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Constantine

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 41 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 134 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
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:
Theatrical: February 18, 2005
DVD: July 19, 2005
Running Time: 121 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
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.)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: I Am Legend
GAMES: Constantine (PS2) Constantine (Xbox)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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."
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
One thing's clear: R.J. Reynolds won't be showing Constantine at the company picnic any time soon.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Flipping his cigarette lighter and snapping deadpan retorts, Reeves plays the demon-hunting detective with Keanu-esque panache.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Constantine will appeal most strongly to those with a penchant for vivid cinematic comic book adaptations.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
Slightly better than your run-of-the-mill late winter horror film.
Read Full Review >Empire Olly Richards
While lacking the richness of its source material, it remains an enjoyable, immoral and sometimes beautifully Gothic tale.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Variety Brian Lowry
This adaptation of the graphic novel "Hellblazer" blazes few new trails and bogs down in a confusing narrative muddle.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
For all its spiritual angst, Constantine is about as silly as fantasies get.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
A great-looking but torturously slow and often hokey cross between "The Exorcist" and "Dirty Harry."
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
It all comes off as a case of filmmakers wanting to have their communion wafer and eat it, too.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Philippe Rousselot's elegant cinematography lends some gravitas to music-video veteran Francis Lawrence's directorial debut.
Read Full Review >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."
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
The relation between Constantine and its source material is, at best, superfluous.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
There's a potentially good story rattling around somewhere inside this broken, self-contradictory and finally meaningless film.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Strange, that movies about Satan always require Catholics. You never see your Presbyterians or Episcopalians hurling down demons.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 134 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Andrew L gave it a9:
I managed to sit through the entire thing without fuss, great movie. The blurb on the back of the blu-ray cover indicated a totally different film to what I ended up watching, action wasn't totally lacking but I would've liked to have seen more. However, what Constantine turned out to be was wonderful both in story and visually. I'd never read or even heard about the comics but like anyone else once you hear human versus demons it's a must see, and Constantine lived up to expectations, just a little more quiet than expected.
TSD gave it a6:
Pretty entertaining taken on its own, but compared to Hellblazer it doesn't have a leg to stand on. I do like it. If it'd been a faithful adaptation, though, with less of the christianity and more of the cocky blond scouser we know and love...it could have been epic.
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.
