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Constantine
Reviewed by Rich Drees
John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is a damned man and he knows it.
Cursed with the ability to see the agents of heaven and hell who
walk our world trying to influence mortals to good or evil ends, he
tried to commit suicide to escape the horror of what he saw.
Although doctors ultimately reviewed him, the two minutes he spent
clinically dead at his own hand were enough to send his soul briefly
to hell. Twenty years later, Constantine has become a known in the
supernatural circles as fierce, chain-smoking exorcist, figuring if he can save
enough mortals perhaps Heaven will relent his punishment and accept
him in. To complicate matters, he has just learned he is dying of
lung cancer and has only a few months to live. As he tells one character in the film while explaining his
predicament, “How would you feel if you were sentenced to a prison
full of inmates whom you had sent there?”
Such is the basic set up of Constantine, the new supernatural
horror/action film based on the horror comic book series
Hellblazer from DC/Vertigo comics. Don’t be fooled by this films
source material though. The Hellblazer series is far removed
from any kiddie-lit stigmata that may still accompany comics. It has
its origins in the mid-80s comics’ renaissance when writers began
bringing more mature themes and elements to their stories in an
effort to appeal to older readers. And the film adaptation doesn’t
back away from the material.
After the apparent suicide of her twin sister Isabel, policewoman
Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) asks Constantine to prove that her
sister didn’t take her own life. The investigation introduces Rachel
to familiar territory for Constantine, the underground culture of
warring factions between Heaven and Hell. But Constantine realizes
that Hell isn’t playing by the rules set up between Lucifer and God
and soon the two are racing to stop the unleashing of a literal hell
on Earth.
Constantine marks the second comics to film adaptation, after
The Punisher, to have appropriated some plot elements
created by British comic book scribe Garth Ennis. Although altered
to fit in with the main plot, Constantine still makes better
use of Ennis’ cancer/John avoiding going to Hell subplot than The
Punisher did with the elements it used for its story. However
here, the arc of Constantine discovering that he can’t buy his way
into Heaven but will have to earn his redemption is a nice addition
to the source material.
Reeves handles the role of John Constantine well, distinguishing it
from his other trench-coated persona from the Matrix films.
While some comics fans may fuss about the changes made to the source
material for the film, Reeves’ complexion is far darker than the
original comics’ character design based on blond British rocker
Sting, the character works well in the movie. Constantine is a bit
more rough-and-tumble in his cinematic incarnation, willing to go
toe-to-toe with a demon armed only with a pair of brass knuckles
engraved with crosses. Because of his brief visit to hell, he is
also in a unique position. Since he has firsthand knowledge of the
existence of Heaven and Hell, he will never have the unknowing faith
we are told is required for salvation.
Refreshingly, Constantine avoids much of the faux-gothic and
leather fetishistic trappings that have accompanied other recent
supernatural-themed films like Underworld and the Blade
trilogy. Instead, the film uses designs that recall more traditional
Judeo-Christian imagery for the first angelic and demonic
characters, while it’s vision of Hell is Los Angeles filtered
through brimstone and
Hieronymus Bosch. (A caveat to devout Christians who are sensitive
to how elements of their religion are portrayed in films.
Constantine plays fast and loose with a lot of religious elements so
proceed with caution.) |
