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Movie Review: Constantine City Of Demons

Nemesis

To quote John Constantine, “If there is one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that there are no happy endings.  There never are. There’s always a price to be paid.”

Constantine City of Demons is the next installment in the DC animated universe taking place in the modified New 52 timeline that started with Justice League War and plunged us into the supernatural in Justice League Dark.  Matt Ryan returns as John Constantine in this supernatural adventure that starts in London and concludes in Los Angeles.

The story opens with John literally wrestling with his inner demons before Chas Kramer, Constantine’s longtime but estranged friend, enters and implores Constantine to investigate the mysterious coma of his daughter Trish.   Upon investigation John is surprised to find a supernatural nexus and calls in The Nightmare Nurse to assist.   Presented with a clue that leads him to Los Angeles Chas and Constantine depart for the City of Angels to get to the bottom of Trish’s coma and hopefully cure her.  On the plane ride over Chas expresses confidence that John will, nay must, save Trish and this is where John speaks the prophetic words featured above.  What follows is an exciting and at times disturbing adventure through Los Angeles featuring real world locations like Griffith Observatory at times.  John encounters Aztec death gods, manifestations of hell, demons and even the conscious spirit of Los Angeles itself as he seeks to save Trish from her predicament.  To oppose those foes Constantine employs his usual sardonic wit, explosive temper, blood magic and a little voodoo to reach an ending that is a bitter resolution to the adventure that preceded it.

     Fair warning;  Constantine City of Demons is a hard R for a reason so lock the kiddies away before watching this movie.  As one would expect of a Constantine adventure there is language and graphic violence to include pools of dismembered bodies, Constantine speaking like well Constantine and depictions of blood magic that leave nothing to the imagination.  However the makers of the film have also decided to shock us with graphic depictions of the depravity and evil of the demons Constantine is opposing.  Torture, murder and various grotesque perversions horrify you in their depravity and provide real stakes for Constantine.  Watching the film it brought me back to my school days and my requirement to read Dante’s Inferno.  Here on the screen before me was a reminder that there are worse things than physical death.  Constantine risks more than death he risks eternal damnation and excruciating tortures, each one more evil and twisted than the next.   Initially I was disappointed with what I thought was the conclusion to the movie but the filmmakers left their final twist to the end.  The bitter but successful ending of the movie is appropriate and leaves me wanting more movies like this.  If you’ll forgive me for waxing lyrical for a second, DC movies tend to get a lot of stick for their dark tone but this movie is a wonderful illustration of what DC can be while maintaining a dark and foreboding tone where appropriate.  I urge you to give it a watch and enjoy

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Directors:  Doug Murphy
Producers:  David S. Goyer, Greg Berlanti, Butch Lukic, Sam Register, Sarah Schechter
Writer:  J.M. DeMatteis
Stars: Matt Ryan, Damian O’Hare, Laura Bailey | See full cast & crew

Author Profile

Nemesis
Nemesis is a poet, writer and author of the upcoming novel The Long Game. He is a writer of science fiction and supernatural thrillers. Besides novels and short stories he writes for UK based ASAP Comics developing new stories for Level 8 and OPSEC. Nem is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and tries to bring those experiences into his writing.

He lives and works out of his home in Riverside, California with his wife and three children. When not writing he enjoys reviewing comic books and graphic novels for ComicCrusaders.com and living the Southern California life with his family.
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