Comic Book Movies 101: Constantine

• 20th Feb 2011

Keanu Reeves plays John Constantine, a chain-smoking exorcist seeking salvation from hell after a failed suicide attempt as a youngster. When he’s approached by Angela (Rachel Weisz), a cop investigating the possibly-supernatural death of her twin sister, he tries not to get involved. But as demons start trying to break through into the human plane of existence, he’s forced to reconsider.

Constantine is, simply put, a miserable bastard. And who can blame him? Blessed/cursed with the ability to see half-breed angels and demons, as a child he was plagued with horrific visions which led to a suicide attempt. Although he was revived by doctors, as a suicide he’s nevertheless condemned to take a trip downstairs once he shuffles off the mortal coil. Oh, and he’s also riddled with terminal lung cancer so his days are officially numbered. He earns his keep by rescuing people from demons wherever he can, but not from any altruistic desire to save the world – he’s simply trying to buy his way into heaven before the disease kills him. As he puts it himself, who’d want to be “sentenced to a prison where half the inmates were put there by you”?

Constantine inhabits a shady underground world where souls are treated like currency, holy relics are bought and sold like drugs and God is just “a kid with an ant-farm. He’s not planning anything.” You can’t help feeling sorry for the guy. The words “hard boiled” spring to mind as well – there’s something of the 1940s world-weary gumshoe about him. Although the dame in a scrape who’s come to seek his help is possibly destined to be the mother of the antichrist.

The film is loosely based on Vertigo Comics’ “Hellblazer” comic books with plot elements taken from the “Dangerous Habits” story arc and the “Original Sins” trade paperback. Fans of the comics expecting to see the blonde (originally modelled on Sting) Liverpudlian of the “Hellblazer” books were probably seriously disappointed as this is a more American-friendly (i.e. from America) Constantine. The action has also been moved to Los Angeles and the title changed from “Hellblazer” to avoid any confusion with Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser” series (as filmmakers obviously think we’re all stupid). Despite all of these changes, “Constantine” stands up well all on its own. More importantly, it avoids the trap that lesser films covering this kind of religious subject matter fall into by never taking itself too seriously – it’s aware of what its audience want and it delivers it; camp, action and worthy spiritual dialogue in equal measure.

The story allows for a lot of CGI set pieces (what with the demons and angels and all), but the film doesn’t rely on these or even spend much time on them. Much of it is spent watching people sitting around and talking which, whilst narrowly avoiding interfering with the excellent pacing, means that when the monster action does happen, it’s all the more scary. The film is beautifully shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Philippe Rousselot and director Francis Lawrence’s background in music videos, something which I would usually pour derision on, serves him exceedingly well on the visual front, giving the film something of a punk rock edge. There is some truly terrific imagery here – a man made of snakes and insects, weapons shaped like crucifixes and an epic vision of hell as a scorched city teeming with spindly demonic inhabitants with bad teeth and half their heads missing. Its strength lies in the fact that this is a horribly familiar hell, and all too realistic, like something out of a post-nuclear holocaust nightmare.  

Keanu has a reputation for being a little bit, ahem, rubbish, but as John Constantine’s default position is surly and monosyllabic, there’s not much here to tax him and he inhabits the character convincingly. In fact, Reeves’ dead-pan demeanour and his Matrix-esque gracefulness (especially obvious during the fight scenes) lend credibility to Constantine’s ability to deal with whatever spawn hell has to throw at him. And that’s despite his surfer-like drawl still rearing its ugly head every now and again.

It’s a shame that the film falls down in the rest of its characterisation. The characters surrounding John Constantine are at worst intriguing and at best fascinating, but, despite tantalising titbits, we never learn enough about any of them. Gavin Rossdale as the smooth and lascivious Balthazar is sorely underused, as is Djimon Hounsou as Papa Midnite who has sworn an oath of neutrality (we just want to see more of his club, so exclusive you can only enter if your psychic ability is strong enough). Also bereft of screen time are Beeman (Max Baker) a purveyor of exotic religious artifacts and Father Hennessy (Pruitt Taylor Vince), an alcoholic priest whose ability to communicate with the dead is such a burden that he spends most of his time at the bottom of a bottle of gin in a vain attempt to “keep the voices out”. Tilda Swinton as the androgynous Gabriel, is fantastic when he/she/it is on screen but the character’s motivation is never fully explored. Shia LaBoeuf strikes a slightly bum note as Chas, Constantine’s driver and apprentice (why does a loner like Constantine want or need a sidekick?), although he does provide sporadic light relief in what could otherwise be an unrelentingly grim world. Peter Stormare is a suitably manic barefoot and tattooed Lucifer, stealing the one scene he’s in. It’s a real shame that these tantalising insights as a whole aren’t quite enough to hold the viewer’s interest. Rachel Weisz as Angela, a cop trying to come to terms with the death of her psychic/mental twin sister, is another weak link, as her slavish and over-zealous belief that her sister would never kill herself starts to grate towards the end – although there’s nice chemistry between Reeves and Weisz as the poor woman struggles with the fact that our man would rather smoke a ciggie than snog her face off. What’s a girl to do?

That and the purists’ anger aside, Constantine is a satisfying addition to the exorcist genre and is much better than some of the more recent additions to the field (yes, “The Last Exorcism”, I’m talking to you). But, calling it an exorcist film is doing it a disservice – all in all it’s a solid action film with an existential edge which raises some interesting questions about the nature of the soul and redemption, whilst also delivering some kick-ass visuals.

Emma Wilkin