Movie Info
Movie Name: Constantine: City of Demons
Studio: Warner Bros. Animation
Genre(s): Animated/Comic Book/Horror
Release Date(s): March 24, 2018
MPAA Rating: R
Uh, Chas…you might want to let this one go
John Constantine is contacted by his old friend Chas Chandler. Chas’s daughter Trish has fallen into an inexplicable coma and only Constantine can help her. Against the will of her mother, Constantine and Nightmare Nurse try to track the cause of the coma and the path leads to Los Angeles and a demon named Beroul…but it could track back even deeper into Constantine’s past sins!
Directed by Doug Murphy, Constantine: City of Demons is an animated feature from the DC Animated Movie Universe. Following DC’s The Death of Superman also released in 2018, the film originally was released on March 24, 2018 on the CW streaming platform CW Seed and was collected in movie form on October 9, 2018. The film adapts the 2005 graphic novel John Constantine, Hellblazer: All His Engines written by Mike Carey and illustrated by Leonardo Manco.
Ain’t no party like a demon dance party!
I like the DC Animated Universe, and I like horror. The idea of an R-Rated John Constantine film was interesting although I’ve never been that into the Constantine character. Watching the film is a weird déjà vu but has strong points.
The reason the story is strong is that it has a nice rounded perspective. Through the course of the movie, you see the strength of John and Chas’s friendship and the love Chas has for his daughter…all of which must be sacrificed (along with the opportunity to rescue the loss of Astra). Constantine is always the thoughtful jerk and he demonstrates this in the film.
John Constantine is played by Matt Ryan who played him in short-lived NBC series Constantine along with the Arrowverse series and Justice League Dark from 2017 (which this movie is supposed to be a loose spin-off of). Ryan is backed up by strong voice actors and that has always helped the DC animated films.
You scratch my back, I claw yours
Why this story is weird is that it is a bit of rehash. Matt Ryan probably had his own déjà vu when he recorded this story because it was already part of Constantine (Episode 10 “Quid Pro Quo”) which had Chas’s daughter in a coma due to Felix Faust. Constantine has had a long and storied history and it feels like they could have picked a new story instead of a story they just did in 2015.
Overall, the film is solid. It has good animation that takes advantage of the R-Rating by going from pretty basic artwork to literally bats flying out of a person’s butt. If you’ve read much Constantine or seen any of his appearances in other DC appearances, the movie will feel familiar, but it still stings in the end. Constantine: City of Demons is better than the Constantine episode, but as a fan of the DC shows, I wanted something new.
Related Links:
Constantine—The Complete Series Review and Episode Guide
Constantine 1: The Spark and the Flame
