Constantine Review: Reeves Shines, Script Flails

Constantine is a mess, and it knows it. Keanu Reeves stars as John Constantine, a smoker and drinker who can see demons and angels and spends his life hunting them down. He is a man who believes in heaven and hell, even though he has spent years trying to get himself off the waiting list. The movie is based on the Hellblazer comics, and it tries to bring that world to life with big names, big action and a script that never quite gets the shape right.

Trailer, via Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Keanu Reeves and the Lead Role

Reeves is the reason anyone watches this movie. His Constantine is a weary, sarcastic man who has lived too long and seen too much. He is a private detective of the supernatural, hired by the Catholic Church to investigate demonic activity. The role demands a kind of exhausted charm, and Reeves delivers it. He is funny, brooding and genuinely unsettling in the quieter scenes.

The problem is that the script doesn’t trust him to carry the whole film. Scenes are padded out with exposition and dialogue that feels like it is being delivered to explain things to the audience rather than to advance the story. Reeves is left doing a lot of talking about what he believes and why, which is interesting in a comic book, less so in a two-hour movie.

Rachel Weisz and the Supporting Cast

Rachel Weisz plays Angela Dodds, a police detective who becomes involved in Constantine’s investigation after her sister is murdered. She is smart, skeptical and grounded, which makes her a good foil for Constantine’s world-weary cynicism. Their scenes together are some of the best in the movie, particularly when they banter about faith and evidence.

Peter Stormare plays Father Gabriel, a priest who becomes a central figure in the plot. He is a solid actor, but his character is underwritten. The movie introduces him as a man of faith who sees the truth of Constantine’s world, but it never fully explains why he believes or what he wants. This is a recurring problem in Constantine: characters are introduced with purpose, but their motives are left vague.

Sharon Stone plays the Archangel Michael, who appears to Constantine as a human woman named Isabella. Stone is magnetic, but the role is badly written. She is supposed to be a powerful force of good, but she spends most of the movie explaining things to Constantine in a way that feels condescending. The final act hinges on her, and it doesn’t hold up.

The Story and Its Structure

The plot is simple enough: Constantine investigates a murder that leads him to a conspiracy involving demons, angels and the Catholic Church. He discovers that the murder is connected to a larger scheme to open a portal between heaven and hell. Along the way, he encounters a demon named Mazikeen, played by Djimon Hounsou, and a detective named Luis Ramirez, played by Tcheky Karyo.

The problem is that the pacing is uneven. The first half moves slowly, spending too much time on setup and not enough on the actual stakes. The second half speeds up, but it rushes through developments that should have been explained earlier. The result is a movie that feels both too long and too rushed at the same time.

The Action and the Visuals

Constantine is at its best when it is loud. The action sequences are well staged, and the visual effects are impressive. There is a scene where Constantine fights a group of demons in a rain-soaked alley, and it is tense and exciting. The set pieces are the reason people remember the movie, even if they forget the details of the plot.

But the action is also where the movie’s tonal confusion becomes obvious. One moment Constantine is cracking jokes about his ex-girlfriend, the next he is being pursued by a horde of demons. The film wants to be gritty and realistic, but it keeps dipping into over-the-top territory. This inconsistency is frustrating, and it keeps the movie from being taken seriously.

The Ending and Its Meaning

The ending is a mess. Constantine learns that he has been dead all along, and that the events of the movie were a vision of what could have been. He chooses to stay dead, believing that his soul is too tainted to enter heaven. The twist is meant to be profound, but it feels hollow. The movie has spent two hours building toward a resolution about fate and free will, and then it just shrugs.

It is a letdown, and it leaves the viewer feeling cheated. The film has spent its runtime asking serious questions about belief, redemption and the nature of evil, and then it offers a conclusion that is more anticlimactic than meaningful.

What Works and What Doesn’t

Constantine has a few things going for it. Reeves is excellent, and the action sequences are well executed. The film also benefits from a strong supporting cast, including Weisz, Stormare and Stone, all of whom bring energy to their roles despite weak material. The production design is also strong, with a gritty, urban look that fits the tone of the story.

What doesn’t work is almost everything else. The script is poorly constructed, with a plot that is both too slow and too fast. The characters are underdeveloped, and their motivations are often unclear. The ending is a disappointment, and the overall tone is inconsistent. It is a film that never commits to being what it is.

The movie is not a failure. It has moments of genuine quality, and it features one of the best performances of Reeves’ career. But it is also a film that falls short of its ambitions. It is a flawed, entertaining mess, and it deserves a 5.0 out of 10.

action thriller · Constantine · drama · Keanu Reeves · movie review