PLEASE NOTE - THE FOLLOWING IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW OF THE MOVIE. I WILL NOT REVEAL ANY MAJOR PLOT POINTS FROM THE MOVIE.“I’d appreciate a prophet with more relatable stakes”
Comic book movies rule the box office and have done for many years now. With every passing year the genre seems to evolve, adding new dimensions and depths to the kind of stories being told. No longer are they confined to the good guys in capes. And while there is still so much content out there waiting to be adapted, it appears that existing properties are in need of a reboot. Enter Hellboy.
In 2004 Guillermo del Toro brought his considerable imagination and directorial talents to bringing this cult comic book to the big screen. The movie was not a direct adaptation of the source material, more loosely inspired by Mike Mignola’s comic. With it’s emphasis on practical effects and the perfect casting of Ron Perlman in the lead, the movie was a critical (if not box office) success. This was back in the early years of the golden age of comic book movies when such a movie obviously struggled to find an audience. Fast forward 15 years and the time may be right to bring the character back, with a new lead actor and delving deeply into the lore of the comics.
Have we already reached the point where we should look at rebooting older comic book movies?
Are audiences ready to accept a new lead actor in the role?
And will this new movie succeed at the box office where del Toro’s version didn’t?
THE STORYHellboy and his closest allies from the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence battle an undead sorceress who has the intention of destroying the world.
OVERALL OPINIONI have a lot of love for del Toro’s 2004 original movie. It blended the practical effects that del Toro is known to love with some great performances from all those involved. You would be hard pressed to find a more perfect casting choice than Ron Perlman, whose trademark gruff, no nonsense personality and dry wit was perfect for this son of hell on Earth. I don’t hate the sequel but felt they tried to cram in too much story and world building into it, in an attempt to expand on what came before. How does this new version stack up against those two movies? In some parts better, in some parts worse.
One of the big differences is this time around Hellboy is not a secret; he walks around in public and drinks in bars and the public seem totally non-plussed by him and his appearance. This is a nice departure from the original movie as it means we can focus more on the story. Unfortunately, this is where things get a bit muddled. For the first 30 minutes or so I was enjoying where they were seemingly going with the story. However, the longer the movie went on, the more mythology they kept throwing on the pile. Everything was moving along at such a pace that you never have time to sit with the information from previous scene and let it sink in. In this aspect, it reminded me of the del Toro sequel; too much story and world building going on to tell a tightly woven narrative.
The action set-pieces are very flashy, however many of them had a version of the Michael Bay Transformers shaky-cam technique which made it hard to follow exactly what was going on. While the film was being made reports came out that they would be sticking much closer to the source material this time round, which employs of a lot of fairytale and supernatural lore, wrapped up in some traditional English folklore (specifically King Arthur). But, the fast paced nature of the movie combined with the over-abundance of story information happening made it hard to care.
For the most part, the performances from the main characters were good, especially David Harbour. The majority of the humour hit too, although there were times when some of the jokes fell flat. But that happens in every movie nowadays. The plot reminded me a little of an episode of Buffy, which could have been a good thing, if the villain was a bit more compelling. However, not enough time was spent with her and her motivations, mainly down to the aforementioned over-abundant storytelling going on elsewhere.
if recent reports are to be believed, there may have been come creative differences as to the direction this movie should have gone. If true, it’s a shame. The director, Neil Marshall, has made some fantastic movies (Dog Soldiers and The Descent being examples of what he can do). I feel if he had been left to deliver the movie he wanted we could have ended up with something truly special. As it is, this movie is a bit of a mess. But there is a good movie trapped in there trying to get out.
THE PERFORMANCES David Harbour - HellboyHe won our hearts playing the small town sheriff in Netflix hit Stranger Things. When his casting was announced it was greeted positively, with only a few people commenting that they should have brought Ron Perlman back. Harbour was brilliant though, a true highlight. There are a few shades of Ron Perlman in his performance, but he gives us a new and different take on Hellboy, one who deserves to be in a better movie.
Ian McShane - Trevor BruttenholmIt is no easy feat stepping into the shoes of the legendary actor John Hurt. And that is what Ian McShane was tasked with. Fortunately, McShane is an acting legend himself. His Professor Bruttenholm is much faster talking and focussed on the job. However, it felt a lot like McShane was just treading water. He was having fun, but not really stretching his talent to give us a memorable character.
Milla Jovovich - Nimue, the Blood QueenI liked her in the Resident Evil movies (as cheesy as they are). She was also great in The Fifth Element. Why am I talking about those movies rather than her performance here? Probably because she was very underdeveloped. Her “character” had unclear motivation and was very one-note, except for when she was being “seductive”, which always fell flat for me. I will say it’s not her fault though, as the script for the villain wasn’t the greatest.
Sasha Lane - Alice MonaghanShe did well with what she was given. However, as her backstory was shown in a rushed flashback and the extent of her abilities is never fully explained, it felt like a waste of what could have been an amazing character. However, Sasha herself was great, with some fantastic one-liners and good chemistry with David Harbour.
Daniel Dae Kim - Ben DaimioIt was weird and wonderful to hear Jinn from Lost with a British accent. Even though he obviously worked very hard on making it sound natural, it was obvious that it was someone trying to sound British. However, it wasn’t off-putting or annoying and actually suited his character really well.
*Interesting fact* Ed Skrein (Francis from Deadpolol) was originally cast in the role but upon discovering that Daimio was Japanese-American in the comics, he withdrew to allow an Asian actor to be cast instead. A month later, Kim was cast in the role.
OTHER STUFFThe ActionAs mentioned earlier, a bit choppy with some fights scenes using the annoying shaky-cam technique which made it hard to engage with what was happening on screen.
The CGIA lot of it was good. There is also a lot of practical effects/make-up too. However, some of the blood effects reminded me of things I saw in Blade back in 1998. There was also one set-piece in particular that you could tell was shot on a soundstage, which even for a movie with a $50 million budget should have been much better.
The PacingToo fast paced in some areas when it needed to be slower, not fast enough in other areas when it needed to be faster. It meant the movie didn’t naturally flow and felt disjointed and rushed in parts.
The Score/SoundtrackThe score didn’t really stand out, but there were one or two songs from the soundtrack that did.
Other stuffThere are two plot credit scenes. One is a nice Easter egg for a new character, the other is obviously a bit of a set-up for a sequel (that probably won’t happen).
FINAL VERDICTNot an awful movie, but not great either. It’s definitely a closer version to the original comics, but is let down by some major pacing and editing issues and a lacklustre villain. I was entertained, but left with the feeling that it would have been much much better had Guillermo del Toro been involved.
Run time - 2h 01m
Rotten Tomatoes critics score (at time of writing) - 15%
My Score: 5.5/10 MY MOVIE RATING SYSTEM
10- Citizen F*%king Kane (A+)
9- Bloody Great (A)
8- Really rather good (A-)
7- Pretty decent (B+)
6- Definitely above average (B)
5- Middle of the road average (C)
4- Mediocre (D)
3- Meh (E)
2- Crap (F)
1- Why the hell did I waste my time and money on this abomination (Unrated)
