I thought I was going to be yaya and blog about Constantine way before everyone else does but sometimes, you just cannot win these people, especially those who write about the movie just right before the movie starts.

Anyway, I managed to snag free passes from my editor, who proclaimed such movies “not her thing”. Ah, the perks of working in the media, even the geeky branch of it. Who says blade servers and CRM cannot be fun?

Continue reading if you don’t mind the spoilers.

The initial narrative of Constantine was a little choppy and felt more like a MTV than a movie. The idea of water as a conduit between Heaven, Earth and Hell requires a healthy suspension of disbelief. But beyond the assortment of weird contraptions (the “chair”, dragon’s breath gun etc) and rituals (sticking your feet into a basin of water to go into hell), the basis of the story is quite intriguing, assuming you leave your religious and theological ideals at the door.

Imagine this: Earth is sandwiched between Heaven and Hell, a no man’s land, if you wish. God and Lucifer have a pact whereby neither of them can intrude on Earth directly. But what they can do is to send their emissaries to influence the minds of men, the so-called half-breeds.

The battle between good and evil is not clear-cut, it’s not as simple as Aragorn battling Sauron. Ultimately, what you take away from the story is that there is evil in goodness taken to extreme (the perpetrator of the whole chain of events) and that some good may exist in what’s normally seen as the epitome of evil (Lucifer’s compliance to the pact). Good and evil are not mutually exclusive, they co-exist in a delicate balance.

What makes Constantine different from all the other superhero movies is that he is not a superhero. He is a mortal and he is dying. He’s cynical, bitter and although he knows that God does exist, the knowledge does not necessitate faith. It’s a vicious cycle - he knows he is dying and that his place in Hell is secured due to his previous suicide attempt. He tries to buy his way into Heaven by banishing demons back to Hell but that doesn’t quite cut it because for all the work that he does, he does it to save his own hide and not in the name of God. Meanwhile, the demons that he dumped back into Hell so unceremoniously are waiting gleefully for payback time.

Needless to say, I think Keanu Reeves is one of the best things about the movie. He spouts funny one-liners in his typical deadpan manner, which brings out the humour even more. That white-shirt-black-suit combination looks absolutely divine on him.

In short, HE IS SO DARN CUTE.

Not too bad for a 41-year-old man. Still oozing sex appeal and charm. Men half his age can eat his dust. Swoon.

Back to the movie - it’s enjoyable in the way it makes you think and contemplate. The effects are pretty cool although they aren’t exactly revolutionary. But it’s definitely a good fodder for entertainment on a boring Saturday night.

I say: Go catch it soon!

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