Constantine

Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: February 18, 2005

8.4	USER SCORE Universal acclaim based on 689 Ratings

USER RATING DISTRIBUTION

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Review this movie

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please sign in or create an account before writing a review.

Check box if your review contains spoilers

0 characters (5000 max)

User Reviews

User score By date Most helpful

Jailhouse_McGeeDec 21, 2012

I have better things to do than watching Keanu Reeves bad, bad, grumpy mood for 2 hours. Everything about this movie is a mess, and it is dragged down by it's ludicrous premise. Roger Ebert pointed out that all of Constantine had to do wouldI have better things to do than watching Keanu Reeves bad, bad, grumpy mood for 2 hours. Everything about this movie is a mess, and it is dragged down by it's ludicrous premise. Roger Ebert pointed out that all of Constantine had to do would be to go to a priest to get a confession. That's how this movie feels: pointless. It is chaotic, has a lot of bad production designs and a hero nobody cares about, because he is a douchebag that keeps smoking even as he has cancer. The crew must have been giggling from scene to scene, thinking they could get away with this joke of a movie.… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

All this user's reviews

AmbarK.Mar 29, 2010

Very childish Directors should treat the audience with more respect to their intelligence.

0 of 1 users found this helpful

MattOJul 6, 2007

I thought this movie was terribly shallow. It was like watching the Matrix with none of the flair. I'm not comparing it to the Matrix because it's got Keanu Reeves in it. I'm comparing the two movies because Constantine tries I thought this movie was terribly shallow. It was like watching the Matrix with none of the flair. I'm not comparing it to the Matrix because it's got Keanu Reeves in it. I'm comparing the two movies because Constantine tries to actually be the Matrix, with similar settings and moods. Unlike the Matrix, however, this movie doesn't draw you into its world; it just gives you what there is. It's completely shallow, and not worth anyone's time. I should also point out that a wise-assed attitude on Constantine's part wasn't about to save the movie. Neither were the actors and actresses, who are good in other films, but in this one, they seemed to not care. There were no saving factors here. In fact, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have minded if the Devil had won in this one.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful

KoraMay 4, 2011

While I am willing to concede that this movie might be slightly more enjoyable to those unfamiliar with the source material, 'Constantine' does little to make itself anything more than a dumb supernatural action flick. Whatsmore, it doesn'tWhile I am willing to concede that this movie might be slightly more enjoyable to those unfamiliar with the source material, 'Constantine' does little to make itself anything more than a dumb supernatural action flick. Whatsmore, it doesn't even succeed on that front. For those who are unfamiliar, 'Constantine' is very loosely based upon the comic 'Hellblazer' which has been in print for more than 20 years. Both, focus upon the exploits of John Constantine, though the movie has taken a number of liberties with the character. Originally blonde, British, and combining occult knowledge with urban street-smarts, John Constantine is played by Keanu Reeves in one of his worst performances to date. I personally don't have anything against Mr. Reeves as an actor, but his attempts to portray Constantine (by the way, it's supposed to rhyme with Clementine. They pronounce it incorrectly throughout the entire film.) as a troubled man haunted by his past come off as wooden and unbelievable. The one good thing I can truly say about this film, is that it encouraged me to look into the comic. Upon doing so, I discovered that most of the scenes or set pieces, that I found interesting or unique in the film, were taken directly from the comic and that the rest of the plot of the film consisted of nonsensical mythos that doesn't fit into the logic of the comic or Catholicism in general. That's not to say that I found it confusing. It simply didn't make sense. For example, the movie talks about the Demon Mammon who apparently is Lucifer's son. However, in Christian mythology, Mammon is simply a high ranking Demon in Hell, much like Beelzebub. These kinds of inconsistencies make the mythos feel arbitrary at best.

Ultimately this film fails to establish itself as a good action movie, due to poor fight scenes, and excessive emphasis on an inherently flawed mythos. It feels more like a ripoff of its source material than it does an adaptation. I can't recommend it as an action film, as a thriller, or as a horror, so ultimately I've got to give this a 3 out of 10. It isn't completely devoid of enjoyable elements, but isn't nearly as good as it *should* be.… Expand

0 of 10 users found this helpful010

All this user's reviews

ThegodfathersonMay 14, 2013

No, "Constantine" is not part of a trilogy including "Troy" and "Alexander." It's not about the emperor at all, but about a man who can see the world behind the world, and is waging war against the scavengers of the damned. There was a niceNo, "Constantine" is not part of a trilogy including "Troy" and "Alexander." It's not about the emperor at all, but about a man who can see the world behind the world, and is waging war against the scavengers of the damned. There was a nice documentary about emperor penguins, however, at Sundance this year. The males sit on the eggs all winter long in like 60 degrees below zero.
Keanu Reeves plays Constantine as a chain-smoking, depressed demon-hunter who lives above a bowling alley in Los Angeles. Since he was a child, he has been able to see that not all who walk among us are human. Some are penguins. Sorry about that. Some are half-angels and half-devils. Constantine knows he is doomed to hell because he once tried to kill himself, and is trying to rack up enough frames against the demons to earn his way into heaven.
There is a scene early in the movie where Constantine and his doctor look at his X-rays, never a good sign in a superhero movie. He has lung cancer. The angel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton) tells him, "You are going to die young because you've smoked 30 cigarettes a day since you were 13." Gabriel has made more interesting announcements. Constantine has already spent some time in hell, which looks like a post-nuclear Los Angeles created by animators with a hangover. No doubt it is filled with carcinogens.
The half-angels and half-devils are earthly proxies in the war between God and Satan. You would think that God would be the New England Patriots of this contest, but apparently there is a chance that Satan could win. Constantine's lonely mission is to track down half-demons and cast them back to the fires below. Like Blade, the vampire-killer, he is surprisingly optimistic, considering he is one guy in one city dealing on a case-by-case basis, and the enemy is global.
Constantine has a technical advisor named Beeman (Max Baker), who lives in the ceiling of the bowling alley among the pin-spotting machines, and functions like Q in the James Bond movies. Here he is loading Constantine with the latest weaponry: "Bullet shavings from the assassination attempt on the Pope, holy water from the river of Jordan, and, you'll love this, screech beetles." The screech beetles come in a little matchbox. "To the fallen," Max explains, "the sound is like nails on a blackboard." Later there is a scene where Constantine is inundated by the creatures of hell, and desperately tries to reach the matchbox and get those beetles to start screeching.
Rachel Weisz plays Angela Dodson, an L.A. police detective whose twin sister, Isabel, has apparently committed suicide. Isabel reported seeing demons, so Angela consults Constantine, who nods wisely and wonders if Isabel jumped, or was metaphysically pushed. Later in the film, to show Angela that she also has the gift of seeing the world behind the world, Constantine holds her underwater in a bathtub until she passes out and sees the torments of hell. No bright white corridors and old friends and Yanni for her. You wonder what kind of an L.A. cop would allow herself to be experimentally drowned in a bathtub by a guy who lives over a bowling alley.
Together, they prowl the nighttime streets. At one point, Constantine needs to consult Midnite (Djimon Hounsou), a former witch doctor who runs a private nightclub where half-angels and half-demons can get half-loaded and talk shop. There is a doorman. To gain admittance, you have to read his mind and tell him what's on the other side of the card he's holding up. "Two frogs on a bench," Constantine says. Could have been a lucky guess.
There is a priest in the film, the alcoholic Father Hennessy (Pruitt Taylor Vince), whose name, I guess, is product placement.
The forces of hell manifest themselves in many ways. One victim is eaten by flies. A young girl is possessed by a devil, and Constantine shouts, "I need a mirror! Now! At least three feet high!" He can capture the demon in the mirror and throw it out the window, see, although you wonder why supernatural beings would have such low-tech security holes.
Reeves has a deliberately morose energy level in the movie, as befits one who has seen hell, walks among half-demons, and is dying. He keeps on smoking. Eventually he confronts Satan (Peter Stormare), who wears a white suit. (Satan to tailor: "I want a suit just like God's.") Oh, and the plot also involves the Spear of Destiny, which is the spear that killed Christ, and which has been missing since World War II, which seems to open a window to the possibility of Nazi villains, but no.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

All this user's reviews

DzimasDec 28, 2021

Is it just me, or is this film a whole lot like Night Watch from the year before. It is supposedly based on a graphic novel, Hellblazer, but the premise and much of the visual effects seem too much like Timur Bekmambetov's crazy movie thatIs it just me, or is this film a whole lot like Night Watch from the year before. It is supposedly based on a graphic novel, Hellblazer, but the premise and much of the visual effects seem too much like Timur Bekmambetov's crazy movie that was nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture. Maybe Timur drew from the same source material. In any case, Timur's movie is infinitely better than this grossly over the top supernatural action movie, which probably would have benefited from having Nicholas Cage, and not Keanu Reeves, in the title role. At least, Nic has experience in this type of movie.

More perplexing is why Tilda Swinton or Rachel Weisz wanted any part of it. Maybe it looked better on paper. Translated to the screen it becomes an orgy of demonic images strewn together with all the subtlety of someone who makes music videos. Oh wait, that's what Francis Lawrence does. From the get-go, we are dragged into this infernal drama with little in the way of tension or suspense. You know there is going to be hell to pay, the only question is what the body count will be. Keanu looks completely out of place in this movie, as he tries to draw upon a world-weary look of someone who has had to fight demons all his life. He never manages to capture it. The gelatinous white make-up and black eyes don't help either. Rachel is better, just because she is a better actor, but even she struggles to come up with the right expressions for her mixture of surprise and acceptance as the eventual bride of Lucifer. I would attach a spoiler alert but it is so obvious, I don't think anyone will be upset. Besides, if you haven't seen this movie by now, you probably shouldn't even bother.

What got me is all the emphasis on suicide and the eternal damnation one must face for taking one's own life. Surely if God is merciful, he would have a soft spot for someone who takes his or her own life. No, we are dealing with old world Catholicism here, when suicide victims were buried outside the church walls, as if they might be a bad influence even in death.

In Alan Moore's dark world there is no mercy at all, for the living or the dead, with rogue angels like Gabriel making pacts with the devil to give mortals a taste of hell on earth. I suppose in that sense, Lawrence does capture the essence of the graphic novel, but who says you have to be loyal to the story, especially when it is so bad to begin with.

Night Watch did a much better job of capturing the sense of an uneasy balance between dark and light and how easily it can be upset, and it did so on a much smaller budget - 1.5 million as opposed to 100 million. No wonder Hollywood eventually signed Timur to do Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Take my advice, watch Night Watch and Day Watch instead.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews