Mythic stories are about heroes who are stuck, and to get unstuck they have to take a step out of their own life. One step, then the next, the next, and suddenly you’re on an adventure. John Constantine is a classic male stuck character who has to learn how to move on. John Constantine is the main character in the movie Constantine directed by Francis Lawrence, and debuted in the box office late 2005. Constantine is a violent apocalyptical thriller, where John exorcises demons that try to cross onto our Earthly plane. Those who cross, whether it be a demon or an angel they’re, “half-breeds”. John was given this gift to see the supernatural world from God, but thinks it a curse. He is a selfish character only caring for himself. His goal is to “buy” his way into heaven by sending demons back to hell, but the rules don’t work like that in God’s eyes. John’s going to have to change his ways before being accepted into heaven. I’ll talk about my interpretation of John, his challenge, and the intervention of fact and fiction.
Through history of most mythology and literature you have a belief in the power of human beings to change, and that’s the stuff of heroism. Throughout time there is this deep disrespect for heroism, optimism, and a kind of resolute disgust with this notion of change; this is what we get in Constantine. John Constantine is a heroic character but he is fighting the evil within him and is trying to rescue the good within Hell. This journey moves John in a counterclockwise direction. It goes against time, against space, which are why great stories are timeless. John is a loveless character. He’s hard. His voice, delivery, mannerisms, and his heart are all hard. There’s only one thing that redeems a fallen hero, and that’s Angela. She’s a strong character and brings this hint of how John can redeem himself; He’s got to let go of something. This is the great motif of sacrifice. Sacrifice literally means, “To make sacred.” His life has been profane, it’s been selfish, and to move on into the sacred realm of a mythic hero, he’s got to make his life sacred. John does that by letting go of his selfishness and letting love in. His choice, his decision to go forth and redeem the human race, and redeem the love of his life now is that he’s got to sacrifice himself in order for the world to go on. The hero journey is the journey of renewal and rebirth. That’s why he had to die. John says, “I had to die twice”, so he’s one of the heroes who didn’t get it the first time around. The task for John in this movie is, “How do you become yourself?” He is lost in this journey to find himself.
Keanu Reeves plays the role John Constantine excellently. He’s confident, all knowing, a non-stop chain smoker, and a true anti-hero. John Constantine only cares about himself. He’s only slaying these demons to buy his way into heaven after committing suicide 20 years ago, after the fact he couldn’t bear seeing all of these supernatural beings, and is therefore damned. John is resurrected though, to live out his gift of sending minions back to hell. Roger Ebert, a film-critic from the Chicago Sun-Times, says, “Reeves has a deliberately morose energy level in the movie, as befits one who has seen hell, walks among half-demons, and is dying. He keeps on smoking”. John soon takes on the role of helping Angela, and discovering that her twin sister Isabella committed suicide, a catholic mortal sin. In doing this, John finds love, and ultimately sacrifices his own life so that Isabella, who was in hell, can go to heaven.
In the movie Constantine, there are a lot of religious items, and ideas that surface, for example, the “Spear of Destiny”. This spear or lance is supposedly the lance that pierced Jesus during his crucifixion. In the movie, only a divine one (St. Gabriel), and the blood of Jesus (on the Spear of Destiny) can free the devil’s son, Mammon. Fact tells us that there are four: The first in Vienna, Austria, the second in Krakow, Poland, the third in the Vatican in Rome, and finally the fourth in Armenia. Scientists ruled that the first three, through carbon dating, were forged after the crucifixion, but the Armenian Holy Lance has yet to be dated. Another is Mammon, the so-called devil’s son. Mammon is often used to personify riches, or greed, not the son of Satan. When looking at the New Testament, in Matthew 6:19-24, Christ is quoted as stating, “No one can serve two masters; for either will he hate the one and love the other… You cannot serve God and Mammon.” As well in this passage Christ enjoins people to “not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth… but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven” When looking at Genesis 4:1-26, some speculate that “Cain” is the son of Satan, only because he was the first person to commit murder, and his brother at that. Biblestudygames.com, a Christian based website says, “Cain is nowhere to be found in the seed line of Adam. Satan is Cain's father and through Cain and his offspring Satan has children on earth this very day”. I’m not saying that’s correct, that’s just one speculation I’ve encountered. Lastly, when Angela finds a secret message from Isabella, it says “Cor 17:01”. Angela tells John there is no 17th act in Corinthians, John then tells her that Corinthians goes to 21 acts in the Bible in Hell. In fact, there is no 17th Act in Corinthians, only 16, and there is no Bible in Hell, that we obviously know of. Yet there is a so called Devils Bible, called the Codex Gigas which is said to be the Devils Bible because of a large illustration of the devil on the inside and the legend surrounding its creation.
All in all, Constantine is a very good film, almost similar to a Dan Brown novel, due to the fact of intertwining fact and fiction. The plot is unlike many other movies, where in this one we have an anti-hero, angels, demons, God, Satan, exorcisms, and much more.
