Constantine , the Most Underrated DC Comics Movie, Is on Netflix
Everyone knows that Marvel rules and DC drools, at least in Hollywood. Even before the MCU became a money-spewing behemoth, Marvel characters were being adapted into enjoyable X-Men and Spider-Man films while DC fans were stuck with disasters like Catwoman. Yes, Nolan’s Batman films and Wonder Woman are exceptions, but that’s about it for DC films in the last 25 years. However, there’s one other good DC film that no one talks about: Constantine. The 2005 Keanu Reeves movie about a cynical occult detective who can see angels and demons balances the gritty with the goofy—in one scene, Constantine visits hell by stepping into a pail of water and gazing into a house cat's eyes—in way that’s much more enjoyable than the super-serious-and-gritty-guys-in-tights-punching-buildings aesthetic of the DCEU.
If you’re not familiar with John Constantine, he’s kind of like a ‘80s version of Marvel’s ‘60s creation Doctor Strange. Instead of a goateed hippie going on psychedelic journeys, John Constantine is a bitter, chain-smoking cynic created by legendary comics writer Alan Moore. Like Strange, Constantine deals with the mystical and spiritual side of superhero universes. In the movie, Keanu Reeves brings his weary “I have to save the world again?” presence to one of his first post-Matrix trilogy roles. There are a bunch of excellent supporting performances including Tilda Swinton (as a misanthropic half-angel), Djimon Hounsou (a witch doctor named Papa Midnite), Peter Stormare (having plenty of fun as Satan), and, for some reason, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale playing a demon.
In the world of Constantine, “Demons stay in hell, angels in heaven. The great détente of the original superpowers.” However, half-angels and half-demons walk the earth and heaven and hell can use humans as “finger puppets” in their battle for souls. John Constantine was born with the power to see these mystical forces, which drove him to suicide as a child. He was saved by paramedics, but since God considers suicide a sin he’s going to be damned to hell. The adult Constantine spends his days “deporting” demons to try to win a spot in heaven. He’s not very happy about that.
When the film starts, the great détente is failing. There are full demons walking the earth, and Constantine soon partners with an LAPD officer (Rachel Weisz) whose twin sister’s death is somehow wrapped up in the mystical goings on. The plot of the film is largely what you’d expect from a religious-tinged action movie. There are prophecies, exorcisms, a mystical object wrapped in a Nazi flag, and of course the end of the world. What it lacks in originality, the film makes up for in a well-executed occult noir atmosphere and grand setpieces. And it’s just fun. At one point, Constantine’s partner (a young Shia LaBeouf) tosses holy crosses into the tank of a sprinkler system so that Constantine can slay a room of demons with the flick of a flame.
Constantine had the bad luck of coming out in the superhero film lull of the early aughts (it was released around the time of Catwoman, Elektra, and Fantastic Four), a few years before critics and audiences fully embraced the genre with the 2008 releases of The Dark Knight and Iron Man. Audiences were also perhaps a bit sick of watching Keanu Reeves save the world over and over again. Constantine isn’t one of the best superhero movies ever made, but it’s a thoroughly enjoyable one with a unique mystic noir style and an actual sense of humor about itself. Zack Snyder and the DCEU could learn a few lessons from it.
