Constantine

Summary

“You’re going to die young because you’ve smoked thirty cigarettes a day since you were fifteen. You’re going to hell because of the life you took.”

It has been twenty years since I went to the theaters and saw Constantine. I had read some of the excellent Hellblazer comic book novels (especially those written by Warren Ellis) and I was curious how they would play out onscreen. I remember there was a bit of worry about the casting of Keanu Reeves as John Constantine with a full head of black hair instead of a Brit or a blonde (Aaron Eckhart was a dead ringer for the character, and Daniel Craig could have done well in the role.) Those worries proved to be unfounded, because Constantine proved to be an extremely fun picture that remained faithful to the spirit of the comic books. While aspects of the comic book were changed (for example: Shia LaBeouf’s character,) Constantine had enough bold ideas of its own to develop a cult following with fans of the comic and those unfamiliar with the source material. Looking back twenty years later, the film holds up incredibly well.

The picture starts with this text:

“He who possesses the Spear of Destiny holds the fate of the world in his hands. The Spear of Destiny has been missing since the end of World War II.”

In Mexico, in the burnt out ruins of a church, Manuel accidentally steps through a concealed floorboard. He pulls out of the hole a nazi flag and within it he finds a knife shaped object – the spear of destiny. He immediately hears voices in his head and starts to walk away from the church ruins. A car slams into Manuel, but he is not damaged. The car is smashed. A mark appears on his wrist and he continues walking. In Los Angeles, a woman makes coffee for her daughter in their apartment. When she enters her daughter’s bedroom, the girl is crawling on the ceiling possessed by a demon. John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) arrives at the apartment building, firing a cigarette just after finishing his last one. He is met in the lobby by Father Hennessy (Pruitt Taylor Vance,) who has called him for his assistance. Constantine enters the room and lets light in from the windows. He tells the demonically possessed girl that he is “John Constantine… asshole.” John begins to cast out the demon, but he needs a mirror – at least three feet high – to do so. The apartment tenants outside find him a mirror. Constantine’s assistant Chas Kramer (Shia LaBeouf) waits outside in a taxi. Constantine asks Chas to move the car and he gathers a group of the men to help him. They place the mirror above the bed, and the demon enters the mirror. They hoist the mirror out of the window, as a demonic hand bursts out of the mirror. The mirror crashes onto the top of the taxi and smashes into bits; vanquishing the demon. John asks Father Hennessy to take off his protective medallion. This will have him hear all the voices of the angels and demons around him. Hennessy agrees to do it for John but only for a few days. John wants to know what they are saying, because he was disturbed to see a soldier demon in the mirror attempting to enter the human world. Detective Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) takes confession. She explains to the priest that she killed a man again that day. Whereas many officers never are forced to fire their guns, Angela seems to know where these people are and when to draw her weapon. That night, Angela dreams of her twin sister Isabelle (Rachel Weisz,) whom has been hospitalized. In the vision, Isabelle has a mark like Miguel’s on her wrist. Isabelle runs from her hospital room to the roof. She hears her sister say her name, but she looks back and then jumps to her death, smashing through a plate glass window and into the pool below. Across the city, John spits out blood. The scans show that his lungs are being ripped apart by cancer and he is not long for this world. Detective Dodson arrives on the scene of her sister’s suicide. She does not believe that her sister would have killed herself. In Mexico, Manuel continues his walk. As he walks past a group of animals, they all fall down dead as he passes by before completely disintegrating. In Los Angeles, John meets with his associate Beeman (Max Baker) who shows him a number of supernatural remedies – dragons breath, a bug whose sound repels demons, and other things to use against demons. John tells Beeman he saw a soldier demon seemingly trying to burst into our world, which is unusual. Later, Detective Dodson meets with a priest to try to convince him to absolve his sister of his sins. The priest explains that he is unable to absolve her sister because of the suicide. Across the room, Constantine meets with the angel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton.) Constantine wants to work his way into Heaven, and Gabriel explains that John is not going to be able to escape from going to Hell when the cancer takes him. Angela and John bump into each other, and John is rude to her. Angela gets the video of her sister from the rooftop security camera footage. Before Isabelle jumped to her death, she said, “Constantine.” This leds Angela directly to Constantine. Angela and Constantine are soon working together to fend off a demonic invasion which will put them up against demons and Satan himself.

Constantine is a great example of a very successful cult picture. At the time, critics were all too ready to lambast the film, which was not uncommon when Keanu Reeves was placed in the lead role. What they did not realize was that Constantine was just the first of a series of strong and interesting action films that would completely change Keanu’s cultural appeal. Keanu’s work in the John Wick franchise has made him one of the most impressive action stars of our time. Watching Constantine now, it is easy to see that this was the first of the films to begin a renaissance for the actor’s career. While critics for the most part did not give the film its due, most people who watched Constantine enjoyed it. The picture was a success theatrically and made back its budget by grossing $230 million at the global box office. Its life afterward as a cult favorite on HBO, DVD, and Blu-ray kept the film relevant for all these years, which is why Warner has spent the money to allow the filmmaker to realize the picture on 4K.  

The script of the picture by Frank A. Cappello and Kevin Brodbin is tightly written and brings to life the enjoyable world of the Hellblazer graphic novels which blends Christian theology with a number of fantastic elements. As a Christian, it can be a slippery slope for films to play around with theology, but Constantine walks that tight rope very well. The director of the film, Francis Lawrence, was a fan of the graphic novels, and it shows. One aspect of the picture that was developed by Francis specifically for the movie was the idea of Hell basically looking just as our world does, except as if blown apart. This idea plays really well in the film. The picture comes up with clever ways of envisioning Hell, angels, Satan, and demons which makes the film very fun to watch. It helps that the cast is made up of a stellar assembly of actors. Rachel Weisz is great in anything she tackles and she nails her duel role which finds her playing twin sisters. Djimon Hounsou is great as Midnight, a character who walks the line between the two warring spiritual factions. Surprisingly, Gavin Rossdale, lead singer of the band Bush, is fantastic as the demon Balthazar. He has a hell of a lot of charisma and should have been given more roles after his turn here. Tilda Swinton has played men before, and is a perfect choice to play the androgynous Angel Gabriel. She crushes it and delivers some of the best lines in the film (including the line quoted above which ends with “You’re fucked.”) Shia LaBeouf is fine in the picture, but he is outshined by Peter Stormare’s Satan or Pruitt Taylor Vance’s Father Hennessy. Keanu Reeves brings great energy to the role of John Constantine and fully embraces the cigarette-smoking antihero nihilistic tendencies of the character. In watching the special features on the release, it is obvious that this role is one of Keanu’s favorites he has ever played. I really like Keanu’s turn in the role. 

The direction by Francis Lawrence shows a tremendous understanding of filmmaking techniques that Lawrence had gained filming commercials and music videos. Working with cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, who has worked on pictures ranging from Big Fish to The Nice Guys to Interview with the Vampire, Francis hits his stride to craft a striking film visually. Parts of the picture really pop, such as the scene where Midnight is introduced in a club where colors fill the whole screen. Each shot seems to be meticulously designed.

Overall – Constantine was a stand-out picture to me when it came out in 2005. I think that time has been kind to the picture (with the exception of a little bit of the CGI, but that is not a huge detractor) and the film is still a tremendous amount of fun. If you haven’t seen it, definitely check it out, especially now that Warner has given the film a brand new 4K release.

Video

Constantine was shot on Super 35MM using the Panavision Panaflex Platinum Camera using anamorphic lenses in 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The digital intermediate for the film on its theatrical release was 2K. So, what Warner has done here is nothing short of remarkable. They went back to the original camera negatives and remastered the film in 4K under the supervision of director Francis Lawrence. In other words – Constantine looks better now than it did theatrically. For a cult title like this, it would have been very easy for Warner to simply upgrade their prior 2K digital intermediate for a 4K release, so the fact that they chose to spend the money and time to do this 4K presentation correctly is truly fantastic. Cinematographer Philippe Rousellot used anamorphic lenses with a strong attention to detail. The film’s black levels are intentionally saturated and looked great on my projector. The HDR makes this film pop. This is a big leap forward from the Blu-ray release. This video presentation has basically made that disc an expensive drink coaster.

Audio

Constantine originally shipped on Blu-ray in 2008 with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, and Warner has done the right thing and updated the track to a Dolby Atmos presentation. It sounds great. This film has a lot of action, and a lot of moments where an Atmos track matters (such as the scenes inside Hell, or the first encounter with Midnight.) Clarity is exceptional and the track fires on all cylinders. Fans should be pumped about this upgrade.

Supplements:

• Audio Commentary #1 – Director Francis Lawrence and producer Akiva Goldsman
• Audio Commentary #2 – Screenwriters Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello
• Two Decades of Damnation – This new retrospective brings back Keanu Reeves, producer Akiva Goldsman, actor Max Baker, production designer Naomi Shohan, and director Francis Lawrence to discuss their experience working on the film and its cult following. This is a fun piece.
• Deleted Scenes + Alternate Ending

Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes

• Channeling Constantine 
• Conjuring Constantine 
• Director’s Confessional
• Collision With Evil 
• Holy Relics 
• Shotgun Shootout 
• Hellscape 
• Visualizing Vermin
• Warrior Wings 
• Unholy Abduction 
• Demon Face
• Constantine’s Cosmology
• Foresight: The Power of Pre-Visualization 
• A Writer’s Vision 

Overall Scores:

Video: 5

Audio: 4.75

Special Features: 4

Overall – 4.75/5

In a world full of uninspired action films and comic book movies, Constantine stood out from the crowd as something truly original. In the two decades since its release, it has gained a strong cult following. While many comic book movies fall flat for me, Constantine is based on DC Vertigo’s Hellblazer comic book series which is notably melancholy and not what one would expect from a comic book. The acidic wit of that series is present in the script, and the direction by Francis Lawrence is very well thought out. The movie was theatrically released with a 2K digital intermediate, but Warner has made the remarkable decision to go back to the original Super 35MM negative and remaster the whole picture in 4K. That means, it looks better than when people first saw it in the theaters. Constantine looks fantastic on the 4K format with HDR and Dolby Vision. On top of that significant upgrade, Warner has upgraded to a great Dolby Atmos track. Fans of the film will not want to miss this 4K release! Highly recommended!