run of the mill wide shot. And then we switch to the topshot again when Reeves smokes.

This messiness can also be seen in the cast. Reeves runs into incredible cool characters like Gabriel, played by Tilda Swinton and Satan, portrayed by Peter Stormare, but others, notably the main female lead played by Rachel Weisz, who plays the damsel in distress, are unremarkable.

The story itself notably suffers from a lack of focus because there is no visible enemy to combat. Most movies focus on one particular enemy, usually assisted by lesser ones who get knocked about before the main enemy is tackled. In Constantine the real enemy is mostly an unknown quantity. It is like fighting shadows.

Finally the powers of Constantine detracts from the story as well. At various moments he suddenly has some kind of unannounced power that he demonstrates to make the story move forward. It feels like the makers of the movie attribute some powers to Constantine because they got stuck in the storyline.

Since I use a strict system of 0,1,5,9,10 I give this one a 9 for it is certainly not a 5.