Constantine (2005)

20181113, 20181114:
I saw Constantine once a long time ago and (as of 20181113) I vaguely recalled that it wasn't a great movie. Regardless, I found myself being drawn to watching it, perhaps due to the genre and/or topic of the movie.

John Constantine (Keanu Reeves)

In Constantine, the antihero John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) has the ability to see beings from other planes. But having had this ability since he was a child, he went through great pains and eventually committed suicide. Officially dead for two minutes, John was brought back to life and his experience in hell (which feels like an eternity) led him to realize the things he saw on Earth were real. He has since used his ability to hunted down demons as a way to selfishly buy his way back into heaven.

As the story unfolds, we also meet a detective named Angela whose sister Isabel had recently committed suicide. This, however, didn't sit well with Angela and, in short, her detective work and intuition leads her to Constantine. Due to a strange disturbance going on between demons in Hell and Earth, Constantine decides to help Angela and put a stop to the evil that's brewing.

Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz)

Things to enjoy about the film are the special effects, Keanu Reeves performance (e.g., attitude and personality), and the ending sequence (i.e., Constantine and the devil).

As for the story, I thought the story felt disconnected. Most of the pieces were there but there probably needed to be some extra plot to connect it all together. For example, near the end of the movie the protagonist Constantine uses an ability with his arms and we had not scene that ability used prior in the movie; it felt mysterious. I later read that there was actually a scene cut from the film which shows him using this ability; in fact, not only does he use the ability, but using it was shown to put a strain on him.

Overall, the movie wasn't as bad as the residual feeling I had in my mind and I could recommend it to fans of Keanu Reeves.

Balthazar (Gavin Rossdale)

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 93% match. I decided to give the movie a thumbs up|thumbs down|neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

Instant Comments:
2a: This is Constantine. John Constantine. Asshole.
2a: [Sleepy. Paused at 19 minute mark]
2b: "Johnny. Word is... you're on your way down. Fresh meat. Finger-licking good." - Balzahar to Constantine
2b: kismet - destiny, fate
2b: Angela releases the spider.

Constantine makes a visit to Hell

2b: "Look, John. I know you've never had much faith, you've never had much reason to. But, that doesn't mean that we dont have faith... in you."
2b: "Who's a rat in a dress now, huh bitch?"
2b: Ha. "Two hundred dollar shirt by the way."
2b: Lol. I can't watch straight. After he says the Latin stuff and Angela resumes. I have no idea what will happen.
2b: It ended up not being so bad.
2b: Oh. I don't think I realized before the reason why time slowed down.
2b: Breaks the glass window. Slow motion. Walks through the shattered glass. Awesome effect.

Gabriel (Tilda Swinton)

2b: Ha. The middle finger.

Credits:
2b: After the credits end, John is seen visiting Chas's grave. He places his lighter on the grave and says, "You did good kid." As John is walking away, Chas appears with angel wings. My interpretation is that he was always a half-breed, since becoming an angel doesn't have any precedent.
2a=20181113, 2b=20181114

Watched once before.
Watched 20181113 and 20181114 (Netflix, Instant)
Constantine (2005) Francis Lawrence. 132 min

Satan (Peter Stormare)

Relevant Links:
Constantine (IMDb.com)
Constantine (RottenTomatoes.com)
Constantine (MetaCritic.com)
Constantine (film) (Wikipedia.org)



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