Constantine Plot Description

1. Basic background:

There are three worlds: Heaven, Earth and Hell, where Angels, human and demons dwell, respectively. None can cross over to the other world, save for people "blessed with the gift", e.g. Constatine and Angela. The Half-breeds are either half angels (those with wings) or half demon, the other half of them being human, they can live on earth. The angelic and demonish half-breeds keep a "balance" on earth, and both have to live by God's law.

2. What is Constantine and what is his fate?:

Constatine is a human with a blessed gift which means he can see or distinguish half-breeds from normal human beings. That's why he and Angela can see people with demon's face on the bus. But this gift, although blessed by god, is also a curse. Not being able to cope with the horror it brought, Constatine commited suicide when he was a teenager, and was dead for 2 minutes then brought back to life. Now here is a PIVOT concept of Catholic religion: Suicide is an unforgiveable sin that will keep you out of Hell (1). So Constantine was doomed to go to hell after he killed himself. And it was mentioned in the movie since he's such an unique character, Satan himself will "come to collect him" when he dies. (Another PIVOT plot of the movie) So to avoid this terrible destiny, he took on the role of God's hand, and sends half-breeds who "cross the line" of the balance, back to hell, in the hope of redemption for the sin of commiting suicide.

3. Who are the twin sisters and what's their role in the plot?

The sisters, like Constatine, can see half-breeds. What makes them unique is they are twins, and intrinsically connected to one another. Their basic function in this movie is that they serve as a "bridge", so to speak, for Satan's son to cross over to Earth. Satan's son lured one sister (Isabel) to suicide, and dragged her to hell. Through her, he can enter Angela's (the detective) body, then be released by the "Spear", thus crossing over into Earth.

4. What's Satan's son's plan and how is it carried out?

Santan's son is tired of Satan's way of dealing with the war with God and wants to take it over himself. He wants to cross over to Earth and bring hell to Earth. But for a demon to enter Earth, he needs "help from God". In this case, the "Spear" that killed Jesus. He can enter Angela's body, but needs to be released into the world of Earth by the "Spear".

5. What is Constatine doing at the end of the movie?

The angelic half-breed, Gabriel, appeared at the end to kill Angela and thus release Satan's son because she's jealous of Humans. (2) Thus she betrayed God. She's half angel so Constatine cannot fight her without God's instrument. So he brought Satan to help. He cut his wrist to commit suicide, AGAIN, and as mentioned earlier in the movie, Satan come up to earth to collect him. He then brought Satan's son's plan to Satan's attention. Satan didn't want his son to take over his throne, or maybe he didn't want to break his pact with God that either one of them should make direct contact with humans, so he saved Angela and sent his son back to Hell.

6. Why didn't Constatine die then?

After Satan dispatched his son, he came back for Constatine. Constantine then made another deal with him, let Angela go and he'll follow him to Hell. But by doing so, he sarcrifed himself thus God granted him access to Heaven. Satan, didn't want to be tricked, reached into Constantine's body and pulled the cancer out of his lung, so he can live, thus stopped his immediate ascension to Heaven and "have to live to prove his faith".

7. Miscellaneous
a. In the beginning, Constantine dispatched a solider demon from the body of the girl and noticed him trying to cross over into Earth. He told the priest who later died and the priest didn't believe it was possible. That's the first sign of something is terribly wrong. (Satan's son's plan)
b. Constatine had been playing God's agent on earth, sending half-breeds who break His law to hell. But that doesn't help him from going back to Hell because he doesn't BELIEVE. Notice how Midnight was praying for him before the battle, he brushed it off and said "Please..." When the Satan's son was about to come out of Angela's body he prayed, that's the first sign of his conversion.
c. Angels have no senses, they feel no pain. The half-breed, Gabriel, who betrayed God had her wings cut and became human (same plot appeared in "Dogma"), So Constatine hit her in the end and said "This is called pain, get used to it". By not killing her and sent her to Hell, he abandoned his old way and submitted himself to the plan of God.

(1) One pivot concept of the movie is, if you are a Catholic, you go to hell when you commit suicide. A lot of other movies deal with the same concept, for e.g. "Dogma", "What dreams may come" by Robin Williams. This is directly associated with Catholic's objection to abortion. Basically, life itself is sacred. You die when you are supposed to die, no matter how much you suffer. That's God's plan for you. Ending it by yourself is not an option. Catholics believe in "Free Will", this is not one of them.

(2) Angels' jealousy of Humans is another common theme of Catholic theology. The reason is Angels are God's servants, if they make a mistake they are doomed to Hell for eternity, while humans can commit as many sin as they please. As long as they repent they'll get redemption and go to Heaven. The jealousy constantly causes faulty Angels to go against God and join Satan in the war of Good vs Evil. This "free" ademption is rooted in the corruption of the priest of midiaeval times, when they sold indulgence to anyone who can pay so they can
go to Heaven.