OK eye candy but it's a disgrace to the comic book.

Rating: 4/10 (8 February 2005)

Keanu Reeves plays the title character in this adaptation of the cult DC/Vertigo comic book called Hellblazer, and while the movie does have its merits, it's not very faithful to the source material that it came from. The movie stars Keanu Reeves as a gumshoe whose specialty is in dealing with the occult. He specialty draws the attention of a police detective played by Rachel Weisz, who asks for his help in her investigation of her twin sister's suicide. A suicide that she thinks that is more than it appears to be. In due time, they both will encounter what lies under the surface of their world which is inhabited by both the angels of heaven and the demons of the underworld who are both fighting their own war for the fate of mankind. The movie is shot beautifully in the way it tries to capture both of the landscapes of good and evil that lives in this film's setting and the special effects does the film justice in its interpretation of hell that looks like an apocalyptic version of downtown Los Angeles, which is the setting of this film by the way. Unfortunately, the script is so unfocused that it hurts what this film trying to accomplish and the dialog itself lacks conviction for the material itself. The climax of the film is a major letdown because it just takes all the serious aspects of the film and just tosses them out in favor of a brief Matrix like a gunfight that undercuts the movie's tone and an incoherent ending that leaves more questions than answers. I'm not as hard as a lot of people are on the acting abilities of Keanu Reeves and he does his role well but his performance lacked something here in this film and it felt more phone in than genuine. Rachel Weisz on the other hand delivers a strong and moving performance that does deliver the goods but you will end up thinking that she is giving more to the film that it deserves because her performance is way too good for this movie. She's so good in fact that if the people who made this film wanted to make a faithful adaptation of the Hellblazer comic book, they could have cast her in the role of Kitt, Constantine's one true love. Now being a casual reader of the comic of whom this film is based on, the character of John Constantine is not well represented in this film and the script makes him look like a shill who wants to redemption which is the polar opposite of who the character is in the comic book who only served himself. The character also had a slick side to him that gave you the impression that he knew more than he let on while the character in the movie is flying by the seat of his pants during the whole film. Plus he relied on his wits to defeat his enemies while the character in the movie has a gadget man who makes him weapons (The brass knuckles scene in the movie is a joke because the John Constantine of the comic book can't handle himself well in a fight). The cancer subplot in the film only serves as a footnote while in the comic book, it had more of an impact and certain characters who show up in the film are just watered down versions of their comic counterparts. The most offensive of these characters is Chaz, who is John Constantine's best friend (and is a grown man with kids) but he is reduced to a street kid who is basically a lap dog for Constantine to pick on. The only character in the film that closely resembles the comic book is Papa Midnight, who's really more of an adversary in the comic than the friend he is in the movie. Judging this movie on it's own merits, It's a passable popcorn movie that has a better than deserved performance by Rachel Weisz. Judging the movie as an adaptation of the comic book, it's a letdown.