Tenerife Lifestyle Magazine, DVD/FILM REVIEW
July 15th 2005 - August 15th 2005

Constantine

John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) was born with a unique ability and one he didn't ask for.
He sees the world differently to everyone else, as a battleground located half-way between Heaven and Hell, in which angels and demons fight each other for our souls.

In his younger years, this knowledge was too much for him to take, so he tried to take his own life. He was brought back from the dead by doctors, but not before he had briefly entered Hell himself and learned that, as a suicide, he's condemned to one day return there, this time for all eternity.

Armed with this horrific knowledge, Constantine dedicates his life to changing his destiny,hoping eventually to earn a ticket to Heaven. He fights on the side of the angels as a kind of exorcist, living in a cheap apartment in Los Angeles from where he's driven to his battles with demons by his teenage apprentice Chas (Shia LaBeouf) and supplied with weapons by Beeman (Max Baker). However, these are no ordinary exorcisms resolved quietly over a few prayers. These demons need to be imprisoned in mirrors and then shattered to pieces, and to achieve this Constantine has a gun shaped like a crucifix that fires bullets containing holy water.

The plot thickens when two apparently unrelated events take place that signify something terrible is about to happen. Firstly, a Mexican finds a spearhead wrapped in a swastika buried in an old church, then a woman with psychic abilities dives off the roof of a Los Angeles mental institution. This brings the woman's sister Angela (Rachel Weisz) into the plot. As a detective, she simply can't believe her sister would kill herself so she begins her own investigation and finds one name keeps coming up - John Constantine. At the same time, Constantine himself has noticed that the demons have been acting more aggressively than usual lately, and it seems to him that the delicate balance between good and evil has started to tilt in the favour of evil.

The story is basically an adaptation of a comic book called Hellblazer, and merges the concept of the metaphysical horror film with the superhero blockbuster. The film's concept of the universe is certainly a different slant on life, as we humans are apparently caught in the middle of a wager between God and the Devil for our souls, with angels and demons walking among us and influencing our actions by whispered suggestions.

Visually, Constantine is stunning, reaping the benefits of its large budget, and with convincing computer generated effects. It's a gloriously flamboyant look at an otherwise serious subject, and great entertainment at the same time.

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