IO9 is reporting that plans for a sequel to Constantine are still in the works. I have mixed feelings about this: I felt that they did well enough with the first movie that going for a sequel is just going to ruin it.

I've always felt that Constantine is an underappreciated movie. I was a big fan of the original comic Hellblazer for many years (I still have the first 125-ish issues, which is as many as I was able to buy before the cover prices forced me to scale back my comics budget). To say I was leery of Constantine is to understate the matter greatly.

Is Keanu Reeves an accurate representation of John Constantine? Well… not entirely. Alan Moore famously had Quadrophenia-era Sting in mind when he first sketched Constantine, and Keanu Reeves is no Quadrophenia-era Sting. But honestly, I thought he did pretty well. Given that the location was moved from England to Los Angeles, I felt that Keanu was probably one of the better casting choices they could have made. Let's just be grateful they didn't cast Keanu Reeves and keep the English setting, and make Keanu trot out his abysmally bad English accent.

Keanu Reeves is pretty, but kind of skeevy, and that's just the right quality for John Constantine. The movie also drew on Deadpan Burnout Constantine, and Keanu did quite well at that. The less Keanu is asked to emote, the better he "works" in a role. Could other actors have done a better job? Certainly, and I nominate John Marsters for the job. But given what we had to work with, I thought Reeves pulled off the job well enough.

Once you get past Keanu Reeves and Los Angeles, the move is absolutely perfect. Is anyone going to argue with Tilda Swinton's performance as the archangel Gabriel? No. Can anyone quibble over Peter Stormare's turn as Satan? Absolutely not. I feel like Chas got short shrift in the movie, but then again, doesn't he always?

The best thing about Constantine is that it looks exactly like the comic book should have, but couldn't, given the restrictions of ink and cheap paper. The saturated colors, the dark shadows, the way that every shot is framed exactly like a comic book panel - the look and feel of the movie is deliciously perfect.

I also appreciated many of the deft touches in the script. For example, the scene where Constantine traps a cockroach under a glass and blows cigarette smoke into it, which is drawn directly from one of the first issues of the comic. The scene where Keanu Reeves holds Rachel Wiesz under water, his expression as dispassionate as if he was washing dishes, while Wiesz's panic gradually rises, never fails to make me nauseous. And truthfully, I'm glad that in the movie, the cat didn't die.

Constantine is a movie that rewards re-watching, if only because of the beautiful visuals. If you haven't seen it recently, or if you saw it when it was first released and were disappointed, I recommend that you set aside the fan rage and give it another try.