Review Tuesday: CONSTANTINE [2005]

A friend handed me this movie on DVD and stated that I should watch it. I resisted at first but they pressed me by saying it's a good movie despite Keanu's involvement. Clearly they understood my reservation and set my mind at ease. I gave it a shot.

CONSTANTINE

A supernatural detective tries to prevent the birth of the son of Satan on Earth, which will bring the end of days. 

I remember watching Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure years ago. Well, I TRIED to watch it. I found those two dudes unwatchable. As Keanu continued getting work, I found he was the same guy only dressed differently in each role. I suppose he's a character actor with just that one moronic character to his [dis]credit. As a result he's been high on my NO-WATCH list for years. 

However, years ago when I was in New Orleans for Halloween, they were playing CONSTANTINE at the bar I was having a drink in. It actually looked pretty good. A comic book movie about demons invading the living world? Okay. Rachel Weisz? Okay. Shia LaBeouf and Keanu on one screen? BUMMER!

I had forgotten all about it until a friend put the DVD in my hand and sent me off with it. Last month I watched movie while building models and this was in pole position. 

The movie started off with Chas (LaBeouf) driving John Constantine (Reeves) to the scene of an unusual demonic possession. This set the pace for some sort of a supernatural conspiracy taking place.

For a rather big movie, there's a fairly small cast of characters. For a change, I was actually able to learn and remember everyone's names.

The story and action moves along at a good pace. The special effects are quite excellent. Keanu plays his brooding dude in this movie. He's dying of lung cancer. So that helps the story along because you're not sure if he will even live long enough to save the world. Also huge pluses are that Gavin Rossdale, playing a demon named Balthazar, gets killed in a harsh way and Labeouf gets to die, too! Hell, Keanu got to die too, but the devil sent him back to live. BUMMER!

So, yeah, it's a good movie DESPITE Keanu Reeves being in it. 121 minutes of entertainment.

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