Not bad, but why completely re-write the back-story?

Rating: 6/10 (24 February 2005)

Constantine wasn't a horrible movie, though it does blatantly rip-off the series of Prophecy movies with Christopher Walken (as others have noted here). What I don't understand is the complete trashing of the comic character's back-story. John Constantine is British, for crying out loud! Obviously, some bright studio exec got ahold of this and said "Couldn't we write this as a vehicle for Keanu Reeves?" and true to all the Hollywood clichés, the end result bears only a tiny resemblance to its source. The John Constantine from the Hellblazer comics would make for a much more interesting movie character than Keanu's occult detective/fix-it-man. The real John Constantine is much more of a bastard, perhaps the most selfish character to ever carry a series. And he's pretty much an expert on all things arcane--wouldn't need a weapons man holed up in the pin-setting works of a bowling alley to act as a low-rent Q. All this aside, I didn't completely hate the movie, but it certainly wasn't the revelatory breakthrough that some critics have branded it. There are some undeniably impressive visuals, but the story is weak and confusing and, ultimately, not very original (rent The Prophecy to see what I mean).