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Constantine
Warner Bros.


6.7

based on 41 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 131 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

I Am Legend

GAMES:

MPAA RATING: R for violence and demonic images

Starring Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Djimon Hounsou, Max Baker, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Gavin McGregor Rossdale, Tilda Swinton, and Peter Stormare

Born with a gift he didn't want, the ability to clearly recognize the half-breed angels and demons that walk the earth in human skin, Constantine (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 sending the devil's foot soldiers back to the depths. (Warner Bros.)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Drama \| Fantasy \| Horror \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Kevin Brodbin (also story) Frank A. Cappello Jamie Delano & Garth Ennis (comic book Hellblazer)
DIRECTED BY:	Francis Lawrence
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 19, 2005 Theatrical: February 18, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	121 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

New York Magazine Ken Tucker

Reeves has confidently entered his self-parodic period. You’ll enjoy his wry post-Matrix murmurs and squinty stares.

Time Richard Corliss

Constantine is a one-of-a-kind hybrid: a theological noir action film. And until it goes irrevocably goofy at the end, it's a smart ride--and smart-looking too.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

An engrossing mix of atmospheric gothic horror and smart sci-fi that's cemented by intriguing mythology, terrific visual effects, a dry sense of humor and an ideally cast Keanu Reeves.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

What Constantine offers is a deceptively thoughtful tale tricked up like an action movie; it's beautiful to look at but even more lovely to ruminate over.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Pretty much rocks.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Constantine will likely hold far more interest for devoted fans of the series, but it's not necessary to have read the books to appreciate the film's sumptuous visuals and art direction.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

Listen up, fanboys and enthusaiasts of sophisticated visual wizardry: this theological noir-horror actioner-a stand-alone, rapturous good time-craftily and accurately captures the straight-faced camp, wry wit and episodic structure of its source material.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Constantine, which opts in the end for what I can only describe as a kind of supernatural humanism, is not without its spiritual satisfactions.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Keanu Reeves has no peer when it comes to playing these sort of messianic roles -- he infuses them with a Zen blankness and serenity that somehow gets him through even the unlikeliest scenes with a quiet, unassuming dignity.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's inconsistent and it fudges the script's murkier details, but Lawrence keeps the story on track and doesn't cheat the world of Constantine."

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

It all sort of plays out like "Law and Order: Spiritual Victims Unit," but the movie's stuffed (some might say overstuffed) with wonderfully staged moments and set pieces.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

One thing's clear: R.J. Reynolds won't be showing Constantine at the company picnic any time soon.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The best thing about this big, imaginatively detailed movie is its premise, which director Francis Lawrence, a music-video veteran, takes his time exploring.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Flipping his cigarette lighter and snapping deadpan retorts, Reeves plays the demon-hunting detective with Keanu-esque panache.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The choice for the uninitiated is simple: Take the ride for its fitful thrills and dark elements, or just say the hell with it.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Constantine will appeal most strongly to those with a penchant for vivid cinematic comic book adaptations.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Slightly better than your run-of-the-mill late winter horror film.

Empire Olly Richards

While lacking the richness of its source material, it remains an enjoyable, immoral and sometimes beautifully Gothic tale.

Newsweek David Ansen

Peaks early, then descends into portentous nonsense.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The movie is ornate, arbitrary, and fetishistic, too, with the added challenge of being hell to follow for those without access to crib notes. Intellectually, I can admire the emphasis on visual style over plot clarity.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The story is a retread of the old "Exorcist" and "Omen" formats, but it delivers as much action and spectacle as fans of the genre could want.

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

Fans of Hellblazer are bound to be disappointed.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Though the story is potentially fascinating and the visuals sometimes spellbinding, the movie itself is stranded in the purgatory of the second-rate.

Variety Brian Lowry

This adaptation of the graphic novel "Hellblazer" blazes few new trails and bogs down in a confusing narrative muddle.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

For all its spiritual angst, Constantine is about as silly as fantasies get.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Music video-trained director Francis Lawrence whips up a witch's brew of gray-on-gray atmosphere, but for all the end-of-the-world mumbo jumbo, nothing much ever seems to be at stake.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A great-looking but torturously slow and often hokey cross between "The Exorcist" and "Dirty Harry."

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

It all comes off as a case of filmmakers wanting to have their communion wafer and eat it, too.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Philippe Rousselot's elegant cinematography lends some gravitas to music-video veteran Francis Lawrence's directorial debut.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Tilda Swinton is the Angel Gabriel, adding a touch of high-class celestial cross-dressing to this overblown, overlong attempt - which falls just short of success - to make a movie dumber than "Van Helsing."

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The relation between Constantine and its source material is, at best, superfluous.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Reeves rigid delivery makes Constantine's occult backstory sound pretentious and silly, and converts Constantine himself into a repressed cipher. The film's biggest revision isn't in not making him blonde, or not making him British. It's in not making him human.

Washington Post Hank Stuever

Much of Constantine simply portends.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

There's a potentially good story rattling around somewhere inside this broken, self-contradictory and finally meaningless film.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Leah McLaren

Every time you think you grasp the concept, another layer of outlandish supernatural gobbledygook is laid on top, leaving the viewer feeling as spun-out as Linda Blair's head.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Strange, that movies about Satan always require Catholics. You never see your Presbyterians or Episcopalians hurling down demons.

USA Today Mike Clark

Couldn't be murkier or less emotionally involving if it were "The Matrix 8," a natural observation because Keanu Reeves stars in both.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Constantine is yet another studio extravaganza that's all aswirl with atmospherics, though empty at its center. The invasion of the soul snatchers proceeds apace.

Slate David Edelstein

Borderline incoherent, theologically unsatisfying, and short to the point of dwarfism on suspense.

The New Yorker David Denby

Maybe some of the audience should wonder if they aren't performing the Devil's work by sitting so quietly through movies that turn wonders into garbage.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The movie isn't hellish, because there's always hope of leaving it. It's more like purgatory, two whole hours of it.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 131 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Matt O gave it a3:
I thought this movie was terribly shallow. It was like watching the Matrix with none of the flair. I'm not comparing it to the Matrix because it's got Keanu Reeves in it. I'm comparing the two movies because Constantine tries to actually be the Matrix, with similar settings and moods. Unlike the Matrix, however, this movie doesn't draw you into its world; it just gives you what there is. It's completely shallow, and not worth anyone's time. I should also point out that a wise-assed attitude on Constantine's part wasn't about to save the movie. Neither were the actors and actresses, who are good in other films, but in this one, they seemed to not care. There were no saving factors here. In fact, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have minded if the Devil had won in this one.

A.J gave it a10:
This is one hell of a film, watch it and be blown away.

Mitch M. gave it a4:
What was it that Keanu was mumbling throughout this thing? Does it matter? Do I care about the story? Why is there no suspense? Who cares. It earns its four stars by way of its look, (hell, fully realized!) and the threat of more demons, half-demons, quarter-demons, and demi-demons materializing in full CG intensity at any moment.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
This movie is better than that Matrix 2 and 3, where they tried to go to far into it and failed. This movie did not seem to me to be too difficult to understand. The pacing of the movie was perfect and as for the realism...it's a movie about demon slayers, what did you expect? Million Dollar Baby? See it, love or hate it, just don't overthink it!

[Anonymous] gave it a6:
Tries to be a different kind of Matrix, but it fails to bring excitement into the mix, save for one action scene where he shoots all the demons. It does bring up some interesting points though. It shines a light on how religious people deal with "problem" children, and a new way to think about good and evil. Still, unexciting and dissapointing in the end.

Ricardo S. gave it a6:
This movie could have been much better. Just cutting out the whole section about the little guy that lived in the bowling alley would greatly reduce the 'supernatural gobbledegook' one critic mentioned. And the dialog soundtrack, as noted by a user critic, is often unintelligible. There's an internal conflict between the tone of the movie (so heavy and serious and dark) and some of the imagery used--like Constantine firing gold bullets at demons from a gold shotgun welded to a gold crucifix. In these scenes I felt I was watching an episode of Angel that was taking itself too seriously. Cutting out some of this stereotypical demon stuff would work fine, since as many critics note, and I agree, the plot is incomprehensible and therefore meaningless, and the high points of the film are the the photography and gothic atmosphere. I thought the four main actors were good: the exorcist (Keanu), the cop (Rachel), Gabriel and Lucifer. In the end, I gave it a 6 because I couldn't give it a 5.5; I'm generally a sucker for this type of movie, so the critics 5 is probably more accurate. Its a shame that in this genre there are so few good movies. I mean, what theme could be more important?

matt a. gave it a5:
Nice visuals and this part did fit Keanu well, but it got pretty bad near the end (except for Peter Stormare as Satan-perfect) and I wish that the story would have been fleshed-out a little bit more. It's still mediocre though and has enough redeeming qualities to check it out once on DVD.

Constantine Warner Bros.

Constantine
Warner Bros.