Constantine: City of Demons, in its initial form, was a CW Seed web
series that was somewhat connected to the Arrowverse. Each of its first season’s five episodes is
just 6-7 minutes long, and collectively, the episodes essentially covered the
first act. In my review for it, my
bottomline asserts that it would have been much better if it had been released
as a DC Animated Movie Universe (DCAMU) installment instead. Well, the powers that be probably realized
this as well. Thus, instead of releasing
further seasons in such format, they repackaged the series and released it as a
feature-length animated movie instead. And
since it’s a standalone story in the first place, whose only connection to the
Arrowverse is that its John Constantine is voiced by the same actor that plays the
Arrowverse’s live-action version (Matt Ryan), and since its character design for
Constantine is the same as Justice League Dark’s (and who is also voiced by Matt Ryan), it was easy to be retconned
as part of the DCAMU.
Anyway, the plot involves
Constantine setting off to help his old friend Chas, whose daughter Trish lies
in a demon-induced coma. They trace the one responsible to be Beroul, a
powerful, Los Angeles-based demon who takes Trish’s soul as hostage so that he
may coerce Constantine into doing his bidding.
To get the girl’s soul back and return it to her body before it’s too
late, Constantine has no choice but to comply with what is being asked of him,
that is, to eliminate Beroul’s demonic competitors in the city – each one being
every bit as deadly as Beroul.
Moreover, even if Constantine manages to succeed despite the long odds
again him, there’s no assurance that a treacherous, malevolent being like
Beroul would keep his promise. Facing such
scenario in which victory is seemingly unattainable, John Constantine must dig
deep out of his bag of tricks in order to overcome it.
For me, what makes John
Constantine (as his depicted in the comics) an interesting fictional magician
is the ironic fact that his extensive magical skills and knowledge are not his
most invaluable weapons. Rather, that would
be his wits and cunning. He’s not always
the most powerful person in the room, but because of being a proficient lateral
thinker, manipulator, and con man, he engineers favorable situations where he will
best his opponents, even those who are more powerful than him. Nevertheless, although he comes out on top of
the direst of adversities, he and the people around him are still often left
with significant damage to reckon with.
Constantine: City of Demons – The Movie nails this aspect of John Constantine, and
that’s basically what makes it pretty good albeit its flaws. For by capturing this, the quintessential atmosphere
of a John Constantine adventure – dark, eerie, thrilling, surprising, and
constantly escalating – effortlessly follows.
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