PRESENTS

Francis Lawrence's Constantine delivers exactly what the cover offers; ultra cool Keanu blowing smoke in the face of demonic destruction and saving the world with a jaded shrug. Fun and entertaining, yes, but the cast of larger than life characters also reek of a certain cookie-cutter, blockbuster derive. Shia LaBeouf reprises his patented earnestly goofy young-buck side-kick character and Rachel Weisz delivers a polished rendition of the strong independent, but no less in distress damsel. Although what nuance Constantine lacks in it's anti-hero-saves-humanity structure it gains in it's unique and striking world building. The script is packed with juicy one liners - "Cats are good. Half in, half out anyways", "They call it balance, I call it hypocritical bullshit" and of course "God's a kid with an ant farm" - each deepening the film's ironically unholy and drab mystique surrounding the unrest between heaven and hell. The angel and demon creatures populating Lawrence's world feature largely subtle makeups on live actors which turns out to be another success of the film, especially considering a headlining performance from Peter Stormare as an unstable father figure and business man, drooling over fresh souls and literally dripping in evil. The meat of the story is served on a bed of crisp action sequences and powerful blockbuster cinematics with a side of sarcastic humor that makes for a well balanced watch suited for wide cast of creature feature consumers.