Constantine the (Not So) Great

Suffice to say the film portrays a dualistic creation wherein God and Satan have “made a wager for the souls of men.” Gabriel and the son of Lucifer team up to rush the Apocalypse on mankind (remember, please, that Gabriel wants humans to suffer greatly for their sins before they enter paradise—no reasons are articulated for the “rebellion” of Lucifer’s son), while Constantine, with the help of the young Ms. Weiss, discovers their intentions and, after they swipe the pretty young thing whom he’s begun to fall in love with, sets out to stop them.

I cringe at the sort of “Christian criticism” that finds fault with artifacts of our culture, picking them apart here and there for signs that they are worthy or unworthy of our regard—trying to baptize them or excommunicate them—especially in light of what self-described Christian artists too often produce.

Still, I cannot justify anyone witnessing a film that maligns the character of God as acutely as does Constantine. While the forces of darkness get all the screen time (the director, to his credit, admits it’s easier to depict evil than goodness), what we learn about the God who represents the side of the angels is just enough to identify him with the God Christians are supposed to worship—here is the Catholic church, there is the crucifix, here is the holy water, there is the statue of Mary (in the window of a storefront Pentecostal church!)—but who could not be further from the God who enters our world himself, becoming one of us, to redeem creation and humanity from destruction and the grave. The Christian God, mocked here as a figurehead of hapless deism at best, is no mere bystander, indifferent to our suffering and careless about our annihilation.

The movie is the latest and perhaps most extreme example of the evangelical embrace of popular culture. Those who recommend the movie acknowledge the R-rated film's graphic nature and muddled theology.

In the film, Keanu Reeves plays a man who has the ability to see angels and demons, the latter of which he hunts and destroys in an attempt to earn his way into heaven. It's violent, fast-paced and utterly appealing to the same type of evangelicals who enjoyed discussing the philosophical and religious beliefs that undergirded "The Matrix.'

Bible study guides based on "Constantine' have been prepared at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena and elsewhere to facilitate discussions about the film.

"What I love about the movie is that it takes evil seriously,' said Craig Detweiler, a screenwriter and film professor at Fuller and at Biola University in La Mirada. "It treats the devil as a definable quantity, and yet suggests that God is much more powerful, creative and enduring.'

Fuller graduates Matt Westbrook, 31, and Colin Johnson, 25, wrote the Bible study guide for "Constantine.' Westbrook said general revelation the belief that people can perceive God through creation is essential to understanding the intersection of theology and film.

"God is everywhere, He's all around us,' Westbrook said. "God can speak to us through anything, so films are just one small part of that.'

Ken McCoy, 51, is also designing a Bible study based on "Constantine.' McCoy runs a nonprofit organization in Escondido called JumpStart, which offers youth leaders training and curriculum.

McCoy said his Bible study is written to help youth leaders discuss the film with their students. Bible studies based on movies represent a shift in the evangelical attitudes toward popular culture, he said.

"I'd rather not admit it, but there has been a loosening of standards and an absorption of mainstream culture into the Christian culture,' McCoy said.

Not every evangelical who's thinking about theology and film is openly embracing "Constantine.' John Hamilton, director of the cinema and broadcast arts department at Azusa Pacific University, said just because a movie deals with the supernatural does not mean it's instructive.

Azusa Pacific was asked to publicize "Constantine' like it did "The Passion of the Christ,' Hamilton said. The school declined.

"Hollywood is trying to jump on the bandwagon to get Christians to come see anything that deals with the supernatural,' he said. "There's a lot of interest in the spiritual now and the occult and it's not all good. We have to be careful not to be too starstruck with things like this.'

Enter a dagger assumed to have been used in the crucifixion and somehow tied to apocalyptic prophesies (found under the ruins of a freeway bridge wrapped in a Nazi flag!), the angel Gabriel (ticked off at God for making the achievement of heaven too easy for humans by the grace of forgiveness), the son of Lucifer (who has possessed a peasant Mexican—demons like to inhabit Latinos in this film), a gorgeous detective (Rachel Weiss) looking for answers to why her twin recently committed suicide, a retinue of bookish, trinket-laden spiritualists, the aforementioned demonic half-breeds, with hints of the end of the world and... you get the idea.