I wanted to do a DC film after two Marvel ones so since I watched this again the other night its next up. I remember back when this was announced the rage that ran through the fan community that everybody's favorite Demon bothering scallywag, blond, Liverpudlian, John Constantine would be played by Keanu Reeves! Not only would his Blond Englishness be taken away, but he was to be played by an actor with the limited range of Reeves. Well, surprisingly to all he actually pulled it off.
The film takes its main plot-lines from Hellblazer's Dangerous Habits story arc, with elements from Original Sins in there too. Its faithful up to a point, but does change a few significant things. Aside form the obvious changes in Constantine's appearance, he is given a psychic ability to see half-breed demons in their true form. His sidekick, Chas, is changed from being a middle aged man to Shia Labouf! And although the story ultimately winds up treading the same path as the comics, how and why it gets there is altered at times. So no big deal right? happens with every adaptation. In fact, Chaz's character remains as the most annoying deviation for me, clearly being made younger to appeal to the teenage crowd. Labouf is ok but its a big misstep. But what works, works well. Reeves like I said, really manages to nail the character. He loses some of John's sardonic wit from the comic, but over all he keeps his sarcasm and at times his ambiguity, although to a much lesser extent. Basically if you can get over the fact that he looks nothing like he does in the comic, and is Keanu Reeves!, he's not bad at all. The supporting cast are also on top form. Rachel Weisz is as good as ever as Angela(although it would have been nice if they kept her Irish:), a cop trying to piece together the reasons for her twin sisters suicide. Tilda Swinton is ace as Gabriel, making the "snob" from the comic an androgynous schemer. Dijmon Hounsou does well in a small role as Papa Midnite, and despite only being in one scene, Peter Stormare's creepy bastard Lucifer is what you will remember most from the movie! The film also looks great, with Director Francis Lawrence really mixing up the shots and creating a nice moody noir setting. Its a shame then that although the cast and script are solid, the film doesn't quite capture the intelligence and tone that made(makes) Hellblazer so memorable. Its far from dumb, but by the end it really allows itself to turn into a pretty basic good v evil actioner..a very entertaining one, but it could have been so much more if it took more queues from the comic. There has been talk of a sequel for a while and one was actually due to start production until Reeves decided to make The Day The Earth Stood Still instead, so maybe if it does happen it can tap into the greatness of the comic a bit more. It would also be a good opportunity for DC Entertainment to begin to cross over their Vertigo characters like they say they want to. With Swamp Thing being a Hellblazer regular and the likes of Sandman crossing John's path, the possibilities are endless(pun intended). Oh, and avoid the alternate ending at all costs. Chaz comes back as an angel..its awful!
So, a good..at times very good film, just a shame that with changing Constantine's appearance they also changed too much of what made his comic so good, even if the character himself was done justice(mostly).
