Before we begin, let’s make one thing very clear, as an adaptation of DC’s Hellblazer comics, 2005’s Constantine was a travesty. Keanu Reeves is nothing like the punkish, British John Constantine from the page and the film takes some pretty major liberties with the character.
However, if you’re able to disassociate the movie from its source material, or if you just don’t know much about the property in general, it’s actually a pretty entertaining ride. Its theological themes make it much smarter than other supernatural actioners that were hitting theaters around at the time, like the Underworld movies, and there was a lot of genuine imagination on show, too.
It’s kind of a shame, then, that we never saw a sequel, and it seems that Reeves feels that way as well. Speaking in a recent interview with Variety, the actor said he’d love to play the character again.
“I’ve always wanted to play John Constantine again. I just love that world, too, and I love that character. I just had a blast playing a character and [playing] in that world.”
Given that Keanu Reeves was hot off The Matrix trilogy at the time, that’s probably why he landed the gig, and as much as we loved him as Neo and more recently, John Wick, Constantine just wasn’t the best fit for him. Still, with the actor seeing something of a career resurgence as of late, we wouldn’t have a problem with him trying his hand at it again.
That being said, with the character now being played by Matt Ryan on television, and finding much success, we can’t imagine Reeves will get his wish. At this point, if anyone’s going to be bringing Constantine to the big screen, it’s going to be the aforementioned Legends of Tomorrow star. And frankly, that’s probably for the best.
