Critic Reviews

The latest comic book adaptation to hit TV, NBC’s Constantine is a nifty spookfest with dark humor and some genuine chills.

A near-perfect companion piece to the similarly creepy-quirky Grimm, this lavish adaptation of the DC Comics Hellblazer series is the freakiest and most stylized fantasy pilot since Sleepy Hollow, and Ryan's instant grasp of this cocky but battered hero will make it easy to forget that Keanu Reeves ever went there.

Falling somewhere in the middle of the dark/light scale between Gotham and Flash, tonight's promising premiere boasts a few good jolts, a welcome bit of visual flair, and an appealing star turn from Welsh actor Matt Ryan, who conveys just the right mix of tortured soul, biting wit and hunky hero.

Ryan, a Welsh actor little known on these shores, is the best thing about the pilot. Second best are some genuinely creepy special effects and scares, but the plot itself is a muddle.

The series looks and feels appropriately ghoulish with a couple of good gotcha moments and excellently rendered scary creatures prowling the shadows, in between clunky expository passages.

There's the structure for a sturdy but unremarkable supernatural procedural (and companion piece to "Grimm"), but in the pilot, at least, producers David Goyer and Daniel Cerone aren't aiming for much more.

Not only does it promise scares, but it looks good, moves quickly, and uses effects well and wisely. In a market that's rapidly growing, Constantine does a commendable job distinguishing itself.

If you’re not already a fan of the story, Constantine has some kinks to iron out before the unenlightened will willingly follow this master of the dark arts.

Constantine doubles down on both shape-shifting and puzzlements. Its whiz-bang-boom special effects also might serve as ample enticements for viewers who don’t much care whether anything makes any real sense.

The wildly uneven Constantine premiere is a decidedly mixed bag of magic tricks. It's moody and mysterious. It's also muddled and meandering.