Why not give the character a different name?

Rating: 6/10 (18 November 2010)

I've been a fan of the HELLBLAZER comics for years. When I first heard of a film adaptation, I was really excited. This excitement was quickly diminished once I discovered that the character was not only going to be Americanized but that he was going to be played by, of all the possible actors, Keanu Reeves.
Had they gotten a competent and talented actor to portray an Americanized version of Constantine, this would have been a much easier pill to swallow. John Cusack, Johnny Depp, Edward Norton and Leonardo DiCaprio all immediately come to mind as good choices who could portray Constantine accurately (albeit without a British accent).
When the trailer for CONSTANTINE was first released, I thought there was a chance it could be good. And then I saw it in the theaters and was completely annoyed. Here are a number of things that I found to be glaring problems with this movie when held in comparison to the source material:
-John is not a magician in this film, he's a simple exorcist who has an ability to see half-demons. This is fundamental to the character and it's been completely ignored in this adaptation.
-In the comics, John is Hell-bound because of some bad decisions he made in his youth while experimenting with magic, decisions which resulted in the death of a little girl and of some of his friends. John was not an irredeemable character, but it made sense. In this film, that incredible aspect of his character is ignored and the reason John is going to Hell? Because he committed suicide as a way to stop plagues of visions. Wow, what a horrible guy. Can anyone blame him for being such a jerk?
-In the "Dangerous Habits" story, John contracts cancer, just like in the film. In the film, he's cured because Lucifer removes the cancer to give him a chance to fall because he's redeemed himself and is rising up to Heaven. This also ruins a key aspect of the character, which is on perfect display in the comic. In the comic, John sells his soul to three separate, high-ranking demons. Then he commits suicide and when all three come at once to claim him, John gives them a choice -- they can either tear apart Hell in a brutal war to claim his soul or they can cure him until they can work this out for themselves. It's a wonderful scene which showcases John's conman nature -- and a scene which is capped off beautifully when after being cured, John lights up a fresh cigarette and flips the bird to the demons. This is ruined in the film when at the end, John reaches for a pack of gum.
-And what I feel is the greatest injustice is this film embraces the extremely antiquated notion of suicide = eternity of torture in Hell. This horrible belief has caused innumerable families and friends who have lost people to suicide unimaginable emotional pain, because the Catholic church wants them to believe that their loved ones are suffering in Hell. The comic book never took sides in any sort of religious debate -- it borrowed elements from a number of different sources and crafted its own unique mythology. The filmmakers chose to be lazy and go with an easy way out.
All that being said, there are good things in this movie. And over time, I've given it some additional chances. And I've found that over time, the Catholic stuff aside, my biggest problem with this film is that it changed so much from the source material. With all these changes that were made, the film only needed to make one further change -- call the main character something other than John Constantine. Had they done that, I doubt anyone could claim in a court of law that this film bore anything more than a passing resemblance to HELLBLAZER. And had they made that one, little change, my review of this film would probably be an 8 as opposed to a 4.
**EDIT**
Since I wrote this review, I've seen Constantine a few more times. While the problems of the film are still very much there (particularly the suicide aspect, which in my mind is absolutely unforgivable), my views on the movie have softened. Given how little resemblance the film bears to the source material, I'd advise any fans of the comic to view this movie as a completely different animal, and think of these two characters sharing the same name as being a bizarre coincidence.