Can anyone seriously posit a complaint about a film whose titular character was originally based upon the pop music icon Sting? Would such a grievance even take itself seriously?
After a career of making music videos, Francis Lawrence offers his feature-length debut, Constantine, a work which centers around the Alan Moore-created character of a noirish exorcist named John Constantine, a dark and brooding figure who was later centrally developed by writer Jamie Delano in Hellblazer. Much like the Moore character of V. and the figure’s transition between the written page and the screen, John Constantine’s moral ambiguities are streamlined yet the result stands as one of the more enjoyable black-or-white, good verses evil, morality tales since the influx of big screen comic adaptations. This is due largely to the quirky nature of the central character: If you take Philip Marlowe, cross him with Marv of Sin City fame, and ordain the strange hybrid, you have John Constantine, the world’s first (and probably only) psychic exorcist action (anti-)hero. Also a first is the film itself, a theological noir comic adaptation whose initial energy can’t keep pace with its frantic imagination.
In an attempt to escape damnation as a consequence of having committed suicide as a teenager (only to have a defibulator bring him back), John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) has spent his life exorcising demons. Constantine’s situation becomes exacerbated once he meets Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz), a detective whose twin sister recently committed suicide, as they discover that the Son of Satan is attempting to usurp his Father’s monopoly on evil.
Early into the work Lawrence breeches philosophically heavy material when he reveals that Constantine has an ulterior motive in his career as an exorcist: By aiding the vested interests of Heaven, he esteems to redeem himself and thereby elude eternal damnation after having committed the mortal sin of suicide earlier in his life. Thus, the director begs the reluctant question of whether or not everyone’s benevolent actions are merely rooted in self-interest, i.e. the desire to escape the fiery pits of Hell. Of course, a conundrum arises in that if such action is posited in bad faith, God–being omniscient–will undoubtedly know what the person’s true motives for such are and, well, the paradox of theological culpability arises in what will be the exact fate of a person whose cardinal traits (obviously the product of the Almighty) are less than pure. Such is an interesting hypothetical to image that Mother Teresa is currently experiencing Hellfire and brimstone due to her self-interested greed of the well-being of her own soul, eh?
Unfortunately, Lawrence and his narrative quickly dissipates in potency after the impressive opening, both visually and thematically, as perhaps too many ideas are attempting to be constrained in a scant two-hours. Granted, there are fleeting glimpses at very impressive thought throughout as the landscape of Hell is a political criticism for it is modeled upon the aftermath of the Atomic Bomb blasts at the end of World War II as the Spear of Destiny, the one used to poke God’s son in order to see whether or not he was still kicking, is discovered wrapped within the folds of a Nazi flag. Admirably, the film integrates Christian mythos well as its proceeds in creating its own as our symbolically named characters cleverly meet Gabriel in one of the most intriguing instances of foreshadowing in recent memory as the androgynous angel appears as a redhead. If nothing else, Lawrence even pauses to include a contemporary depiction of the Greek myth of the condemnation of Tantalus in the form of an alcoholic priest, Father Hennessy (Pruitt Taylor Vince). Furthermore, the character of Satan, played to a satirically wry tee by Peter Stormare, is one of the most refreshing unhorned portrayals of the Dark Prince in the last decade.
However, despite the fact that we are host to Reeves starring star in a film which houses religious overtones where he sports a black suit with matching tie amid a white button-up as he bounces back and forth between two worlds as he attempts to save our own as Satan is forced to save the world with the assistance of a damned martyr, Constantine moves too quickly at times as the audience scampers to keep track of the rules and legislation of black magic, voodoo, and a netherworld as the lead’s performance is less than convincing, especially for a complex character shrouded in his own contented hypocrisy. Yet, though the production opens and proceeds with a bang only to dissipate to a whimper before closing with a sardonic wink and nod, at the end of the day the voyage that is Francis Lawrence’s first film is nonetheless fun as its promised rewards, now absent, pale in comparison to the eye candy that we are treated to before we have time to realize that our final destination is nowhere near where we were told we’d be going. Not too shabby, especially when one takes into account that the film is based upon a character who was conceived in the likeness of Sting.
Trivia tidbit: Tarsem Singh, the famed director of The Cell, was to originally helm the feature with Nicolas Cage starring.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
