Keanu Reeves stars as "the anti-Neo" in hard-boiled horror Constantine. Adapted from the Hellblazer comic, it was an ambitious debut for music video helmer Francis Lawrence, but his many and varied riffs on the war between heaven and hell got a mixed reception from critics. Diehard fans of the comic were simply outraged by the Americanisation of a British story and it failed to recoup its $100m budget at the global box office.

Bible Bashing

Although its combination of biblical theory and fantasy horror made for a scattered film, there's certainly a lot to talk about in this two-disc Special Edition. Conjuring Constantine looks at the inception of the character with the folks at Hellblazer, including Jamie Delano, explaining his reluctant heroism. Apparently it was this notion of Constantine as "The James Dean of the occult world" which inspired screenwriter Kevin Brodbin. Director Francis Lawrence was also swept up in the mythology, but in his Confessional admits to a "nervousness" in tackling a film of such broad scope in his first attempt at movie directing.

Despite his initial reservations, behind-the-scenes footage in Collision With Evil shows a very confident Lawrence overseeing the car crash that opens the film. He reveals: "The car crashed so violently that José the [crash] dummy could only be extracted using the Jaws of Life" - and there's video evidence to prove it. Also in this section, Holy Relics showcases an impressive array of props including a replica of The Spear Of Destiny (the sword reputedly used to cut the flank of Jesus Christ at the crucifixion).

As Lawrence explains in Hellscape, creating the underworld was a sticking point in the development stages. He finally settled on the LA freeway system in keeping with his overall vision of "dark realism", but it was something of an in-joke for the LA-based effects crew. They explain the hell scenes as characterised by an atomic "super directional wind", which was achieved using particle animation. The CG Vermin Man and Gabriel's Wings also come under the microscope in separate featurettes. Best of the batch is Unholy Abduction where a tentative Rachel Weisz is whipped around like a rag doll on a wire. "I should probably throw out my chewing gum at some point," she whimpers.

Elsewhere the major set-pieces are dissected in CG test footage with optional commentary by Lawrence.

Seeing The Light

It's down to writer Phil Cousineau to draw the bigger picture in Constantine Cosmology. As author of The Hero's Journey he's well qualified to talk about the art of mythmaking in contemporary fiction. He breaks down the journey of Constantine as a classical narrative of redemption - except for the bit with the crucifix-shaped machinegun of course...

A substantial 14 deleted scenes include an alternative ending that brings closure for the hapless Chas (Shia LaBeouf) and a little more background for Constantine. Once again Lawrence gives optional commentary, but he saves the real meat and bones for the main feature. He's joined by prolific producer Akiva Goldsman, but its writers Frank Cappello and Kevin Brodbin who prove to be the most interesting with their insight into "development hell". Between Brodbin's initial draft and Cappello's final draft there were many uncredited writers who apparently spoiled the broth. After years of rewriting, Cappello tells Brodbin, "I came back to the same place with a lot of the things you started with."

Former Bush frontman/messenger for the devil Gavin Rossdale moans about hours spent in the makeup chair for one of three Easter eggs peppered across disc two. Overall however, there's very little contribution from the actors with the most elusive being star Keanu Reeves. In summation, it's far from a religious experience and Hellblazer fans might even call it blasphemy, but this Special Edition DVD offers an involving and well-rounded look at the making of Constantine.

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