A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Constantine

Date Viewed: 2/19/05

Details:

Keanu Reeves

Rachel Weisz

Shia LaBeouf

Djimon Hounsou

Pruitt Taylor Vince

Gavin Rossdale

Tilda Swinton

Peter Stormare

Director: Francis Lawrence

Score: 0

The Review: Supernatural semi-thriller -- not even the in-field of the paranormal; very definitely left-field supernatural. Some action and a modicum of adventure as humanity becomes the playing field amidst warring angels and demons (the clue: amber eyes versus red eyes, respectively).

John Constantine (Reaves) is dying, in large measure because he single-handedly keeps the tobacco industry in business and has developed an aggressive lung cancer. He's already died once as a consequence of a failed suicide attempt, and was brought back from the nether-regions of Hell. Literally. Seems he's one of the hybrids (of what, is never made clear) capable of what the Catholic Church might term exorcism -- if it were made aware of the goings-on -- but Constantine has been getting a lot of odd business lately. Seems like there's an invasion of demons on the horizon, somehow tied in with the rediscovery of a sacred artifact. Rachel Weisz is a cop with some paranormal senses, but who has buried her talents under a bushel and suffered the consequences, who encounters Constantine in the process of resolving some bad dreams.

Constantine recycles the canonical pseudo-religious mythos, but in the same way that Blade recycled the vampire mythos -- a bit of inventiveness, a fresh take on warring factions, some curious ground rules that prevent total plot dissipation due to omnipotence, leavened with a bone-weary cynicism and an self-destructive anti-hero with a serious attitude problem. It's eye-opening to this Easterner, if not downright refreshing, to discover that Los Angeles really is hell.

Constantine has some immediate appeal -- after all, he drinks Ardbeg, so he must be a higher-order being. But he's not omniscient, since he drinks the distillery's standard 10- or 17-year old expression, apparently unappreciative of the superior quality of the pre-1976 spirit. Furthermore, anyone who befriends him or tries to work together as colleagues should take notice: the casualty rate for those in his umbra is higher than wearing green shirts on a Star Trek landing party.

An interesting portrait of Gabriel, one of the senior archangels (Tilda).

Borrowed from a DC comics Hellblazer series; decent production values and demonic effects.

(19-Feb-05)

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