Constantine: City of Demons-The Movie

• Directed by Doug Murphy
• March 24, 2018 (CW Seed) / October 9, 2018 (DVD and Blu-ray)
• Loose adaptation of the 2005 graphic novel Hellblazer: All His Engines by Mike Carey and Leonardo Manco

Voice Cast

• John Constantine-Matt Ryan
• Chas Chandler-Damian O’Hare
• Asa the Healer/Nightmare Nurse, Trish Chandler-Laura Bailey
• Renee Chandler-Emily O’Brien
• Angela the Queen of Angels, Plane Announcer-Rachel Kimsey
• Butler, Nergal-Robin Atkin Downes
• Nergal-as-Beroul, Cheleb, Quedbas-Jim Meskimen
• Mahonin, Possessed Old Man-Michael Richardson
• Mictlantecuhtli-Rick D. Wasserman

A decade after a tragic mistake, an occult investigator sets out to save his friend’s daughter from a supernaturally caused coma.

After viewing Constantine: City of Demons-The Movie I came away feeling there was more good than bad. Certain things were weak or bothered me but the production in total was an enjoyable film. Let’s start.

Once again the theme of John Constantine facing his past mistakes and the harm he has caused others drives the story. While on the surface he is fighting demons between cigarettes and alcohol, there are noticeable elements of how the past can come back to haunt you if you do not deal with it then.

From the start the character of Constantine engages in talk of a high price needing to be paid to help his friend Chas and I honestly realized what the price was from the first time it was mentioned. At least in broad strokes. I did not necessarily need people to walk home and have a happy ending but what I did need was something a little less obvious to anyone who watched the original The Twilight Zone.

It takes a little bit before things get weird or disturbing visually. This is a horror-oriented story set in an age when DC animation was firing on all cylinders in a way that the live action could only dream of. The moments in London have a clear delineation between the supernatural and the horror but once the action shifts to LA it’s a strange mix of Hollywood and disturbingly surreal.

I like how this supernatural reality exists just on the periphery of everybody else’s world in LA and you could find it if you looked just a little bit, but there’s the implication we knowingly ignore it for our own sanity or well-being. A trope I first recall from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Generally animation has trouble portraying anything truly terrifying. Rather than hint animators are inclined to completely show like here. Closeups of eyes or shadows that suggest something would have certainly elevated the creepiness factor especially with the appearance of the fading Aztec god Mictlantecuhtli. Let the viewer’s mind do some of the work.

Having said that visually the story is appropriately gory and violent but not unnecessarily so. Even characters use profanity and general obscenities in the right measure. Considering these are demons having them say “Fudge!” and “Darn it!” would not work. Nothing though comes off being done just because they can.

Like with any Constantine story there are plans within plans and not all is as it seems. We get a character called Queen of Angels that is the embodiment of the consciousness of Los Angeles’s citizens who is plotting with a demon posing as an entity called Beroul who turns out to be a demon named Nergal whose appearance in a club run by a guy looking like Chris Angel caused the schism between Chas and John. It gets close to being convoluted.

The price to save the daughter is Chas’s memories and love for her. Fine, but John also needed to tap her mother’s memories and love. I am fuzzy on how this all affected mom. She definitely forgot Chas but how much did she retain for her daughter? Did her daughter go from being imprisoned by a demon to living with a mother that had barely any emotional connection to her? Who was the primary memory/love donor then?

The story does nicely loop back to Constantine’s original sin of hubris. We get hints but not direct indications of the cause of his attitude and why he carries so much baggage. There is definitely melancholy and sadness mixed with darkness in this. There is emotion and you feel bad for the characters and bad when you’re supposed to. There’s plenty of disturbing though nothing quite frightening in it. I wish they tried for more scares, but we get what we get.

Constantine: City of Demons-The Movie is a good movie. It’s about regrets and how the past when left unresolved will come back to haunt you and be more damaging when you finally need to deal with them. Not the greatest but worthwhile viewing.