Hellboy
by Ryan Ellis
April 7, 2004
Didn't Ron Perlman play a heavily made-up, misunderstood, underground hero
somewhere else? Wasn't it on television when he played Vincent in the
"Beauty And The Beast" series? Why, yes, that's correct. This isn't new
territory for Perlman. Strangely, I grew to believe in his character very
quickly, even though I had been laughing at how ridiculous he looks in the
previews. Maybe it was the way he didn't make a big deal about his
grotesque
appearance and growled at anyone else who would dare to stare at his scary
face. As Hellboy (or HB or Red), Perlman is buried under a pile of red
latex. It's to his credit that his heart and courage shine through the
prosthetics. If only the movie surrounding him was as likable. I didn't
hate
'Hellboy', but it could have been a helluva lot better. One step forward
was
generally followed by one step back.
Just when I was starting to get into this movie, the chintzy F/X snapped
me
back to reality. Just when Perlman was being funny and cool and heroic,
his
elaborate make-up would indeed call attention to itself. Just when the
basic
good-versus-evil story was propelling us to an obvious titanic conclusion,
it derailed itself and made me wonder just what was happening with this
muddled plot. The target audience for this film will obviously be fans of
the comic book, which I had never heard of until the first time I saw the
trailer. Longtime fans won't need the approval of any critic to see this
movie and I'm not warning non-fans to avoid 'Hellboy' like the plague
because there IS some fun stuff going on here. This movie does what Ang
Lee's 'Hulk' tried to do...make a movie look like a comic book. And while
director Guillermo Del Toro is more successful giving his powerful
superhero
some spark and life than Lee was, the same problems with 'Hulk' hamper
'Hellboy'---silly F/X and a WTF climax.
Actually, the beginning of the film inspired some WTFs as well. We're
taken
back to the '40s and the Nazis are trying to open a gateway to hell. When
American G.I.s save the day and destroy that stargate doodad, it seems
that
most of the villains are dispatched while some weird demons have crossed
over into our world. One of those is the baby devil with a stone-covered
right hand, horns, a tail, and a bit too much rouge in his complexion. I
thought for a while that one of the Nazis had turned into this weird
little
fella, but no. An unrecognizable John Hurt plays Professor Broom, a
paranormal scientist who adopts this bizarre creature and takes great
pleasure in raising the badass. Cut to 60 years later and Hellboy is only
in
his 20s (something about growing in cat years?) and has spent all this
time
fighting the forces of darkness. In a nice touch, a "Hellboy" comic book
is
actually IN the movie, as the urban legend grows about whether or not this
guy is for real. Somehow, some of those Nazis survived the gunfight 6
decades ago (apparently a few of them haven't aged at all) and they're
trying to luring Hellboy to their side. We know he's incorruptible, but
they're determined to use him to unleash hell on earth.
So there you go. It's not the most original plot and if you already
guessed
that this ends in a dangerous locale with huge visual effects and good
triumphing over evil, by George, you'd be key-rect. The point of this kind
of story is how interesting and compelling can they make the characters
and
the scenery. And that's the bugaboo. Apart from Perlman's dynamic leading
character, I had a hard time giving a crap about anyone in this movie.
David
Hyde Pierce provides the voice and Doug Jones provides the body for Abe
Sapien, HB's aquatic partner-in-solving-crime. He's blue, so guess what
colour-coded nickname he has? Just when he proves to be a fascinating
character, they leave him at home and he isn't around at the end of the
picture. The mysterious Selma Blair plays Liz Sherman, Red's love
interest.
She picks up where Drew Barrymore left off as a firestarter, able to turn
herself into a walking inferno when her passion is, uh, inflamed. Yeah,
lots
of fire and water imagery here. John Myers (Rupert Evans) is just a
dull-ass
human, Broom's successor as the FBI leader of this band. The Nazis did so
little to impress me beyond their Naziness that I won't even mention any
of
them here.
Comic adaptations are usually dismissed, but the best ones are filled to
the
brim with subtext and hidden meaning. I addressed some of that already,
but
this movie borrows from past franchises a little too often. The storyline
imitates 'X-Men' and 'Batman', especially the part about heroes who can't
lead normal lives and fight to save a planet full of humans who fear their
presence. Hellboy is a tough, sardonic dude who eats as much food as an
elephant, chain-smokes cigars, and can take out his hideous enemies with
cocksure ease. He's even kind enough to save a boxful of kittens during a
nasty subway brawl. In the real world, the on-lookers would have sprinted
off that subway platform as soon as such nasty creatures started busting
up
the joint, but this is the reel world and they just stare. Maybe I'm
bringing too much logic to a black-magic type of flick, but I had a
helluva
time trying to lose myself in this one. Del Toro did a better job with
'Blade II', where his ferocious characters proved compelling from the
start.
Professor Broom is half of Hellboy's good heart (Liz is the other half),
and
Hurt is pretty good playing a father figure to these unusual secret
operatives. His final scene is undermined by a the use of "We'll Meet
Again", the ironic final song in 'Dr. Strangelove'. That ditty cannot be
played without reminding me that another good/evil story used it so
hilariously when Peter Sellers discovered that he could walk and the world
was going to be incinerated by nuclear hellfire. Yet again, here's a case
of
a touching scene damaged by Del Toro's directorial choices. Plus, the best
sequence in the movie---when Hellboy follows Myers and Liz on a date and
confides in a little kid on a rooftop---is intercut with the "We'll Meet
Again" scene, stopping both scenes cold. Too bad because it was at this
point that 'Hellboy' was just getting going. I was behind Perlman all the
way after his tete-a-tete with that kid...if only his director was too.
Instead, we get a nonsensical climax of Biblical proportions, people
reclaiming their souls from God knows where, and an ending that doesn't
make
much sense. Granted, the last image is pretty cool in both a literal and
metaphorical sense. This movie could've been worse, but it most definitely
should've been better.
Oh yeah, here's an important question---will the sequel begin with the
heroes going back for Jeffrey Tambor, the cynical FBI chief. "I'm still
stuck behind this wall and you idiots forgot all about me!" Hey now!
To give me hell or say nice things, write to flickershows@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
And
check out my website at http://groups.msn.com/TheMovieFiend.
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