‘Constantine: 20th Anniversary Edition’ 4K Ultra HD movie review

DC Comics’ famed exorcising paranormal detective from its Hellblazer universe got the Hollywood treatment when it was turned into a movie back in 2005. Now, the movie reemerges from the depths of home theater realms through a 4K disc resurrection in Constantine: 20^th Anniversary Edition (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, rated R, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 112 minutes, $45.99)

Director Francis Lawrence’ supernatural thriller starred Keanu Reeves as the chain-smoking and damned anti-hero John Constantine.

He communicates with half-breed angels and demons on Earth while deporting evil rogue creatures back to hell in hopes of finding salvation before he dies from lung cancer

As demons start to unexpectedly appear in abundance on Earth, Constantine’s services are requested by a police detective, Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz), whose twin sister committed suicide. His confirmation of her cause of death leads to a search for the “Spear of Destiny,” (the spearhead that pierced the side of Jesus Christ during his crucifixion) to stop the son of Lucifer from crossing over to the Earth’s plane.

Mr. Reeves does an admirable job bringing the character to life, helped by an impressive cast led by Ms. Weisz as well as Tilda Swinson as the devilish angel Gabriel, Peter Stormare as a conniving yet compassionate Lucifer and Djimon Hounsou as a reformed witch doctor named Papa Midnite.

Pop culture connoisseurs will also appreciate the appearance of Shia LaBeouf (“Transformers”) as Constantine’s sidekick Chas Kramer and the lead singer of Bush, Gavin Rossdale, as the demon Balthazar.

Although some rabid fans of the source material might quibble with Constantine’s American, black-haired cinematic look — he was originally created as British with spiky blond hair, very much an homage to Sting — no one will complain about the stylish visuals loaded with gory monsters and spearheaded by the occasional visits to an apocalyptic version of hell.

4K in action: An opening scene of an exorcised demon trapped in a mirror leads the way in revealing both the grotesque clarity, textures and rich color detail to follow throughout in this brand-new visual version of the film, benefiting from a scan of the original camera negative overseen by the director.

Suffice it to report, viewers get an astounding-looking experience as if the film was shot yesterday using high resolution digital cameras.

Moments worth examining pile up such as viewing a demon made out of vermin; Constantine burning a small army of demons with a blaze of embers falling around him; a fly crawling out from a victim’s eyelid; smoke streams coming from the bodies that return from hell; the partial remains of a talking face almost burned to ashes; and a room filled with shards of glass suspended in midair.

Best extras: Fans will not be disappointed with a voluminous collection of digital goodies.

Start with a new 15-minute retrospective of the film that reunites Mr. Reeves and Mr. Lawrence to talk about the movie’s development and production, with help from producer Akiva Goldsman and production designer Naomi Shohan.

Next, Warner Bros. offers nearly all of the extras from the 2005 Special Edition DVD release of the film, led by a pair of optional commentary tracks.

First, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Goldsman sit down and offer a conversational discussion on the film, tackled in an enthusiastic, and amusing style. Basically, Mr. Goldsman acts as heckler, Budinski and fan boy to straight man Mr. Lawrence who does most of the talking and desperately tries to explain his film between the interruptions.

Next, writers Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello offer a more serious and informed deep dive of the plot touching on themes; the characters’ script changes; pitching the story to various studios; writing a movie that balanced humor and horror; and Mr. Brodbin quickly expressing his appreciation of the comics.

The gantlet of extras continues with 14 standard definition featurettes meticulously covering the production as supplemented with thoughts by all of the primary cast and crew.

Best of the bunch includes a 15-minute look at the origins of Constantine in comic books with plenty of visual support from the sequential art and interviews with first Hellblazer writer Jamie Delano, DC Comics’ Vertigo editor Karen Berger and sequential art historian Michael Uslan.

Next, viewers get a 12-minute focus on the special effects and especially the digital and practical visuals conjured for creating hell and its gatekeepers.

Also, and very cool, a 10-minute overview explains the complex creation of a demon made of 20 types of vermin, such as cockroaches, rats, snakes, spiders, crabs, beetles and even a bird.

Finally, 14 minutes covers nine animated storyboard sequences as they compare to the final film with commentary by the director. The segment also includes a trio of abandoned scenes.