Tag: Amazon Prime Instant Video

Constantine Season 1 Episode 7: “Blessed are the Damned” Review.

Constantine Season 1 Episode 7: “Blessed are the Damned” Review. “John Constantine Snake bite and feathers”

US Airdate – Friday 5th November on NBC catch up on NBC on Demand
UK Airdate – Saturday 6th November on Amazon Prime Instant Video

Directed by: Nick Gomez, Episode Written by: Sneha Koorse , Series created by David S. Goyer and Daniel Cerone.

Read our interviews with Matt Ryan, David S. Goyer and Angélica Celaya about Constantine or listen to the full interviews here or read our interview with Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer about Season one here.

Full Spoilers for the episode 7 – Blessed are the Damned follow below.

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Pastor Zachary (Patrick Carroll) is looking for an experience that will lift his followers who have been dwindling since his father passed away. In order to excite and entice the congregation he reintroduces poisonous venomous snakes into his sermon. After one of them bites the minister he returns from a near death experience with the ability to cure and heal the sick including regrowing a parishioners leg.

This strange occurrence puts Pastor Zachary on the blood stained map of John Constantine (Matt Ryan) and Zed (Angelica Celaya). What begins as an episode reminiscent of True Detective or Supernatural takes a significant turn when one of the cured flock attacks a doctor and police officer while trying to make his way back his way back to Pastor Zachary’s church.

Constantine is at a loss to explain why or how the Pastor has gained these extraordinary powers so he sends Zed to use her powers when she touches him to see the truth. What is revealed to her is an angel. Having had no experience with angels, Zed begins to question everything she knows about the supernatural. John attempts to enlist the help of his angel guide Manny (Harold Perrineau) but only gets confirmation that “The Rising Darkness” has led to significantly more powerful events happening than John has experienced before. Frustrated by the lack of advice from Manny, John uses Zed to locate the fallen angel.
He is told by the angel, Imogen, that a human she was carrying to the afterlife plucked a feather from her wings sending her plummeting to earth and him back to his body with the significantly enhanced powers. It’s up to John with the help of Manny and Zed to stop this ultra powerful Pastor Zachary.

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As a viewer I found myself trying to solve the mystery of why the Pastor has these powers and the reveal of Imogen adds a lot to the series mythos. That’s one of the benefits of this episode in particular is that it does add more to the overarching story, we get more information about The Rising Darkness and what it is actually doing. Manny finally intervenes/interferes to help John saying there will be consequences. The shows insistence on a hybrid of standalone episodes ad serialized elements has frustrated at times. I find it difficult when sizable events such as the fate of Gary Lester have no impact on Constantine or the surrounding characters in following episodes, I also find the transient nature of Zed and Chas (Chalie Halford) difficult at times. Some episodes they are in some they’re out there might be a line of dialogue to explain it but there may not. But hopefully with both Zed and Chas in the two-parter “The Saint of Last Resorts” beginning on Friday 12th December these minor complaints will be resolved.

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Constantine, starring Matt Ryan, Angélica Celaya, Harold Perrineau and Charles Halford, airs on NBC in the USA and will return at 10PM next Friday the 12th December for episode 8 “The Saint of Last Resort” part one of a two part episode to be completed in January. Constantine is also available in the UK through Amazon Prime Instant Video the day after broadcast in the USA.

 

Review copy of Constantine – Blessed and the Damned provided by NBC

Constantine Season 1 Episode 4: “A Feast of Friends” Review

Constantine Season 1 Episode 4: “A Feast of Friends” Review. “John Constantine is the dog’s nuts

US Airdate – Friday 14th November on NBC catch up on NBC on Demand
UK Airdate – Saturday 15th November on Amazon Prime Instant Video

Directed by: John F. Showalter, Episode Written by: Cameron Welsh, Series created by David S. Goyer and Daniel Cerone.

Following our introduction to trainee medium Zed Martin (Angélica Celaya) in episode 2 – The Darkness Beneath and the demon weapon collector and Voodoo priest Papa Midnite (Michael James Shaw) in last weeks episode – Devils Vinyl, episode 4 of Constantine introduces us to another big character from the Hellblazer series John’s mate Gary Lester (Northern Irish actor Jonjo O’Neill) as he arrives in Atlanta after a drug and alcohol induced binge which took him from Newcastle to the Sudan. He’s brought with him to Atlanta a hunger that no one would want to experience. As another side of John Constantine (Matt Ryan) is revealed can he solve the mystery in Atlanta and help out this old friend from his Newcastle Crew?

Read our interviews with Matt Ryan, David S. Goyer and Angélica Celaya about Constantine or listen to them here.

Full Spoilers for the episode 4 – A Feast of Friends follow.

Gary “Gaz” Lester arrives in the Atlanta airport, just off a flight from Sudan, sweating and looking nervous and it’s no wonder the security guard take him in for further questioning. During his interview at the airport we discover that Lester is carrying an artifact with him from Khartoum containing the hunger demon Mnemoth. An entity that gets it’s strength from humanity’s compulsive desire to consume. The artifact is smashed leading to the release of Mnemoth who possesses the body of the security official.

Jonjo Oneill and Matt Ryan
From the exciting opening of the episode throughout the first half of “A Feast of Friends” the character of Gary Lester is laid bare. A former hanger-on of Constantine, Gary had more money than sense. Always trying some form of “Party drug” the events of Newcastle pushed him over the edge into full blown heroin addiction. While we get a few more details about the incident with the young girl Astra in Newcastle – “A city in the North of England with bad weather and a worse football team” – the whole picture is still being kept back by Constantine as only snippets of the incident get drip fed to Zed and the audience. Wracked with guilt Gaz went on a massive drink and drug binge after the incident and didn’t contact John again. Only coming to him now when he needs help.

There’s a great interplay between the central three characters in the episode. As Zed learns about Gary Lester’s addiction through her psychic touch to connect with Gary, which he uses against her later in the episode as a weapon and it shows the depths he will sink to. The insistence of Zed that Gary was “wracked with guilt, he’s going after the demon himself” which she knows as she’s connected directly with his mind only to be corrected by Constantine “He’s told you that did he? That’s not what’s happening,”…”I see the truth, Gary’s hopelessly addicted to heroin and let me give you a tip about addicts, between thought and action comes temptation, always” is a very well written scene. When John’s suspicions are confirmed and Gary has in fact run out to get some heroin rather than fighting the demon it’s heart-breaking and from this point onwards you know Gary is doomed. It’s nice to see the role of Zed expand in this episode into more of an emotional challenge to John. This scene between them with Zed experiencing Gary’s withdrawal symptoms and his lies to himself lead to this heartfelt discussion between her and John. We hope to see the impact of John’s actions play out in their relationship in future episodes.

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While “Feast of Friends” is based on Hellblazer issues #1 and #2 and is a very faithful adaptation, some of the finer details have obviously been excluded. It’s a pity that Papa Midnite couldn’t be worked in as the shaman that John turns to for help to solve the problem of Mnemoth’s strength. However, given their run-in the last episode it may of felt a little contrived for an audience to buy into Midnite helping John so soon. The scene with the shaman Nomo and John taking the greatest drug in the world was an excellent piece in both Constantine’s tripped out humour and the visual effects with John “tripping balls” in the pursuit of why Mnemoth is so powerful and his connection to The Rising Darkness.

One piece that has been simplified is the attraction of the demon Mnemoth to people who have addictions. While it’s called out that the demon is responsible for famines in African nations, in the source material Mnemoth drives a comic addict to eat his own precious comic books and Gary back to his drug addiction making him more sympathetic than simply a pathetic junkie unable to control his addiction.

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John’s sacrifice of his “mate” Gaz, though signposted a bit throughout the episode, feels genuinely shocking and is a fascinating early revelation on John Constantine’s attitude and ruthlessness in this demonic world. He’s not willing to do anything to save a friend but he is willing to do absolutely anything to save the world regardless of the impact on his soul. The end of the episode with John and the dubiously intentioned Angel Manny (Harold Perrineau) watching over the screaming, now possessed Gary Lester as Bear McCreary’s beautiful score plays is the best scene we’ve had in the show so far. It is both a deeply touching and tough ending and it is a quality scene in what it portrays that makes Constantine appointment TV.

Constantine, starring Matt Ryan, Angélica Celaya, Harold Perrineau and Charles Halford, airs on NBC in the USA and will return at 10PM next Friday the 21st November for episode 5 “Danse Vaudou” with an introduction to another well know DC Comics character. Constantine is also available in the UK through Amazon Prime Instant Video the day after broadcast on NBC in the US.

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Review copy of Constantine – Feast of Friends provided by NBC

Constantine Season 1 Episode 1: “Non Est Asylum” Review

Constantine Season 1 Episode 1: “Non Est Asylum” Review. “The Demons he fights aren’t just his own

At New York Comic Con 2014 we got to check out the screening of the pilot episode, “Non Est Asylum“, of NBC’s new series Constantine based on the much beloved Vertigo character John Constantine and the widely popular and successful Hellblazer comic series. In the spirit of Halloween and as the witching hour approaches here are our thoughts and review of “Non Est Asylum“. [Beware the full episode SPOILERS below]

Listen to our interviews with Matt Ryan, David S. Goyer and Angélica Celaya here

Where better to meet our protagonist the Master of the Dark Arts…sorry I mean petty dabbler…John Constantine (Matt Ryan) than at Ravenscar Asylum the psychiatric facility where he’s getting probed about his state of mind by Dr. Roger Huntoon (Miles Anderson). He’s been perscribed therapy of an electrical nature to help him forget, oh, and he wants to forget the events (and guilt) of his botched exorcism of a young girl named Astra (Bailey Tippen) in Newcastle. The demon (Nergal) conjured on that fateful night by Constantine damns Astra and himself to hell! Here at Ravenscar we get our first glimpse of the down-to-earth John Constantine who is portrayed with aplomb by Matt Ryan. He grabs this character by the trench coat and strikes a great balance between a wicked dry wit, being endearing and protective yet a jerk whilst all-the-time expressing himself with a tasty language peppered with generous amounts of swearing. He’s also not afraid of some self-harm (he wanted, no he asked for, the electric therapy). Even down to the tone of the character with the khaki trench coat, blond hair, the occasional trails of cigarette smoke (he is after all a chain smoker) and his Northern English accent Constantine feels and looks special. Believe it or not this is our hero or anti-hero who will fight against  demons and ghouls in a battle to save humanity from the world of evil…and he’s great! For me Matt Ryan is excellent as Constantine pulling off that ever so difficult balancing act of fan expectation and delivering his great performance of this much loved character.

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Whilst at the asylum another patient becomes possessed by an entity that we discover to be an old dead friend, Jasper Winters, that leaves a message for John in paint (don’t worry not blood) on the wall “Liv Die”. This event thrusts him back into the fray as Jasper’s daughter, Liv Aberdine (Lucy Griffiths), becomes the target of supernatural forces. Liv provides the audiences perspective on John Constantine in this episode as she grapples to understand who this seemingly strange man babbling weird references to the occult is and flees from John despite the demon tracking her. The persistent world weary John Constantine does not take no for an answer and he soon uses his trusted friend and companion, the very interesting Chas Chandler (Charles Halford), to protect Liv. We also get to see Constantine’s dubious angel “friend” Manny (Harold Perrineau) that nicely provides insight in to the possible season arc for the series as he warns John that all is not right in purgatory and danger is on its way. Manny also opens up Constantine’s past and the torment and guilt that drives him to do what he does.

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It is not until the death scene and possession sequence of her neighbour and friend that Liv begins to trust Constantine. At the same time her own supernatural powers begin to develop as she can also tap in to the spirit world exposed to Constantine after he gives her a pendant from her father and this sets up a nice little confrontation with her granny from hell! As the identity of the demon chasing Liv, known as Furcifer, is revealed the demon’s ability to draw power from and control electrical power and objects leads to the shocking death of Chas as he trys to save Liv from the demon. They seek refuge at Constantine’s mill house and here we are treated to an absolute treasure trove of objects from the DC occult universe. The one that brought the largest cheer from the Empire stage at NYCC 2014 was Doctor Fate’s helmet of Nabu which looked amazing. As John warns Liv “…it is incredibly powerful and not to be trifled with.” It certainly is and show runner David S. Goyer during our roundtable interview with him at NYCC hinted that someone will come to John’s door collect the Helmet of Nabu. This is fantastic news and leads us to ponder could it be Kent or Inza Nelson, maybe Hector Hall or will it be someone else? We shall soon find out! Other Easter eggs littered throughout the mill house (as well as through the rest of the episode and this review) included the Ibistick (the magic totem of the Eqyptian God Ibis), the Mask of Medusa and many others including a sly nod to the magical DC character Zatanna and, more specifically, the way she casts spells by saying backwards phrases.

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Clearly, there is a respect for the source material which is awesome for this series and for those excited to see John Constantine brought to life by the excellent actors, crew and creators behind the show. This respect for the graphic novels certainly extends beyond the Easter eggs in the episode (of which there many), but also in the establishment of the horror and occult themes that we are looking forward to and expect of Constantine. The tone and feel of the show is also great and the scares are well paced and genuinely scary. Given NBC also produces Hannibal and with horror director Neil Marshal behind camera for this episode, the show would appear to be in very good hands. This is also true of the special effects and CGI which look great in the episode, in particular, the rain drop scene between Constantine and Manny, and the flashbacks to Astra being taken to Hell.

As events build to the confrontation between Constantine and Furcifer, John forces his old mate, Ritchie Simpson (Jeremy Davies), a drug dependent, paranoid university professor to help catch Furcifer using Liv as bait. They are also aided and abetted by Chas who is very much alive and has returned because of his special, and as yet unknown, “survival skills”. Whilst John and Liv wait to catch Furcifer, in a demon seal, he exposes more of his personal turmoil and guilt as we discover that his mother died during his birth. His guilt leads him to admit his need to see her again. In the final showdown as Furcifer arrives, the demon attempts to barter Liv’s life for Astra but is thwarted by Jasper’s pendant that reveals a trap to Liv. An angry John signals Ritchie to shut down the city’s power grid that controls Furcifer’s life source, as his spell sends Furcifer violently back to hell. Constantine vows to come for Astra and Nergal, the demon responsible for her death.

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Liv decides to leave returning the pendant amongst other items back to John to continue his work. He admits scaring her off on purpose, believing that exorcising is not for everybody. However, this part of the episode does feel the weakest. It’s a bit like the rug has been pulled from under your feet and it is simply because of the need to amend this section of the episode to allow for the change in leading character (for genuine reasons) from Liv to Zed for future episodes. It feels slightly at odds that for all the character and background set up of Liv and the energy expended to protect her life in the episode – she leaves! That being said these things can happen when moving from pilot to regular series and these kind of tweaks are certainly a once-off given that more than 10 episodes are now complete. Indeed, the changed ending sets up Zed (Angélica Celaya) really nicely as the episode closes with a woman furiously scribbling and drawing some (iconic) images of John Constantine; and each bears the same signature, Zed Martin.

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Overall, whilst the ending suffers slightly down to the changes forced through re-casting, this doesn’t detract from an excellent series opener anchored by the excellent portrayal of John Constantine by Matt Ryan. He is both witty and acerbic, whilst also protective and endearing and I can’t wait to see more of Constantine on the small screen. Matt Ryan is joined by a solid and exceptional cast of actors that includes the faithful and not so faithful friends of John Constantine portrayed by Charles Halford and Jeremy Davies, respectfully, and Lucy Griffiths provides a good counter point to Constantine that brings the audience in to his world. The nascent story arc reminiscent of American Gothic from the graphic novels is dealt with lovingly and respectfully; in the same way that there is great fun to the Easter eggs teased throughout the episode. We can’t wait to see more of John Constantine battle demons, ghouls and evil.

Constantine, starring Matt Ryan, Angélica Celaya, Harol Perrineau and Charles Halford, airs on NBC in the USA and will return next Friday 7th November for episode three “The Devil’s Vinyl”. Constantine is also available in the UK through Amazon Prime Instant Video the day after broadcast in the USA. There is, unfortunately, still no confirmed broadcaster for Constantine in Ireland but we’ll keep you posted of any developments.

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