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Back Shelf Beauties
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Constantine Keanu Reeves has starred in some of the biggest movies in Hollywood history. Between The Matrix Trilogy, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed and Point Break, he is a major league leading man and action star. However, the mere mention of his name evokes vitriol from 50 - 75% of moviegoers. Why? Sure, he is not the most emotive of actors, but I can think of several who deserve more of your bile and hatred (Brittany Murphy, Tom Green, The Olsen Twins, Freddie Prinze Jr., Hilary Duff). While Keanu might hope Constantine is the movie that changes all of that, he might not want to get his hopes up too high. Reeves stars as John Constantine - a man dying of cancer who committed an unforgivable sin that condemns him to a life in hell when he dies. However, Constantine spends his last days on earth dedicated to stopping demons and other evil entities from corrupting humanity in an attempt to influence his probable fate (I think God has already seen Matrix Revolutions, Hardball and Sweet November, so Keanu is fighting an uphill battle). Now, Constantine is in for a fight even he might not be able to win. A local detective, Angela (Rachel Weisz), is investigating the mysterious circumstances surrounding her twin sister's apparent suicide. However, Angela isn't convinced her deeply religious, but troubled, sister would end her life. When given a clue that leads her to Constantine, Angela and the demon fighter stumble across a dastardly plan with dire consequences for the living. Can Constantine and Angela save humanity from evil? Constantine has an interesting premise where this flawed man tries to make up for his wrongs by imprisoning demons who will be his cellmates in eternal hell if he can't earn forgiveness (kind of like being sentenced to spending of all eternity with an ex-spouse or Courtney Love). However, Constantine is overly concerned with creating a mood and atmosphere while the story suffers. It's not a horrible movie, but the plot takes too long to unfold, and feels imposed towards the end. The script by Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello feels as if it has too many twists that happen because something has to happen, instead of logically building to a shocking revelation with the proper rise in drama and mystery that should accompany these twists. Based on the comic book, Hellblazer, the writers and director Francis Lawrence do a fabulous job establishing the characters, their motivations and their flaws, but the plot needed the same attention to detail. The dastardly plan uncovered by Constantine and Angela comes a bit late in the movie, and the revelations need some foreshadowing so we can feel more excitement as the heroes battle evil. It would help if Angela and Constantine come to the same conclusions we have because we have been let in on the secret, or at least give the audience a better sense of the possible doom earlier on. Keaunu's performance does suffer from that infamous wooden approach of his, but he has some fun with the darkly comic moments in the movie. Ultimately, I was driven to think about what other, better actors like George Clooney or Tom Cruise could have done with a role like this by bringing their usual charm and life energy to it. Reeves is trying too hard to be cool, and doesn't give his character the kind of attitude and energy needed to make the movie exciting. Constantine might be dying and facing an eternity in hell, but he's also a fighter, so that part of him needs to show more. Co-star Shia LeBouef was very funny with the punk attitude his character, Chas, needs as Constantine's sidekick/Robin, but not all of the supporting players do as well. Nothing could match the utter dreadfulness of Peter Stormare as Lucifer. In one of the movie's most pivotal roles, Stormare is extremely and inappropriately campy, almost single-handedly ruining the film's climax by chewing up the scenery and failing to add weighty evil to the role. Stormare usually plays Russian mobsters and low-level hoods, which might be his true calling. While haters might go into the movie hoping Keanu will go to hell, Constantine is not so bad as to make you continue to feel the hate. 2 Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2005 - WaffleMovies.com
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