Constantine 2005

Critics score:
46 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Makes repeated visits to a hell that looks to have been designed by Hieronymus Bosch in collaboration with Gianni Versace for a Marilyn Manson arena tour. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Peppered with so many neat touches, it almost doesn't matter the story is a muddle. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Though the story is potentially fascinating and the visuals sometimes spellbinding, the movie itself is stranded in the purgatory of the second-rate. Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: Reeves plays one of the comic-book world's most intriguing antiheroes in an adaptation that isn't the massive screw-up fans rightfully expected, but has a cool-to-silly ratio that's just barely acceptable. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: Borderline incoherent, theologically unsatisfying, and short to the point of dwarfism on suspense. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's just so awful that the crew must have been snickering. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It's sort of like The Matrix minus all the cool stuff. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: Virtually anyone but Reeves would have made a better John Constantine. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Occult detective John Constantine (Reeves) has seen it all and responds to the most hideous threat with a puff on his cigarette and a self-assured leap into the abyss. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Alternates between quiet, surprisingly dull scenes in which the hero and the girl talk in that italicized comic-book way about his past and orgies of computer pixels dressed up as gibbering fiends. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: Despite some witty special effects and a appealing concept, Constantine meanders in too many directions to make much sense even to itself. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Occasionally, Reeves forgets what movie he's in and strikes a Neo-like pose. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: Constantine does have its pleasures. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Takes itself just seriously enough to put on a good show. Reeves earns some theatrical redemption, the demons put a scare into the waywardly righteous, and there are plenty of evil-duders left over for a sequel. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Viscerally, I feel shut out of the fun. Read more

Leah McLaren, Globe and Mail: You can just picture the meeting: A few guys in Prada suits sit around an L.A. boardroom table going, 'The Matrix meets The Exorcist, huh . . .? With Keanu? I like it. No wait - I love it.' Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Constantine deals, at least in part, with its title character's attempt to cross over from hell to heaven. But there's no uncertainty about the movie's fate. It quickly heads south. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: An imaginative, if overstuffed attempt to chart the boundaries of American spiritual life. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Takes too long telling a story that could have delivered maximum impact in less time. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Peaks early, then descends into portentous nonsense. Read more

Ken Tucker, New York Magazine/Vulture: Reeves, meanwhile, has confidently entered his self-parodic period. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: This is nonsense, of course, and the trappings surrounding it only typify the absolute worst of comic books. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: For all its spiritual angst, Constantine is about as silly as fantasies get. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Keanu Reeves plays a haunted, expressionless traveler in an overblown theological thriller based on the DC/Vertigo comic book Hellblazer. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: I deeply loathe the Heaven-and-Hell genre to which this cinematic comic-book spectacular belongs. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's a ponderous bore. Dull dialogue, dull situations and a serious lack of urgency hinder what should be a high-stakes slice of pseudo-religious heresy. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: An uneven amalgamation of the brilliant and the preposterous, Constantine left me by turns intrigued, confused, and wary. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Reeves has a deliberately morose energy level in the movie, as befits one who has seen hell, walks among half-demons, and is dying. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Keanu Reeves is -- let me just get this off my chest -- very good. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The movie isn't hellish, because there's always hope of leaving it. It's more like purgatory, two whole hours of it. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Hellacious, audacious, visually stunning and deeply wiggy, Constantine is a miracle, a comic-book movie for smart people. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: There is no person in movie history who has devoted more time to defending civilization from evil and obliteration than Keanu Reeves, or who has spent more time shifting between spiritual, perceptual and historical planes to do the job right proper. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Halfway through Constantine, a fully clad Keanu Reeves steps into a shallow pail of water, sits on a chair next to it and holds a cat in his lap. Read more

Time Out: Entirely beyond redemption. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: So where are we? In two hours of Dullsville, as Sinatra used to say. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: Blazes few new trails and bogs down in a confusing narrative muddle. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: The actor's black-on-white getup makes it plain that Constantine is one 'whoa' away from Neo-dom, and that Constantine likely represents the start of another Hollywood franchise with diminishing returns in its future. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: The screenplay by Frank A. Cappello and Kevin Brodbin is only interesting for a few characters, hardly the story. Read more

Hank Stuever, Washington Post: Reeves wears essentially the same black wardrobe, does the same moves, shows off the same galling lack of acting ability, but with a slightly different haircut. Read more