Constantine (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: Francis Lawrence (I am Legend, The Hunger Games 1-4)
	Actors: Keanu Reeves (The Matrix 1-3, Speed), Rachel Weisz (The Mummy 1-2, The Fountain, The Lobster), Djimon Hounsou (Guardians of the Galaxy), Shia LaBoeuf (Transformers 1-3)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 22.03.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: John Constantine (Reeves) has always had a special connection with the afterlife. But since a visit to Hell, he is hunting demons and sending them back there.
Review: I have never been much of a comics book reader, but this adaptation made me think that there were some good ideas in the original material: the kind of anti-hero Constantine, his addiction to cigarette (remarkable in the contemporary Disney/Marvel world where no one can be shown smoking in a movie...), the depiction of Good and Evil, the sidekick (well I could have done without that one), the other knowing characters helping the hero in his quest. The story of Evil trying to conquer Earth has been told before (Ghostbusters) and since (R.I.P.D.), but the connection with the psychic woman (Weiz) makes it special in this movie. The visuals are good and memorable to the point of even being scary, again quite remarkable in a PG-13 world. The secondary characters are well cast: Rachel Weiz, Djimon Hounsou, Pruitt Taylor Vince (Identity), Tilda Swinton and finally Peter Stormare playing an awesome Satan. Even the nervous Shia LaBoeuf plays well an otherwise useless sidekick. But the best in this movie really is Keanu Reeves playing the anti-hero, he is well at ease in this role, which reminds me a bit of what he did in John Wick 10 years later.
Rating: 8 /10