Name: Constantine (2005)
IMDb: link to IMDb
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror Country of Origin: USA, DE.
Cast: Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, Rachel Weisz as Angela Dodson/Isabel Dodson, Shia LaBoef as Chas Kramer, Djimon Hounsou as Midnight, Max Baker as Beeman, Tilda Swinton as Gabriel, Peter Stormare as Lucifer, Jose Zuniga as Detective Weiss, Gavin Rossdale as Balthazar, Pruitt Taylor Vince as Father Hennessy.
Directed by: Francis Lawrence. Written by: Kevin Brodbin and Frank A. Capello
The initial tableaux: The titles say, 'The Spear of Destiny' has been missing since the end of World War II. So what is this spear? Perhaps we will find out.
In the present day, Manuel and friend are sifting debris. Manuel almost falls through some rotten floor boards. Beneath the boards he discovers a spearhead wrapped in a Nazi flag. He walks away from his friend with the spearhead, but is immediately hit by a car. He receives a mark, then rises and trots away, seemingly unharmed. What could this mean?
In the second thread, John Constantine and his allies watch for incursions from hell, and act against them as best they can. Hennessy calls John for an exorcism, and the type of demon that John scotches tells him that something is afoot.
In the third thread, Detective Angela asks her priest for guidance. Her twin Isabel commits suicide. Angela is at a loss.
Delineation of conflicts: Lucifer and company have plans for broaching the barriers to invading Earth. The archangel Gabriel (heaven) and the demon Balthazar (hell) each has plans of his own. John is dying of cancer while he's trying to protect as much of Earth as possible. Angela wants to know what is going on with her life, and what happened to Isabel. Chas wants to get more out of his apprenticeship with John. Hennessy would like to live a bit longer, and help John if he can. Midnite tries to stay neutral between heaven and hell.
Resolution: I thought the film came to a good, though harsh, conclusion. What did you think?
One line summary: In the Catholic mythos sub-genre, my favourite.
Statistics:
a. Cinematography: 8/10 Too dark for my taste, but otherwise fine.
b. Sound: 9/10 I could hear the dialog and the incidental music as quite good. I liked Passive by A Perfect Circle and Take Five by Dave Brubeck the best. Not everybody liked the original work, for instance as mentioned in sound review , but I thought it fit nicely with the subject, cliches and all.
c. Acting: 10/10 Brilliant. Reeves, Weisz, Stormare, Swinton, Baker, Hounsou, Rossdale, Vince, and even LaBoef did fine jobs.
d. Screenplay: 9/10 I thought the dialog was good, and the story threads fit together nicely.
Final rating: 9/10
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