Movie | Constantine

Ok, so I haven’t been to the movies for some time, and my main love for movies has been directed through DVDs. But every once in a while there comes a movie that you think ‘I HAVE to see this at the movies’.

Constantine was one such movie. I had planned to see it over Easter, but then got a nasty little virus and spent a week or so in bed.

So finally on the weekend I got to see it. Let me tell you, it was worth the wait and it will definitely be on my must have DVD list when it gets released later in the year.

I think Constantine is probably going to be the most spiritually significant movies of the year, at least from my humble Christian perspective it is.
Some Christians will agree with me, such as Mike Furches, but in true Christian tradition, there will be plenty who do not agree with me, Annabelle Robertson clearly wouldn’t, but then reading her summing up, I wonder if we saw the same movie.

I’ll be honest and say that there is a lot of stuff in this movie that isn’t good from a Christian world view, but for me the overriding theme was one that each of us is born with the promise of salvation, and the cost is simple belief. The problem with John Constantine is that he’s already been to Hell, and is doing all he can to bargain his way into Heaven through doing good deeds, and expelling demons back to hell.

But as is clearly stated in one scene, that the only way to Heaven is by faith in God, and faith by definition is belief without proof. A powerful Christian message indeed.

But spiritual messages aside, is the movie any good?

Hell yes. For one you don’t have to wait more than a minute to get your first fright, and it’s from this point on that you know you chose the right movie to come to. Sure, as with any movie, the plot does slow down some times, but the action, frights and characters are all good. The special effects are amazing, as is Francis Lawrence’s vision of hell.

It’s a movie that in this post-matrix world, Keanu Reeves was made for. His deadpan acting (some might say lack of acting) is perfect for his character and all of the other actors suit their roles too.

Sure it’s not a perfect movie, and as usual there are plot holes, but it is great entertainment, especially for those of us that like to spend most of the movie on the edge of our seats.

A word of advice, if you are able to catch this at the movies (it’s season is almost over) apparently there’s a final scene after the credits, so don’t be like me and leave, but stay and see it.