TOUCHED BY A DEVIL OR TWO.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

THE GREAT Christian theologian C.S. Lewis wrote in the preface to his landmark ``The Screwtape Letters'' that ``there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.''

It's no wonder then that John Constantine, the hero of the great new supernatural thriller that shares his name, angers the underworld. Constantine is a man of few words but possesses immense presence (making Keanu Reeves a perfect casting choice). He knows that demons are real. He has been to hell and back and believes he is destined to return there, sooner rather than later.

Constantine didn't come looking for this knowledge or power. He was born with the ability to see the divine world. It tortured him, as it would anyone. Imagine looking around a bus or a subway car and recognizing a demon three seats in front of you. (I realize this happens in New York all the time, but still ...)

Constantine's visions drove him to attempt suicide as a youth. That's when he realized that hell was real. When doctors saved him, he returned to earth, determined to use his self-described ``curse'' to send demons back to hell, knowing all the while that because of his suicide - and a stubborn, prideful refusal to ask God for forgiveness - he'll be joining them there soon enough. (A lifetime of smoking is sending him to an early grave; the film might just be the most effective anti-smoking advertisement in movie history.)

Christians may take exception to my quoting Lewis in a review of a violent, theologically scattered movie adapted from a series of graphic novels (i.e. comic books). But aside from being an absorbing, atmospheric thrill ride, ``Constantine'' is plenty smart in the way it taps into religious beliefs about the underworld that go well beyond anything you might see on an episode of ``Touched by an Angel.''

In fact, the one angel we see in the movie, Gabriel (Tilda Swinton, marvelous as ever), has decidedly mixed feelings for humans, jealous of their standing with God, convinced that the almighty has given them too easy a bargain. This leads to a course of action at the end of the film that could be interpreted as either an insane act of envy or a craven plan to use apocalypse for the supposed good of humanity. (The latter reading could easily be seen as an indictment of America's current pre-emptive foreign policy.)

Director Francis Lawrence, a Loyola Marymount grad, has a great eye for detail and, working with production designer Naomi Shohan, has created a dark vision of a Los Angeles where it is logical to find demons lurking downtown or on the seedy streets of Hollywood. (East of Hollywood and Highland, of course.) Fittingly, when the film requires L.A. to go to hell, Shohan shifts the terrain to the city's freeways.

``Constantine'' boasts a stellar cast, including the aforementioned Swinton, Rachel Weisz playing twin sisters, Bush (the band, not the administration) frontman Gavin Rossdale as a dandy demon and Peter Stormare as a white-suited Satan. Stormare's brief appearance is as indelible as his scene with the wood chipper at the end of ``Fargo.'' (Again: Perfect casting. You don't need a blustering, hoo-ha Pacino Lucifer. As Stormare said in an interview: ``He doesn't need to make a scene or call attention to himself - he's Satan, after all.'')

And then there's Reeves' Constantine, a man who doesn't need faith - after all, he has seen the evidence of the afterlife. Logically, repentance would be harder for somebody like this. Watching Constantine work his way through that dilemma is one of many rewards in this intelligent, wildly entertaining nerve-jangler.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

CONSTANTINE - Three and one half stars

(R: violence, demonic images)

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Tilda Swinton, Gavin Rossdale.

Director: Francis Lawrence.

Running time: 1 hr. 57 min.

Playing: Wide release.

In a nutshell: Smart, wildly entertaining nerve-jangler about a demon fighter who has literally been to hell and back.