All too often, bad comic book adaptations suffer from depressingly similar problems. Surrounded by an unmistakable aura of studio executive interference, they reshape distinctive source material into commercially palatable dreck. They fail to understand the appeal of their own protagonists, and insert action scenes where they don’t belong. On paper, Constantine hits every one of these marks, swapping the Hellblazer comics’ edgy personality and political underpinnings for a more generic brand of urban fantasy. And that’s before we get into the issues caused by transposing occult detective John Constantine from England to L.A.
Yet thanks to its star power (Keanu Reeves! Rachel Weisz! Tilda Swinton!) and visual flare, Constantine has stood the test of time. It created its own appeal, separate from the comics. So much so that 20 years later, the arrival of a new 4K release feels welcome, inviting us to revisit a flawed but eminently rewatchable moment in Warner Bros.’s sprawling DC multiverse.
