User Reviews

Constantine: City of Demons (2018)

Director: Doug Murphy (Mighty Ducks the Movie)

John Constantine is visited by his childhood friend Chas Chandler, who desperately needs his help. Chas's daughter, Trish, is in a coma induced by a very powerful demon who is slowly feasting on her soul. They journey to Los Angeles to hunt down the demon but become tasked with killing five more along the way. They receive help from a few friends and enemies to save Trish and prevent the destruction of California.

Matt Ryan reprises his role as Constantine in this very dark and gory animated film from DC. I watched the majority of the Constantine show on CW and thought it was pretty decent. I enjoyed Matt Ryan's performance and that carried over with this film. It's been a while since I've sat and watched an animated film for the DCU and this was a great way to get back into them. This is by far the bloodiest and most demonic animated title they put out this far and I say the more the better. The film worked so well as an animated film that it had me thinking what would happen if it was live-action. I won't get ahead of myself but I will say I'm a fan of any Constantine movie if they keep up this formula. It's a mature and horrifying film that should satisfy the majority of fans and I would highly suggest giving it a watch. If you haven't given any of the animated films from DC a chance I suggest you start because they are far better than the live-action theatrical releases we've been getting.

I give this film 7.5/10

I have just watched this movie and I enjoyed it.

If you watched the the mini series this movie adapts on too it and goes further on with the story.

Animation wise it is definitely high quality.

It is funny that Damian O Hare the voice of John Constantine is work with Matt Ryan the true John Constantine actor. With the great recurring voice talents Laura Bailey as Ash the Heeler and Emily O'Brien as Chas Chandler's wife makes it even. The rest of the voice cast was good.

If you want explore more about John Constantine and his life then this series is worth the watch. I would highly recommend this movie and on that note this movie is not for children.

See also Freedom Fighters the Ray and Vixen for more animated DC projects from the CW network.

Constantine is a hard-rocking, chain-smoking dude who drinks a lot and has a lot of random sex. Constantine's like a less psychopathic James Bond, British accent included, except that he fights the occult. That's why adapting Constantine is challenging; it's hard to connote the grit of the Constantine universe, even in comic book form. This cartoon does not adapt Constantine well, and its attempts at grit and horror are equal parts painful and laughable.

The movie feels like it written by people who have read maybe two Constantine comics and instead watch a lot of Oprah (or something). There is nothing gripping about the scenes where Constantine has to witness the tortures of Hell (whip stock sound effect) has sex with a spirit (not as cool as it sounds) or his repeated flashbacks to that tragic night long ago (lady scream stock sound effect, which is also very, very annoying).

The animation is stiff and the characters, especially the demons, look stupid. Constantine's design would work as, I don't know, an action figure maybe, but he is not expressive. Always the eyebrows drawn together in a tough-looking scowl. But guys, tough is boring.

The way the characters talk to one another is stiff as well. Early on, Constantine summons "Nightmare Nurse," someone Constantine used to work with, and within the first 30 seconds she's talking about how Constantine is not great in bed. (This paragraph is going to make me tick the spoiler box for this review. Jeez.) I guess they're trying to show how mundane fighting the occult has become for them, but that could be communicated a lot more subtly, like Hellboy cracking jokes in the presence of elder gods. Even in a realistic setting, if you ran into an old flame, would she bring up the sex you used to have? Does *anyone* talk like that? Bringing up sexual performance in the first 30 seconds? After years of silence? There's that hamfisted attempt at grit, yet again. Constantine: a swing and a miss.

Is it completely horrible? No, but it's certainly a waste of time. I was busy with something in my home and put on this movie as background noise, but despite my productivity I still feel guilty, like I still wasted my time and energy with this movie.