Francis Lawrence

Origin:

Keanu Reeves plays the chain smoking super-excorcist John Constantine in this version of the DC/Vertigo comic Hellblazer.

Originally a supporting character created by Alan Moore in the series Swamp Thing who played a pivotal role in the series, John struck a chord with readers and in 1988 the first issue of his own comic, Hellblazer, hit the stands.

Synopsis:

Hell's bells! Sprung from the Matrix, Keanu Reeves glowers his way through another effects-heavy, convoluted journey between worlds, in this case defined by theology rather than technology. He is John Constantine, who travels back and forth between our world and the one below, working as a kind of free-lance border guard, sending stray demons back into the fiery depths (where they appear to have cars). But something big is brewing, involving rebel angels, the son of Satan, and a whole lot of pseudo-biblical mumbo-jumbo. Assisting Mr. Reeves are Rachel Weisz, as a Los Angeles police detective whose sister has jumped off a roof, and Shia LeBoeuf as an eager dabbler in the occult. Tilda Swinton is the angel Gabriel, doing a bit of slumming after boffo work in Milton's "Paradise Lost."

© A. O. Scott, The New York Times

Prequels, Sequels and Follow-ons:

None