laurasteadphoto I absolutely love this film, could watch it on repeat all day long

cinemajesty Movie Review: "Constantine" (2005)After seven years of directing video shorts for the music industry's frontrunner bands as Aerosmith and sole acts as Jennifer Lopez among others, Director Francis Lawrence gave his directorial feature debut, shot in season 2013/2014, starring just out of the "The Matrix" Movie Trilogy (1999-2003) Hollywood Actor Keanu Reeves, presenting himself with cigarette-indulging coolness as the adult comic character of John Constantine, getting accompanied by stellar in-playing-mood cast members from introducing Shia LaBeouf to about academy-award winning actress Rachel Weisz for her role in "The Constant Gardner" (2005).Further mystical atmosphere spreading black-skinned actor Djimon Hounsou as Midnite, Tilda Swinton as Archangel Gabriel & Peter Stormare as barefoot, white-suit wearing Satan join into a hellblazing mind-twisting showdown in a Turkish bath location of an upper level metropolitan skyscraper, which deserves the continuous strike-note capturing picture by cinematographer Philippe Rousselot of a ninety minutes, director passionately envisioned suspense build-up, from another mind-blowing, yet shock-resisted opening scene in a Mexican desert, finishing full circle with state of the art special effects integration by Richard Alonzo for make-up effects and prosthetic works at Stan Winston Studio as well as Bryan Hirota as CGI effects supervisor and all the other thousands of further associates, which even by today's standards after twelve years on the market, hold up against overloaded Marvel and DC comic adaptations of the last two years.Nevertheless the concluding scene of the picture tears down the endless joy ride of an high-end Hollywood production with a poorly lid as executed scenario on skyscraper balcony; due to pick-up demanded re-shoots by unnecessary putting a fight on producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura & Lauren Shuler Donner against Hollywood ending seeking Warner Bros. Studio executives; under forced re-settings between leading cast members Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz, who apparently could not establish any common basis for an empathetic chemistry anymore, which prevents making "Constantine" (2005) an all time classic for R-rated graphic novel adaptation.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

elise_d Constantine (2005) is a fantastical drama by Francis Lawrence about a man, John Constantine, who possesses the unique ability to see the demons and angels that dwell on Earth. Established to be selfishly motivated, John exorcises demons from the innocent to win the favor of God. Upon meeting a detective, Angela, John assists her in discovering the truth behind her sisters supposed suicide.The most present aspect I noticed in this film is thread. A large topic in the film is the idea of demons "crossing the plane" to Earth and the world in which humans interact. To further this concept, the film continually uses physical planes. While many threads exist, such as the cross, water, and John's cigarettes, I found the glass acting as a means of transport to be interesting. Glass is barrier broken in many scenes throughout the film, as a transparent means of moving from one state to another. In this film, it took the shape of a separating between Earth and Hell, between ignorance and knowledge, and life and death. The film quite overtly expresses the archetype of light vs darkness in its cinematography and storyline regarding religion and demonology. The light and dark can be related to aspects of good and evil, but also that of enlightenment, as described in Plato's The Allegory of the Cave. Most notably, it serves as a social commentary on suffering and forgiveness. I found the film to be fascinating, though the plot, at times, seemed obscure. While there are many aspects I can draw out of it, I do not consider it be a film I would watch again. The resolution left me with little satisfaction and the overt hint at attraction between John and Angela didn't seem to add to the plot in any way, making it a distraction and feel unnecessary. I would rate this film an 7/10.

Uriah43 "John Constantine" (Keanu Reeves) is a man who was born with a gift in which he can see angels and demons as they walk upon the earth. Regrettably, not quite prepared for this unexpected ability and with nobody he can turn to for help, he subsequently commits suicide and his soul is sent to Hell. As luck would have it, however, he is allowed to live again provided that upon his return he helps keep the delicate balance between angels and demons there on earth. In simpler terms, there can be only so many angel and demon "half-breeds" who are allowed on earth and those who violate certain rules have to be sent back to where they came from—by deadly force. But then one day things take an immediate turn for the worse when John realizes that he may be the only person who can keep the world safe from a very powerful demon intent upon breaking the barrier and setting up his own kingdom there on earth. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film had good potential but it suffered from an uneven plot which became more bizarre and ridiculous as time went on. It's almost as if the writers had no clue about Biblical scripture or the supernatural and simply made things up as they went along. Be that as it may, in spite of the rather absurd story-line, I suppose this movie was okay for the time spent and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.