Funereally solemn but 100 percent hellfire-free, this supernatural fable sorely lacks the courage of its pulpy convictions. John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is a man with a mission: Having damned himself by committing suicide 20 years earlier — two minutes in Hell is a very, very long time — he hopes to wriggle back into God's good graces by policing the DMZ between the realms of light and darkness. That DMZ is, of course, the everyday world where people go about their day-to-day business unaware of the unfathomable wickedness that lurks in every shifting shadow, and it's suddenly abuzz with bad vibes. The chain-smoking Constantine, burdened with a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer, exorcises a Los Angeles girl possessed by a stubborn demon. Devoutly Catholic mental patient Isabel Dodson (Rachel Weisz), plagued by visions of devils and angels since childhood, throws herself from the roof of L.A.'s Ravenscar hospital, mouthing Constantine's name to the security cameras before her fatal plunge. Her twin sister, no-nonsense LAPD detective Angela, launches her own investigation into the matter and is rewarded by the haunting flutter of leathery wings and a glimpse of Hell on Earth. Reluctantly drawn into Angela's quest to vindicate her sister, Constantine finds himself in the middle of an apocalyptic plot to upset the balance of cosmic power. Based on the long-running Vertigo Hellblazer comic-book series, a spin-off from Swamp Thing, this film's troubles began as soon as the lanky, thoroughly American Reeves was cast as Constantine, a bitterly antisocial dabbler in the occult whose sensibilities were shaped by punk music, Margaret Thatcher's iron-fisted politics and the straightjacket of peculiarly English notions of class and propriety. Perhaps aware of the hollowness at the film's center, the filmmakers surround Reeves with panoply of colorful supporting players, including Tilda Swinton as the androgynous angel Gabriel; twitchy Pruitt Taylor Vince (JACOB'S LADDER) as the tormented Father Hennessy; U.K. rocker Gavin Rossdale as the Devil's smirking disciple, Balthazar; Djimon Hounsou as witch doctor turned Hellfire-club owner Papa Midnite; and Peter Stormare as the Devil in the flesh. Fresh-faced teen favorite Shia LeBoeuf takes on the annoying and ill-conceived role of Constantine's comic sidekick. Music video-trained director Francis Lawrence whips up a witch's brew of gray-on-gray atmosphere, but for all the end-of-the-world mumbo jumbo, nothing much ever seems to be at stake. --Maitland McDonagh
