Harry Situation Reviews: Constantine: City of Demons

To defeat a devil, you must summon a bigger one.

One of my favorite characters from DC comics is back in is own animated film, Constantine: City of Demons. John Constantine (voiced again by Matt Ryan) is recruited by his long time friend, Chas Chandler, into helping his daughter, who has been placed under a supernatural comatose. In order to solve this mystery and save the soul of his best friend’s daughter, Constantine must travel to Los Angeles, a city that isn’t exactly full of angels.

I’m sure everyone here is aware by now that I’m a huge fan of John Constantine. Hell, I actually met the real guy Matt Ryan in person at Wizard World, and got a photo with him. And I was definitely excited for this movie. So excited that I immediately went to my nearest Target and bought it on Blu-Ray. And you know what? I have no regrets. I really liked the movie.

Back in 2005, there was a movie titled Constantine that starred Keanu Reeves as the titular character. It wasn’t that good. And after seeing this movie, that 2005 movie should have been this movie.

First huge positive is of course Matt Ryan reprising as John Constantine. The guy has definitely proven that he is the definitive John Constantine, whether through voice-over or live-action. Charismatic, sarcastic, moody, con man, the guy just perfects it.

The animation is really nice too. It’s the same team that’s done all the DC Animated Universe movies. In fact, this film is actually a sequel to Justice League Dark, but I’ll get into that in a bit. Not only does the animation do a great job of bringing the beloved character to life, but really brings to light the dark world that surrounds him. Hell, it even makes room for some trippy moments like out of Dr. Strange from the MCU, which is something I hoped to see from this movie. By the way, if you’re thinking of getting this movie and letting your kid watch it just because it’s animated, think again. This movie is R-rated with good reason. Holy shit, the animation really highlights the blood and gore in this movie. Honestly, with something dealing with Constantine and demons, it has to be R-rated. There’s no way they can get away with a PG-13 rating. They even drop the F-bomb in this movie. So yeah, don’t let your kids watch this.

The film also does a good job introducing characters from the Constantine/Hellblazer comics. I already knew about Chas Chandler from the comics and the show, but it was nice to explore his relationship with Constantine. It even introduced characters that I didn’t know existed like Asa the Nightmare Nurse. No clue to who she is, but I liked what I saw from what was given in this movie. And there’s a reveal about her character that really makes me want to check her out more.

Yet I think the really big positive for this movie is that it truly gets what Constantine is about. Throughout his life, John Constantine has experienced more tragedy than happiness. The film goes into his backstory about how he was an inexperienced magician that failed to save a girl’s life when he first summoned a demon. This was explored briefly in the live-action show, but I feel that it’s done a much better job here, and it’s here that you truly see why he is the way he is. John considers himself as a poison to those closest to him, hence he lives in isolation, smoking and drinking his life away. Yet he keeps on trying to fight back the darkness that chokes our world. Also, he’s not at all a confrontation person like Batman or Superman. He prefers to pull off one last con that ultimately wins the day. That’s John Constantine, and that’s why he’s awesome!

Now for my negatives, and this one’s a bit of a big one. I’ve heard a while back that the CW Seed was hosting a six episode series of Constantine, which turned out to be the first third of this movie. I’m not sure if that was the intention or not, but at least we got a Constantine movie. Yet the problem is that I cannot help but feel that this was false advertising. Not to mention that it was said that this was supposed to take place within the Arrowverse, but instead, as I mentioned earlier, this was actually a sequel to Justice League Dark. The problem is that most folks that are starting to become familiar with John Constantine only know about him from his appearance from the Arrowverse. There was already an episode from the Constantine series that dealt with Chas’ daughter being put inside a supernatural coma. So, people are not going to be aware that this movie has no connections to the Arrowverse. Not to mention, people will feel that there are continuity errors, yet again, they wouldn’t know that unless they were properly informed that this film was set in the DC Animated Universe.

But that’s just by personal fan gripe about the film. Now for a real negative against the movie, there’s one character in particular that I felt was unneeded in this movie. Get this, John Constantine meets the, I guess, spirit of Los Angeles itself, who does... you know, fuck if I know why this character exists. Honestly, you can write her out and nothing would have been lost.

This film is a must have for any and all fans of John Constantine, like me. Again, this is what the Keanu Reeves movie should have been. I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance to review that movie sometime, but if I did I would honestly give it a C or C-. It wasn’t all bad, but that film did not encompass John Constantine. Unlike this film, this film defines the character. I really like this movie, and I highly recommend checking it out.

Rent it and then buy it!

Now, abra-kadabra, Grading Scale!

Positives:

-John Constantine

-Great voice over

-Great animation

-Introduced interesting characters

-Explores Constantine’s life

-Earns its R-rating

Negatives:

-False advertising

-Unneeded character

Final Grade: A-

So there’s my thoughts on Constantine: City of Demons. Have you seen it? What were your thoughts? Are you a fan of John Constantine too? Please be kind, leave a like and comment, and check out more reviews here on Prose!

Best Quote:

Chas Chandler: “Can’t you just, I don’t know, magic them away?”

John Constantine: “Who the hell do you think I am? Benedict Bloody Cumberbatch?”

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