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Keanu Reeves has played Buddha (Little Buddha), the messiah figures of Neo (The Matrix) and Johnny Mnemonic, the son of the devil (The Devil's Advocate), and a traveler to hell (Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey).

Now, in Francis Lawrence's action-horror flick Constantine, he's an exorcist who's been to hell and back, and thus he knows how important it is to fight on the right side of the war for human souls. But he's also unwilling to deal with God, except in a begrudging fashion as a smart-mouth and a bargainer. He'll cast out as many demons as is necessary to "earn" his way back into God's good graces, but he's not in any kind of mood to ask for forgiveness. Meanwhile, the forces of evil are threatening to overwhelm the world now that one of their zombie-like minions has gained hold of a magical talisman—the spear that killed Christ.

Wait a minute … the what?

Constantine throws more Christian terminology and religious iconography at moviegoers than any film we've seen in the past few years, including The Passion of the Christ. But that has not turned every Christian film critic into a fan of the movie. For all of its talk of heaven versus hell, Constantine is preoccupied with entertaining us with the powers of darkness instead of visions of hope, redemption, or light. Its few nods towards Christ are vague and confused. The visual spectacle earns some points, the cast gets a few compliments, and its presentation of heaven as the preferable side of spiritual warfare is commendable. But the story? The "spirituality"? They leave a lot to be desired.

My full review is at Christianity Today Movies.

Steven D. Greydanus (Decent Films) is troubled by Constantine's glorification of evil. "The contrast between the masculine demons and the androgynous Gabriel subtly reinforces the film's overall depiction of the forces of darkness as more forceful and virile than the forces of light." He describes the movie as "a relentless action movie with more ideas than both Matrix sequels put together."

Michael Elliott (Movie Parables) says, "The film is steeped in religious iconography but is so devoid of spiritual truth that for people of faith it may border on being offensively sacrilegious."

Christopher Lyon (Plugged In) calls it "a slick, tightly written, but grotesque and deceptive horror flick. What kind of God makes a wager with the devil for human souls? Certainly, a weaker, less caring God than the one presented in the Bible."

"There's been a lot of talk about this film representing good and evil," says Annabelle Robertson (Crosswalk). "What I [saw] was a bizarre portrayal of demonic and the occult, with virtually no representation of God or anything good. Despite a massive marketing campaign to the Christian media … Constantine offers no spiritual or moral value. Unfortunately, it has little cinematic value, either. It's convoluted, dark and disingenuous. It's also extremely violent—gratuitously so. Moreover, by attempting to make evil so fascinating, it may tempt many to dabble in the occult."

Barbara Nicolosi (Church of the Masses), the screenwriting guru of Act One, blogs, "It has the story of a video game. Bad, bad acting. Stupid script. Indecipherable theme. Some theological errors."

Some religious press reviewers view the film differently, defending it as good fodder for discussion.

"The film is not based on a series of Bible studies, but on a series of comic books," argues Dr. Mark T. Newman (Agape Press). "Some of the theological talk is close to the mark; but much of it is cobbled together from a variety of schools of thought."

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February (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49