From square one Constantine has that sort of comic book feel to it. Based on the graphic novel: Hellblazer by Kevin Brodbin, Mark Bomback and Frank Capello, the shot composition, the framing, it has that kind of immediacy and salience that connects forcefully. And it brought other films to mind as well, the neo noir of Blade Runner, the exponential special effects of Indiana Jones by way of Angelheart: a fusion of voodoo, Roman Catholicism and detective films like The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep with an emotionless hero who isn’t bad enough to be wicked and isn’t good enough to be noble. In a way, John Constantine is the fulfillment of a long succession of disaffected screen detectives. Keanu Reeve’s lack of emotional range and personal investment is perfect for this role, he can pass it off as apathy or smoldering rage. Don’t get me wrong. Constantine is a great ride, the undercurrent of despair mitigated by shimmering, seething special effects and the twisted withering comedic turns as our hero banters with angels, demons, and their half-mortal counterparts who wander, as he does.Constantine deals in a lot of theological and occult mumbo-jumbo. I am not saying that theology and the occult are mumbo-jumbo, only that in this movie, it all comes at you so thick and fast that trying to make sense of it would only detract from the visceral pleasure of just enjoying it as a busy, dizzy, cinematic roller coaster, steeped in gothic, icky-dreamy iconography. Just when you think you should be taking it seriously another bit of goofiness comes along, and you can exhale. Constantine jerks you back and forth between this stunning, breathtaking imagery and these bleak milieus, where the characters exchange wry remarks to keep them from submerging in despair. One of the great things about this film is how it deals in colossal issues with such utter lack of gravity. It’s just all in a day’s work for John Constantine. His co-star, Rachel Weisz, in the duel-role of detective Angela Dodson and her twin sister Isabel, is as achingly gorgeous as ever, and has just the right touch of grimness and vulnerability.
Director Francis Lawrence is clever in many ways, undercutting the warring factions of Heaven and Hell while continuing to do them justice. Detective John Constantine is more or less caught in the crossfire. Consider an encounter between he and the Angel Gabriel at a liturgical library. Gabriel is played by Tilda Swinton, with her customary eclat and stylish androgyny, wearing a man’s suit. I don’t say this lightly, the fact that Lawrence dresses his key players like fashion models is just yet another way he nudges us in the ribs. Satan in his white summer threads might be a high dollar pimp or bookie. After discussing Constantine’s plight, in appropriately solemn and sanctimonious tones, Gabriel sums it all up by telling him, “You’re fucked!” It’s surprising and funny and I believe this was Lawrence’s intent. Like all other entities, at least in the universe of this film, angels have their own agenda, and the longer the movie goes the clearer it becomes that it’s all in raucous fun. More than once it reminded me of Kevin Smith’s Dogma, only without the waffling.
A great asset to Constantine is the strength of its supporting characters. I never got the feeling that any of the actors were functioning as scaffolding for the stars. Like many of the second string performers in Blade Runner they all seem self-possessed, quirky, solid and busy with their own lives. An excellent example is Shia LaBeouf as Chaz Chandler, Constantine’s disgruntled protege’. You may remember him from Holes, and like the rest, you can tell he was cast after much consideration. At first he seems like a kvetch, but gradually we come to sympathize. I think Constantine succeeds because it’s all just too too much. It’s witty but unimpressed with its own wit. Its scary but funny scary, gaspy resonant scary. The script is just Byzantine enough to be intriguing. It’s like the pope on roller skates, a nun on a pogo stick, Shiva on a trampoline, the devil riding a nuclear missile. It seems inspired by the lyrics of REM: “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” And ironically, it’s got sequel written all over it. Yeah!
Keanu Reeves - John Constantine, Rachel Weisz - Angela Dodson/Isabel Dodson, Shia LaBeouf - Chaz Chandler, Djimon Hounsou - Papa Midnite, Max Baker - Beeman, Pruitt Taylor Vince - Father Hennessy, Gavin McGregor Rossdale - Balthazar, Tilda Swinton - Gabriel, Jesse Ramirez - Scavenger, Michelle Monaghan - Ellie, Larry Cedar - Vermin Man, Suzanne Whang - Mother, Johanna Trias - Possessed Girl