OK, can we all just get over the anti-Keanu stuff? Please? I thought the movie was fun.

Rating: 8/10 (17 March 2007)

First off, no, this ain't the comic book John Constantine. It can't be. Think the movie was dark? Don't read the comic, then... talk about dark and scary. There is no way the censorship folks would allow a true Hellblazer movie -- not only that, but there is no way at all to get the complexity of the comics into a 90-120 minute movie. Keep in mind, folks, when they make a movie, they are trying to sell it to a far wider audience than just us comic book geeks.
Second, I really think a lot of people just decided early on that it was "cool" and "in" to hate Keanu Reeves. I think that's a really negative attitude to take, and I am sorry you feel that way. I thought he did a pretty good job of the character. The MODIFIED character. If they were going to do a *real* Constantine, they would need Spike from Buffy and Angel. No, Nick Cage couldn't pull it off, unless you want a Texan Constantine.
Third. The kid wasn't annoying -- he didn't get enough screen time to be! And Papa Midnight couldn't have been so cool if he had been a bigger part of the movie -- how interesting can "I'm occult Switzerland" really be for a whole movie?
Now, a lot of people have likened it to The Prophecy. I beg to differ. I thought so too, for a second... but in this movie, Gabriel's motives are NOT Walken's Gabriel's motives. In The Prophecy, Gabriel hates humans, because God loves them best, and he was made to serve man. In Constantine, Gabriel wants man to deserve God's devotion, and is convinced the only way they will is to suffer horror. As happened after 9/11 in NYC, in the presence of horror, people are kind to one another, noble, helpful and self-sacrificing. When things go well, people tend to be selfish and cruel to others.
In all, I thought it was a pretty good supernatural action movie. No, it wasn't perfect, and it sure wasn't the Constantine I know from YEARS of being a fan of the comic... but it was far far better than most of what I see on the big screen anymore.