Constantine

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Constantine is a 2005 American film loosely based on Vertigo Comics' Hellblazer comic book, with some plot elements being taken from the "Dangerous Habits" story arc (issues #41-46) and others - such as the inclusion of Papa Midnite - from the "Original Sins" trade paperback. It was released on February 8, 2005 in Hong Kong, and on February 18, 2005 in the U.S. and Canada. It is rated R for violence and demonic images by the MPAA. It also contains mild language.

Things are getting strange stranger for John Constantine, American, atoner and Catholic demon-hunter. Demon activity is on the rise as more and more denizens of Hell are trying to cross over to earth. This would be right up Constantine's alley, but he's a little preoccupied with the fact that he's dying of lung cancer, and going to go to Hell despite all he's done.

Things come to a head when LAPD officer Angela Dodson approaches Constantine with news that her institutionalized, possibly psychic sister has recently offed herself. Constantine investigates and starts to uncover a connection to the demons and a possible plot to turn Earth into a literal Hell.

The film is widely disliked by readers of the comics, but has merits aplenty if taken as a stand-alone work.

While a sequel film has been in development hell for a while, an upcoming TV series -- which appears from promotional materials to be much more faithful to the source -- has beaten it to the punch.

Tropes used in Constantine include:

Chas: This is Kramer. Chas Kramer, assho...

Balthazar: Word is, you're on your way down. Fresh meat. (sucks his fingertips) Finger-lickin' good!

Lucifer: Jooohhhn...Jooohhnn, hello John.

  • The Ophelia: Angela's twin sister.
  • Our Angels Are Different: Gabriel is the winged (androgynous) humanoid variety, but likely not a pure angel, since angels and demons are not allowed on Earth. Constantine himself says to Gabriel earlier in the movie- "[...] You're the one that deserves to go to Hell, half-breed," confirming this.
  • Poke in the Third Eye: When Constantine is using The Chair to spy on the man possessed by the Spear of Destiny.
  • Portal Pool: Constantine states that any body of water, no matter how small, can be used as a portal to hell.
  • Precision F-Strike: Courtesy of one archangel Gabriel
  • Protective Charm
  • Psychic Children: The title character and Isabel and Angela Dodson all first displayed their psychic abilities as children. Unfortunately, these abilities helped them to see the half-demons infesting the Earth, resulting in two of them being forced to undergo psychiatric treatment and later committing suicide.
  • Public Domain Artifact: The Lance of Longinus, AKA the Spear of Destiny.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: The demonic halfbreeds.
  • Refusing Paradise: Forced, and thereby possible subverted. The dying main character is about to enter heaven, when the devil deliberately heals him to make sure he has another chance at messing up his salvation on earth.
  • Retired Badass: Papa Midnite, a magi so powerful that he took on 30 demons by himself. Doesn't need special tools as he has actual magical powers. And powerful enough to create his own embassy of neutrality where hybrids mix and behave under his watch.
  • Religious Horror
  • Satan: Peter Stormare FTW.
  • Schmuck Bait: Constantine tells the men helping him to close their eyes and not look.
  • See You in Hell: The "Go to Hell" version, when talking to the demonic halfbreeds.
  • Sidekick: Hennessy, Beeman and Chas Kramer.
  • Slow Electricity: When Constantine and Angela Dodson are talking on the street, the streetlights begin to turn off (with clunking sounds) - first far away, then approaching them.
  • Smoking Is Cool: Subverted, as he gets lung cancer, but double subverted, as he quits at the end of the movie (after Satan gets rid of the cancer).
  • The Stinger: Chas dies but is resurrected as an angel. Constantine's not exactly thrilled at this development.
  • Summon Bigger Fish: Lucifer actually saves the day because Constantine summoned him.
  • Synchronized Swarming
  • Tap on the Head: Constantine to the bar's bouncer the second time he goes there.
  • Thanatos Gambit: It probably would have worked had he not flipped Satan the bird.
  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: "Who's the rat in the dress now, huh, bitch?"
  • Transformation of the Possessed: The woman possessed by the soldier demon and Angela Dodson when she's possessed by Mammon, Lucifer's son.
  • Trenchcoat Brigade: Constantine, technically.
    • Not so technically since the actual John Constan-tyne is the trope namer for this one.
  • Truce Zone: Papa Midnite's bar
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: The Big Bad plans to release Mammon to bring pain and horror to humanity, in order to purify it and make it worthy of God's love.

Gabriel: So...I'll bring you pain. I'll bring you horror. So that you may rise above it. So that those of you who survive this reign of hell on Earth will be worthy of God's love.
John: Gabriel. You're insane.