During the climax of “Constantine,” Keanu Reeves raises his arm in a triumph over evil while being lifted into heaven — and proceeds to flip the bird at Satan, who’s wearing what appears to be Armani.

This moment is the culmination of nearly two hours of contrived dialogue, failed punch lines and an unoriginal vision that comprise the latest comic book to film adaptation, “Constantine.”

Keanu Reeves stars as the title character, John Constantine, whose failed attempt at suicide has rendered him unwelcome in heaven and coveted by demons in hell. Stricken with lung cancer and aware of his imminent death, Constantine attempts to buy his way back into heaven by using his supernatural abilities to exorcise demons from little girls and fight various evil creatures.

All of these efforts fail because, as the angel Gabriel explains, he is motivated by his own selfish interests.

That is until police officer Angela Dodson enlists Constantine to investigate the metaphysical mystery behind her sister’s suicide.

The story of “Constantine” is based on the DC/Vertigo comic book “Hellblazer,” which is actually pretty intriguing — but, unfortunately, this movie fails because of the cliched manner in which it is executed.

Director Francis Lawrence, a veteran of music videos, directs “Constantine” in the same glossy way as the Britney Spears videos on his MTV resume.

Neither his post-apocalyptic conception of hell nor his sweeping slow-motion action sequences are captivating — they are cheap measures Lawrence uses to distract the viewer from his unfortunate lack of originality and vision as a film director.

With Lawrence’s sophomoric vision and a script dripping with contrived dialogue, the actors were doomed from the beginning.

The hostility with which Reeves portrays Constantine seems to extend to sheer resentment — he smokes his cigarettes with the angry determination of a rebellious 14-year-old, pissed that he agreed to participate in a film in which the few scenes that have the potential to be touching or impressive are ruined with profane punchlines.

It would be easy to criticize the performances of the actors, but it is more appropriate to feel sorry for them. Other comic book adaptations, like Tim Burton’s “Batman,” were successful because the directors did not take themselves, or the content of their film, too seriously.

“Constantine,” despite being a potentially successful story, is an unfortunate failure, as Lawrence lacks vision and imagination to replicate the comic book ambiance needed to achieve a successful adaptation.