Unresolved Issues with Constantine

I watched this movie one and a half times. The first time was while I was on vacation in Las Vegas and the remaining half of the show I watched while waiting for another show to begin in the other Cineplex.

Constantine is about an exorcist called John Constantine. In this movie he is faced with the responsibility of stopping the son of Satan, Mammon, from emerging before the end of days. The premise of the movie is enough to cause a lot of people to shy away from the movie, thinking that it’s a typical brainless ride of eye candy and fast paced action. They are sadly mistaken.

The movie Constantine is actually requires some degree of reflection before one can really understand what’s going on. It isn’t your run-of-the-mill shoot em up shows. It’s something like the Matrix (forget Keanu Reeves), as it there’s a lot of action but a lot of subplots and subtle hints throughout the movie. Here are my explanations to some of the loose ends in the movie, and also some questions I have left unanswered.

For those of you who have seen it, read on, but for those of you who haven’t, you might want to skip this particular post as there are several spoilers…..

Constantine:
There was a question about John Constantine going to heaven even though he committed suicide, which confused a lot of people. Because according to the movie, in accordance to catholic beliefs, if you commit suicide, you go straight to hell. After some research, I read that he actually died from cancer just before he died from bleeding to death from slitting his wrists.

Satan was in a way cheated into coming to earth to collect his soul, thinking that he died by suicide. So when time stopped and Constantine negotiated with the devil for Isabel’s soul, he did an act of self sacrifice that in a way wiped his slate clean and allowed him to gain entry into heaven. Satan, being very displeased because he was cheated, restored Constantine’s lungs so he wouldn’t die from cancer again, in the hope that Constantine may foul up again and end up in hell.

Chaz:
This kid was so annoying in the movie. Anyhow, if you stay behind after the credits (which I didn’t), there’s a scene where Constantine visits Chaz’s grave and says. “You did good, kid.” Then you see wings appear behind Constantine. It’s Chaz as an angel and the flies away.

This leads to a theory that Chaz was really a half-breed the whole time. This is because humans cannot become angels even after they die. But if Chaz was a half-breed the whole time, Constantine would know that wouldn’t he? It’s probably the reason why Constantine didn’t want to get Chaz involved too much with his work.

Angel Gabriel:
In this movie, angel Gabriel is a half-breed. This allows it (since angels have no gender) to move back and forth into earth’s plane. Worst of all, Gabriel is portrayed as a badguy as it had a pact with Mammon (Satan’s son), to release him from Angela.

Apparently, Angel Gabriel is bitter towards God because God made man in His own image and only humans can gain God’s affection. Not angels. And Gabriel gets jealous. Therefore Gabriel rebels by being part of Mammon’s plan of taking over the earth before Satan tries to.

This part is really contradicting what the Bible says about Angel Gabriel. How could God’s messenger angel rebel in such a way?

Makes me sort of wonder since Lucifer did rebel at one time and became Satan along with a legion of fallen angels that eventually became demons couldn’t any angel just decide to call it quits and be ostracized from heaven? If it happened at one time with Lucifer couldn’t it happen again with other angels?

Half-Breeds:
According to the movie, half-breeds are humans who have died and chosen to return to earth to become influences to the humans on earth. They can either encourage and inspire, or make your slightest indulgence your worst nightmare. In the case of the priest who tried to get his alcohol fix and ended up drowning in it. Balthazar was there actually influencing him, making him think that he wasn’t taking in any alcohol when really he was drinking everything. Before he realized it, he was intoxicated and died.

In the movie, half-breeds exist as part of the wager God made with Satan for the souls of all the humans. The rules were that no one could have direct intervention with humans and they could only use their influence, which was through angel or demon half-breeds.

Constantine’s Tatoo:
It’s a protective symbol called the “Perfect Red King” or the Sulfur of the Philosophers. Something to do with seventeenth century alchemical work. It’s used to summon a spiritual entity, making whatever it is visible. In this movie, Constantine uses it to summon Angel Gabriel and make it visible to himself.

The Hell Bible:
Not too sure if such a thing exists, but I do know that there’s a Church of Satan and they do have their own Bible. Of course everything in it contradicts the Holy Bible. The Hell Bible is probably the same as the Church of Satan’s Bible.

In Conclusion:
This movie is sparking quite a heated debate especially on the imdb forums. Of course a lot of the things mentioned and implied by the movie are contradictory to what the Bible tells us. So it is important that we do not let a director’s interpretation of the spiritual realm influence our beliefs.

It may be just a movie, but the concepts and topics mentioned are very real. The battle in the spirit realm is very real. Heaven and Hell are real. However, it’s important that Christians be equipped with The Word and not be swayed by ideas from an author of a comic book.

Some scripture to remember:
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.

Psalm 119:11
I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against you…