DC Animated Universe series

(In French, On TV, June 2022) My expectations regarding DC animated films have been finely honed and lowered over time: I’m not expecting greatness as much as I’m curious to see what spin they (being lower-risk investments than the prestige live-action films) will bring to a familiar character… or simply recapture the nature of a fan favourite for 90 minutes. As one of the many who regret that the 2005 film adaptation of Constantine never led to a sequel or further live-action film follow-ups, I was just curious to see if the animated Constantine: City of Demons would manage to spend 90 minutes just playing around with the pleasantly dark fantasy universe in which the character usually evolves. To my surprise… it succeeds at exactly that. Living in a noir demimonde of demons and human vice, this Constantine is jaded about the occult, and is asked to help a friend’s daughter get out of an unnatural coma. The film does well at creating a specific atmosphere and sticking to it – and in terms of pacing, it doesn’t show too much its origins as a series of five web-published episodes. Constantine’s character is given some room to spread, and the ending is pleasantly glum in the consequences of so many occult shenanigans. In other words, it’s a rather good 90 minutes spent with Constantine – sure, the animation could be more detailed, and the script is often a bit too slack-paced. But City of Demons delivers on what it intends to, delivers a coherent self-contained story and in these aspects feels just a bit better than many of the other DC Comics animated films.