HELLBOY
RATING: 7/10
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PLOT:
A demon child gets transported through a black hole and onto our planet to
become...Hellboy! The child is brought up by a scientist who secretly
raises
him in under the supervision of the BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research
and
Defense) Once grown up, the man, who despite shaving down his horns, still
looks very much like a friggin' Hell-man, partners with other
super-"freaks" in
order to stop the end of the world...or something. Point being, he's a
good guy
with a large hand that can kick ass. Want some of that shit?!
CRITIQUE:
A fun monster movie that didn't reel me in entirely because the whole
demon/occult angle has never interested me, either as a reader of comic
books
or moviegoer, but did entertain me throughout, especially during many of
the
impressively handled battles between Hellboy and the dogs from hell. The
trailers for this movie had scared the CGI out of me, but on the whole,
the
film excelled at its computer imagery, most of which was fluently
integrated
into its otherworldly society. In fact, I was completely taken by all of
the
graphics, save for the blue fire related to Selma Blair's character, which
stood out somewhat. The film plays a lot like the X-MEN, dealing with
half-human breeds who help us "go bump" against those bumpers in the
night, but
does so without the sheer number of characters of the former film. The
thing
that sets this movie apart from that one, and other comic book related
pictures, is its focus on a romance as well, one which actually worked
within
the confines of this incredulous Nazi-based plan to annihilate the world,
with
Blair's soft touch of character, playing perfectly against Ron Perlman's
unruffled (& sensitive) superhero. I especially enjoyed the scenes in
which
Hellboy started to feel jealous...very cute stuff. I know that might sound
weird considering that most of this film is based in action, calls to the
dead
and monster fights, but the aspect that most stuck out for me was that
connection between the two mutants.
That said, the action scenes also have to be propped for delivering the
goods,
with one specific mano-a-monster in the subway system kicking ass and then
wiping it too. I loved the film's opening as well, a creepy, crawly,
rainy,
grungy origin that establishes the film's basic plotline and tone early on
(action with touches of humor) I only wish the film hadn't continued on
the
goofy Rasputin-from-the-dead storyline, which in both character and arc,
wasn't
as engaging as other possible more contemporary confrontations that
Hellboy
might've exploited better. I know I'm complaining about something that
"wasn't
in the film", but that was my impression as I watched them call shit up
from
hell over and over again. To be honest, I didn't even really understand it
all,
especially the big monster which popped up near the end (I have no idea
what
that was or its purpose, etc...) Thankfully, the main characters were well
established, especially Perlman's Hellboy, who was fun to follow, Blair's
Liz
Sherman, a woman unsure about her future with her man (and her powers) and
Abe
Sapien, a slimy fish-man who sounded like Frasier's brother, but worked
under
the circumstances (although I've always found "psychic" characters to be
too
much of a screenwriter's best friend-"We'll get the guy to be psychic so
that
he'll know everything!!)
The lead baddie was a disappointment though, as both the character and
actor
didn't bring any life to the proceedings, but were thankfully backed-up by
one
of the coolest mofo bad guys this side of Darth Maul, Vader and those
crazy
ninjas from BLADE II, in Kroenen, a knife-wielding black-clad Nazi with
axes to
grind, good guys to slice and good girls to dice. I loved this dude and
I'm
glad that he was even more prominent than the lead baddie here. The man
said
little, but spoke loudly through his actions. On the downside, I'm not
sure
what the heck that blond chick had to do in the story, I thought the lead
FBI
kid was a little too "green" for my taste, and some of the "Star Trek"
extra
FBI agents who tagged along for the final tete-a-tete were a little too
obvious
as pawns in the game of "who dies first", but that's life. I think the
film
also ran a little too long, didn't require Jeffrey Tambor's character as
the
typical "asshole boss" who for some unknown reason still doesn't respect
Hellboy even after decades of consistent service to the government (???),
or
the over-the-top somewhat HULK-ish ending with everything in the world
seemingly lighting up (but meaning very little), but they weren't major
problems, just minor peeves. I think a Hellboy series could work if they
move
away from the whole "demon/forces from hell" thing and allow HB to kick
ass in
the modern world with his team of X-FILE co-horts plugging away by his
side.
Sign me up for another round...!
Where's JoBlo coming from?
Blade (7/10) - Blade 2 (8/10) - The Hulk (7/10) - The League of
Extraordinary
Gentlemen (4/10) - Men in Black (7/10) - Men in Black 2 (5/10) - Raiders
of the
Lost Ark (10/10) - Spider-Man (8/10) - X-Files (7/10) - X-Men (7/10) -
X-Men 2
(8/10)
Review Date: April 1, 2004
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writer: Guillermo del Toro
Producers: Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, Mike Richardson
Actors: Ron Perlman as Hellboy
Selma Blair as Liz Sherman
John Hurt as Professor Bruttenholm
Genre: Comic Book
Year of Release: 2004
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(c) 2004 Berge Garabedian
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X-RAMR-ID: 37469
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1268288
X-RT-TitleID: 1131153
X-RT-SourceID: 573
X-RT-AuthorID: 1021
X-RT-RatingText: 7/10
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