Constantine

          Constantine was directed by Francis Lawrence and is loosely based on the Dangerous Habits story arc, written by Garth Ennis, from the comic book series Hellblazer. I've said before that adaptations should have their own identity. That does not mean it should be completely unrecognizable. An adaptation still needs to stay true to the spirit of the source material, or, like Bladerunner, put its own spin on the ideas presented in the source material. Constantine is an adaptation in name only. In fact, when I first saw the trailer, I didn't even realize it had anything to do with Hellblazer. I won't go into much detail about the differences in plot between Dangerous Habbits and Constantine because Hellblazer has had 300 issues. When a character has been around that long, the individual stories aren't nearly as important as getting the character himself right.

          The most obvious difference is that Constantine (rhymes with teen) from the movie is an American exorcist, while Constantine (rhymes with line) from Hellblazer is an occult detective/working-class magician/con artist from Liverpool. However, there is more to it than that. What makes Constantine such an engaging character is that he is perhaps the antiest of all anti-heroes, while stile being likable. He is a snarky, cocky, manipulative, lustful, chain-smoking, spell-casting, deal-with-the-Devil-making adrenaline junkie who is at least partially responsible for the deaths of nearly everyone he meets, to the point where the closest thing he has to a friend is a humanoid plant creature that hates his guts. One of his friends' last words were "Constantine, you bastard" and that could be tagline for the whole series. Yet, in spite of all of this, he is still sympathetic and I always found myself rooting for him, as he genuinely does his best to protect humanity from the war between Heaven and Hell, even if he does so in very unpleasant ways. It's hard to explain, but there's just something endearing about a guy who wants to do good while also being an unapologetic asshole the whole time. He is also a rather tragic figure. A recurring theme in Hellblazer is that every one of Constantine's victories is small and temporary. With every villain defeated, more enemies are made and, in the end, the only possibility for him is failure.

          The movie just doesn't quite capture that same charm. Since the last film I reviewed also starred Keanu Reeves, it might seem like I'm picking on the guy, but that's not my intention. I'm not a fan of Reeves, but he's not my real problem with the film; he does just fine in the role. My problem is that this role isn't Constantine. The film's protagonist (who shall be referred to as Constanteen) isn't nearly as compelling as his namesake. Constateen is stoic. Constantine has an air of affability and a delightfully inappropriate sense of humor. Constanteen kills demons by the dozen with a big gun. Constantine relies on deceit and cunning to win his battles. Constanteen wants to work his way into Heaven because of a past suicide attempt, without realizing that none of his good deeds count if they are done for selfish reasons. Constantine continues to commit half of the Seven Deadly Sins every other day and stays out of Hell by literally cheating Satan out of his soul. One of these is a far more generic protagonist than the other. To be fair, the movie gives us a few Constantine moments, like John giving Satan the finger, or this classic moment of unwarranted spite.

          Sadly, however, these don't make up for everything else. But what if we separate the movie from the comic? Could it be good then? Well, my sister doesn't know anything about Hellblazer and she liked this movie enough to buy it on Blu-ray, so perhaps. Though, as I see it, if a film is going to claim to be an adaptation, it should be judged as an adaptation. By that standard, this film doesn't measure up.