Constantine - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Constantine



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
You ever have those films that you look back in 20 years and go “this movie was way better than we gave it credit for?”. Yeah, Constantine is one of those films. I liked it mildly back in 2005, but 20 years ago I stuck my nose up at the film as it just wasn’t “John Constantine” to me. This was a Keanu Reeves vehicle, much like Jack Reacher was a Tom Cruise vehicle, but for some reason I guiltily liked it. 20 years later, I no longer GUILTILY like the film, I simply like it. Sure, this isn’t the exact same character we have in the comics, or was more faithfully played on his own TV show (grrrrr, thanks Fox for canceling one of the best DC shows out there), but it’s a genuinely fun movie. Keanu Reeves is spot-on perfect at playing a 2005 version of Constantine, and Peter Stormare gets to ham it up at the end as the prince of Darkness himself with such scenery-eating gusto that you can’t help but absolutely love it. Is it perfect? Of course not. But it’s a fun bit of sci-fi/supernatural filmography that seems lost in the midst all of the modern-day MCU and DCEU stuff that has come out the last 15 years or so.

Constantine, of course, stars one of the DC’s biggest anti-heroes ever in the form of John Constantine (Keanu Reeves), a man who has been to the other side and back, simultaneously able to wield magical powers against the forces of darkness, even though he is damned himself due to committing suicide in his teen years (thus the “went to the other side”. John is a bit of an enigma, sending the half-breed demons back to the bowels of Lucifer’s homeworld while trying to use those good deeds as a way to buy his way back into heaven by serving the light (albeit begrudgingly).

It’s business as usual for old John, taking out bad guys with holy water and an arsenal of spiritual weapons, but when an exorcism goes wrong, John starts getting suspicious. You see, God and Satan set up a wager YEARS ago that entailed neither side actually stepping foot in the human plane, but instead sending their half-breed angelic and demonic minions over to act as their tools. But now it looks like demons are trying to break the rules and come on over. It’s not until John finds police detective Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) that he learns the truth. It’s not Satan himself breaking the rules, but Satan’s son Mammon and a rogue angel that is attempting to sever the eons-old truce and turn the world into a living hellscape. Now it’s up to Constantine and Detective Dodson to try and fix what’s been put in motion before it’s too late.

2005 was a big year for comic book films, being home to the fantastic V for Vendetta, Nolan’s Batman Begins, and even Sin City. But due to some strange twists of fate and the fact that it sort of divided critics, Francis Lawrence’s Constantine slipped through the cracks into that middling state where it did decently on home video but lost money theatrically. Coming back to it 20 years later I can kind of see how it was forgotten with both V and Batman Begins heavily overshadowing the supernatural superhero film, but I still like the movie WAY more than I should It’s just got that fun vibe that Reeves put forth in his earlier films. A tough-as-nails jackass who will cheerfully give the middle finger to anyone, but enough wit and fun to make it charming. It doesn’t hurt that Rachel Weisz is an absolute doll in everything she plays in. But what makes this film worth it is Peter Stormare’s final act appearance as Satan himself. Stormare has made a career as an over-the-top bad guy who utilizes scene munching to the extreme to differentiate himself. And in this case, it works so magnificently that you can’t take your eyes off of him. It’s just delightfully devilish (pun intended), with just enough cheese so that you don’t take things TOO seriously. It’s a comic book actor's dream, hamming it up as the lord of darkness himself, but playing him in a less horrific manner, and more of a twisted psychopath who you almost root for due to Stormare’s screen presence.




Rated R for violence and demonic images




4K Video: Video:

The original Blu-ray release of Constantine struggled with low bitrate with a VC-1 encode to fit on the 30 gig HD-DVD format as well as Blu-ray, so the added boost of getting its own BD-100 4K disc is a rather large improvement. According to the press release and one of my contacts, Constantine was given new life with a recent 4K scan overseen by director Francis Lawrence at Warner’s own MPI facility. The results are generally spectacular for the film, even though it does have a few minor quirks along with some aesthetic issues that keep it from being a truly PERFECT disc. The film itself lives in near-complete darkness, with splashes of hellish reds and hospital-grade whites to make it look a bit unique. Fine details are superb, and the contrast is WAY better than the old disc. But the biggest boon is the added bitrate that makes this disc shine above the old Blu-ray. Gone are all the compression issues and crushed blacks. In its place is inky darkness and much better-resolved detail levels. Now, there is one quirk that makes me drop this down almost a full star (I initially wanted to give this a 4/5, but that is too low, even with the issue, so a 4.5/5 rating was struck instead even though I would honestly give it a 4.25/5 rating if we had that sort of rating system). Said quirk comes in the form of what appears to be sharp edges and over-sharpening along the borders of practical and CGI effects. Faces and bodies have this sharp “edge” to them that reminds me of the old Universal Pictures days of over-sharpening Blu-ray transfers, but not really that bad. They’re just noticeable if you look for them, and it gives everything a sort of harsh “edge” to them. That being said, this is still a great-looking disc, it just had one weird mastering quirk that has me scratching my head.







Audio:

Constantine’s 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track was a fantastic mix back in 2009, but in 2025 the track doesn’t feel as polished or shiny in this day and age of audio mastering. That same 5.1 track acts as the basis for the new Atmos track found on the disc, but just polishes it and makes it shine a little by expanding the sound stage with overheads and rear surround channels. The core of the track is still there, with a slightly overcooked track that nearly clips with every bombastic moment in the film. Surrounds get good active use (especially in hell), with solid dialog up front in the mains. My biggest problem with the entire mix is that it still feels like it was a product of the “loudness wars” of the early 2000s. Everything is pushed pretty hot, and you notice voices crack and a few scenes where things just feel clipped due to how aggressive it is. Everything still sounds nice, and the action-heavy film benefits from the aggressiveness, but at the same time, it lacks nuance and balance that I have grown to appreciate with modern Atmos mixes.





Extras:

• NEW Feature – Two Decades of Damnation
• Audio Commentaries
• Channeling Constantine
• Conjuring Constantine
• Holy Relics
• Shotgun Shootout
• Hellscape
• Warrior Wings
• Unholy Abduction
• Foresight" The Power of Pre-Visualization
• A Writer's Vision
• Director's Confessional
• Demon Face

Final Score: ​

Is Constantine a great movie? Oh goodness me no. But it’s a fun movie that thrives on early 2000s star power and a nice toe dipping into the world of John Constantine before people tried to take him seriously as an on-screen anti-hero. I still don’t know WHY I love Constantine so much, but the film feels like it’s actually gotten BETTER with age, despite having a 19-year-old Shia LaBeouf being crammed in there for no reason (back in the early 2000s pre-Transformers Shia was shoved into every movie in an attempt to make him the next “it” guy, even though he was fairly useless in this and I, Robot). The 4k UHD is a hefty improvement over the bit-starved HD-DVD era VC-1 encoded Blu-ray, and the audio is a moderate upgrade as well. Fans will love it, and detractors will still hate it, but this is a good 4K UHD disc (sadly with no remastered Blu-ray to make it a combo pack) and a fun watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Djimon Hounsou, Peter Stormare
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Written by: Jamie Delano, Garth Ennis, Kevin Brodbin
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: R
Runtime: 121 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: February 18th, 2025

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[Todd Anderson]

I have to admit, I'm a sucker for Keanu films. Perhaps, I'm not a sucker at all! I just like them. I think some of it has to do with his reputation as a down-to-earth person in his public-facing persona. But, also, there's a vibe to his characters that resonates with me.

Dunno. But, this film fits right in there!