A part of Constantine’s enchantment got here from his well-defined traits. Modeled on Sting from The Police, Constantine had spikey blond hair, a rumpled brown jumper, and an ever-present cigarette. Each charming and cynical, Constantine by no means match simply throughout the world of superheroes, which was partially why famous cape-and-cowl hater Garth Ennis wrote a number of the character’s finest tales.
John Constantine of the comics is a totally British character, born from the hopelessness of Thatcher’s England. He is aware of that he’s smarter than everybody else, however he additionally is aware of that it doesn’t matter, as a result of people are simply items of a recreation between cosmic forces. In different phrases, he’s precisely the kind of character who shouldn’t be performed by a handsome actor who’s lived nearly in every single place besides England, finest identified for bodily performances in Hollywood blockbusters. He shouldn’t be performed by Keanu Reeves.
Keanu Reeves Is John Constantine
“Shut your eyes,” Constantine tells police officer Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz). Determined to seek out out what actually drove her twin sister, a religious Catholic, to take her personal life, Dodson badgers Constantine, who begins to note one thing unusual occurring round them. He pulls one thing from inside his coat and orders Dodson to look away. When she refuses, he mutters, “Swimsuit your self,” and the thing in his fingers produces great mild, revealing a military of demonic creatures surrounding them.
“They keep in Hell, huh?” Constantine asks, mocking a press release Dodson made simply moments in the past. “Inform them that.”
Simply studying the dialogue, it’s straightforward to think about it coming from the raggedy English character of the comics, all snark and bitterness. However that’s not the best way that Reeves performs it, and never simply because he’s an American.
Because the demons burn away, so additionally does the thing that Constantine used to disclose them, and he throws it to the bottom. He waves his fingers just a few instances after which wipes them collectively, infusing the second with a physicality that director Francis Lawrence’s reliance on muddy CGI threatens to erase. Constantine stumbles into the foreground, turning again just for a second, to note Dodson spewing behind him.
