Netflix says: John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is a private investigator who believes in things that go bump in the night -- an unconventional quirk that makes him somewhat of an eccentric personality in a world ruled largely by logic. When a female cop (Rachel Weisz) seeks his counsel after her twin sister dies in what first appears to be a suicide, she wants definitive proof of the cause of death. But the answers might only come with blind faith.
Matt says: I never read the “Hellblazer” comics, but to my understanding they are quite popular. It’s only fitting “Hellblazer” receive the film treatment in a Hollywood that’s run out of originality and comic book adaptations have become the major cash cow. Because of my lack of knowledge, I’m not sure if it’s true to the comic or not. As an outside observer, I do have my own theories. It appears they tried to condense a years worth of plot and back-story into a two hour movie. The result is bloated and moves too quickly, characters are never given time to develop, and the mythology comes on as thick as Thanksgiving gravy… mmmm, Thanksgiving gravy… though I give them props for what they tried to do. Chances are, this was an attempt at a franchise and they wanted to stuff as much as possible into it so it could also stand alone as a one-shot just in case the franchise failed… which it did. I mostly blame the choice to cast Reeves in the titular role. Keanu is at his best when he plays someone thrown into something beyond his control. Look at “Speed”, “Point Break”, “The Matrix”, and hell, even “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”. In each, the audience could empathize with his obliviousness; he is the everyman semi-aware innocent and we as an audience escape vicariously though his discoveries. When he knows too much about the topic at hand, it separates us from the past experiences we had with his previous performances. We expect the confusion, naivety, and “Woahs!” from his half-baked personality and are disappointed when he’s anything else. Everything about this feels “blockbuster”, but due to its faults, it comes off as an over-produced mess. Not to say it wasn’t somewhat entertaining… there are some good effects, the acting is decent, and it’s a nice bit of comic book escapism, but it could’ve been much much better. 2 1/2 stars.
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