 CONSTANTINE
MPAA Rating:
 for violence and demonic imagesReviewed by: Chris Monroe Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
 Primary Audience:
Adults
Genre:
Action/Adventure, Suspense, Thriller, Fantasy
Length:
2 hr. 1 min.
Year of Release:
2005
        Relevant Issues
SATAN AND DEMONS SATAN - Is he a real person that influences our world today? Is he affecting you? Answer POSSESSION - Can Christians be demon possessed? Answer HELL Is there an actual place called “Hell”? Answer Why was Hell made? Answer Is there anyone in Hell today? Answer Will there literally be a burning fire in Hell? Answer What should you be willing to do to stay out of Hell? Answer How can a God of love send anybody to Hell? Answer What if I don’t believe in Hell? Answer HOW TO STAY OUT OF HELL What is “repentance”? Answer What is “redemption”? Answer What is “forgiveness”? Answer What is “salvation”? Answer Are you good enough to go to Heaven? Answer God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity SUICIDE What does the Bible say about suicide? Answer If a born-again Christian commits suicide, will he go to Heaven or Hell? Answer EVIL How did bad things come about? Answer CANCER - Where did it come from? Answer What was Adam, the first man, really like? Answer ANGELS What does the Bible teach us about angels? Who or what are they? Answer
HEAVEN Hell wants him. Heaven won’t take him. Earth needs him. Producer’s Synopsis: “John Constantine has been to hell and back. Born with a gift he didn’t want, the ability to recognize the half-breed angels and demons that walk the earth in human camouflage, Constantine (KEANU REEVES) was driven to take his own life to escape the tormenting clarity of his vision. But he failed. Resuscitated against his
will, he found himself cast back into the land of the living. Now, marked
as an attempted suicide with a temporary lease on life, he patrols the
earthly border between heaven and hell, hoping in vain to earn his way to salvation by waging war on the earthbound minions of evil. Based on the DC/Vertigo comic book Hellblazer. Review: Employed by heaven, but doomed to hell, the hero of the theological thriller Constantine seems more inconstant than constant regarding his final destiny. His purpose on earth of exorcising demons remains fixed until a terminal disease will eventually claim his life and seal his fate. But maybe.just maybe, there is hope for him and humanity. John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) was born with a gift to see into the spirit world. Overwhelmed at a young age, he took his own life and saw hell, but was miraculously spared and allowed to live. Now fated to hell because of this sin, he works, begrudgingly, casting out demons and battling evil in the spirit world. After an indifferent introduction to a police officer named Angela (Rachel Weisz), John decides to help her investigate her twin sister’s supposed suicide and open her eyes to the spiritual battle raging all around them. When a spiritual gift of Angela’s resurfaces, she becomes a pawn for the devil, and John must decide if and how he will save her. This movie is packed with thrills and scares and does include some frightening images. One scene in the beginning shows a possessed woman having a demon exorcised out of her. Other scenes involve flurries of demons flying around the main characters, as well as some moments where they visit hell. The images are scary, but also give us a fresh visualization of things that really do exist. There are also some other violent images involving someone being hit by a car and more than one character dying. There is some foul language, including using God’s name in vain - some of which seem to be a play on words at times. The premise for the film is based on some definite biblical ideas, such as heaven and hell, angels and demons, but also exaggerates some biblical ideas and makes them more fantastical. One example is the reference to I Corinthians 17, a chapter that doesn’t really exist, but here they say was “recovered.” The other is the idea that the devil is going to have a son enter the world by a weapon that was supposedly used to kill the Son of God. Still, the story does have some biblical basis, and can challenge one to think about good versus evil, God and the devil, suicide, repentance, and sacrifice. [See relevant issues q&a] Though this film is heavy with atmosphere involving demons and spiritual evil, it is not devoid of uplifting and encouraging moments as well. At one point, the angel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton) shares the Gospel with John. Gabriel tells John that there is sin, but if you repent, God will forgive you. Gabriel also encourages John in the midst of all the evil and says that it’s only in the face of horror where we find our most noblest self. He goes on to say that horror is brought to us so we can rise above it. By the end, there is also a change in some of the characters when they come to believe that God does have a plan for them. While interviewing the director, Francis Lawrence, he explained that his goal for this movie is to entertain. His parents were both scientists, and refers to them as “lapsed Catholics.” So this religious understanding, as well as the logic of science that he learned, gave him some guidance in how he directed this story (which is based on a DC Comic). Lawrence believes that this film presents a story about good versus evil, and is ultimately about a sacrifice that brings about redemption. And regarding the similarity of John Constantine’s initials and those of Jesus Christ, he said it is tough for him to talk about, since that is the name of the character in the original comic book. This film won’t satisfy all of your theological questions, but it can certainly provoke you to perhaps look more closely at significant spiritual issues. They are not always simple to bring up and talk about, but this movie is an entertaining way to get you thinking about them and perhaps start discussing them. Violence: Heavy / Profanity: Heavy / Sex/Nudity: Minor
  Neutral - Hollywood loves demons and angels and loves to make Catholicism the backdrop for movies based on them. “Constantine” is secular religiosity traded in for the truth the Bible presents. As entertainment, “Constantine” does not fail. The special effects are top-notch, the scares are there and the plot (if one can get past the convolution of Christian teachings) is interesting. Althogh “Constantine” is tricky. It is not all wrong. There is the definite acknowledgement of spiritual warfare that exists amongst us in another plane. There are instances where faith is expressed as pertinent to salvation when Gabriel (interestingly played as an androgynous human) tells Constantine there is a difference between knowing and believing. What was also interesting was Constantine’s placement of Heaven and Hell. Neutral - From a purely entertainment standpoint (meaning that you’re not really applying your grey matter to anything in particular), this is a decent flick. The cinematography and artistic quality is nothing unique but it’s still interesting. The acting could be dubbed “not bad” but it’s nothing that I felt as though I could jump into. This is an easy movie to just sit back and stare at while absently stuffing overpriced junk food in your maw… which I wouldn’t recommend because A) you’ll get fat and, B) you’ll get fat.
Well, to anyone who earnestly seeks the truth you can see where truth becomes fiction in movies such as this. Believers and Non-Believers alike certainly have real fears to contend with in life so it doesn’t help when movies like this scare people into thinking there’s a demon waiting to leap on you and chew out your guts. The true reality of this world and the spiritual battle being fought over our souls is scary enough! Positive - I thought it was very good. Grant it, many mainstream Christians won’t understand that many of the offensive ideas are actually Biblical. Some, of course, are not. But it is a secular movie about a Christian topic (of a comic book no less) and needs to be judged as such. I’m glad a secular movie included the plan of salvation, and showed how the vile of us can be saved through repentance and self-sacrifice. Not air-tight, but a great conversation starter, huh evangelicals? Do you know how big that is? That is great! Negative - Reeves appears to be sleep walking thru this one… Constantine apparently wants to
be both good and bad, and Reeves is so listless at times that no one really cares one way or the other. Constantine triumphs, and yet there is the feeling of loss, dejection, and boredom. Apparently this was the director Francis Lawrence’s first film; he has previously directed music videos, and if this film is any indication, he should probably begin looking for a new line of work. The story-telling has to be among the worst I have ever had the misfortune of seeing; the plot development is horrendous, several scenes are tossed in for no apparent reason, other areas of the so-called plot beg to be developed and are left ignored. Positive - I enjoyed Constantine for what it was, a great action movie. The elements of occult were not used in a way that would offend anyone who would actually go and see the movie, but would most definitely offend the type of people who would not see this type of movie anyway. so if you enjoy violent action movies (even though it is not an overly violent movie, nor does it contain as much foul language as I was expecting), I would recommend this movie to you. I am a big comic book fan, and I think they did HELLBLAZER justice, english accent aside. I enjoyed Reeves' performance; thumbs up. If you see it, stay till the end of the credits. Neutral - Don’t go see this film if you want good theology. This movie
probably does provide some visual realism to the spiritual world but who
really knows how realistic the picture is. There are some interesting
effects but overall you’re not missing anything by waiting 'til the DVD
comes out! Negative - I was miserably confused. This movie was severely lacking in the
creativity/dialogue department. It will probably win a “Razzie” this year. The only thing I somewhat enjoyed at all about “Constantine” was Keanu Reeves' performance. He is one actor I never thought I would say that
about! I did find some of the content offensive. Especially the part where
Keanu makes a 10 - 15 second obscene gesture at the devil as he (Keanu) is
being drawn into Heaven. I mean, C’mon! The Theology was way off. To end
on a cliche', I wanted my money back. Positive - I enjoyed “Constantine” for what it was, a great action movie. the
elements of occult were not used in a way that would offend anyone who
would actually go and see the movie, but would most definitely offend the type of people who would not see this type of movie anyway. so if you enjoy violent action movies (even though it is not an overly violent
movie, nor does it contain as much foul language as I was expecting), I would recommend this movie to you. I am a big comic book fan, and I think they did HELLBLAZER justice, English accent aside. I enjoyed Reeves' performance; thumbs up. if you see it, stay till the end of the credits. Negative - I can’t see how, as a Christian, one could overlook how far this
movie strays from God’s Word. The first scene that slapped my conscience
was when Reeves met with someone supposedly representing the angel Gabriel, and the angel Gabriel said 'You’re f***ed' to Reeves. Whoa. Then
when my brother and I heard Reeves preach false doctrine to the woman… “Jesus didn’t die by crucifixion, he died from the spear of destiny…” That was enough for me. We left. I don’t know how it ended, and don’t care. I’ll stick to God’s Word, and avoid “the plagues described in this book”-REV 22:18 Positive - Constantine is definitely the best Hollywood film that deals
with Heaven and Hell, God and Satan, and angels and demons. I was
pleasantly surprised at the Christian themes and evangelical comments made
in the film. However, this film is not spiritually perfect, but it is the
best yet. Hollywood has taken its first small step towards Christian-themed movies. As a side note the writer said he wrote the script to show how we have to rely on God not ourselves and to get people to think about heaven and hell etc. This is the forerunner to a project set up by Hollywood (the producer of X-2 included) to put CHRISTIAN themes in movies from 2006 to 2012. Hollywood is making an good effort in this area, it will take some time, but they’ll get there. We as Christians should be praying for them and encouraging them. Comments from young people
Positive - Well, this movie is not exactly told from a Christian viewpoint. It is about an exorcist who is trying to earn his way into Heaven. The archangel Michael was portrayed as a woman and tries to bring the antichrist into the world. Overall, though, I thought the movie was good. I would definitely not recommend it to younger kids due to the language and violent images. Positive - Constantine is about a hellbound exorcist battling with terminal lung cancer and the forces of Hell. I will try not to reveal any of the movies plot, because I feel this is a movie that is a must see for all. The cinematography is amazing. This director’s first attempt is a good one. The graphics are amazing, the action sequences are well done, and the acting is dead on. Some may say Keanu is a bit stale, but John Constantine is supposed to be a harda-- dying of cancer. I doubt anyone would be too happy in that situation. Positive - I was surprised, to say the least, that Reeves would choose to do another semi-religious picture straight after the Matrix, as the two parts (Anti-Hero, World under the world, etc. etc.) are almost the same. I was interested in the film from the start, the promising TV spots and trailers supported that. Well, finally got to see it today, and I have a mixed signal. It’s disappointing, yes, but it also has a lot of high points. It’s flawed, but complete. Interesting, but incredibly boring. Movie Critics
“…Reeves plays an effective Neo realist in this clever, funny, provocative sci-fi/horror extravaganza… one of those rare pulpy page-to-screen translations that actually gets it right…” “…a lot better than Van Helsing and more professional than the Blade movies, if not quite as much fun as Hellboy…” “…Reeves has a deliberately morose energy level in the movie…” “…The movie incorporates plot points and characters from the comic, but they’re recombined and shuffled around…” |
