Keanu Reeves is sort of Fox Mulder by way of Father Merrin from The Exorcist, devoting his life to tracking down and ass-whoopin' minions of the Devil, as some kind of self-punishment for a long-ago murder. He hopes that doing God's grunt work will renew his chance at getting into Heaven. The script plays out much like the high-school sketchbook of an aspiring graphic-novelist contending with the bitterness of a Catholic upbringing. Having not been raised Catholic (my family's religion centered around congregating in a "church" my Dad built in the backyard and worshipping Flip Wilson, mostly via TV), I'm at a consistent loss to see why every angry ex-Catholic feels such a driving need to do battle with the Bible. Every time I see stories that attempt to "riff" on Christian good-versus-evil themes, I roll my eyes impatiently, endlessly reminded of being harangued by the many brooding artists I've known who think it's somehow novel to suggest, like, that Lucifer also had a son! To those raised with religion, perhaps this is an intriguing concept. To me, it's a big blank-stare. I can't really say anything about Constantine was bad, but I feel entirely incapable of saying whether it was any good, either.
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