Hellboy (2004)

[ray gower]

Hellboy

Synopsis
Hellboy (Ron Perlman) isn't your average hero. Hell. He isn't even your average superhero. Brought forth by the Nazi's during a sacred ritual towards the end of World War II. Our hero was summoned by accident when the evil monk of Russian history/folklore,Grigori Rasputin was meddling with forces that lead to his undoing. With the twisted and evil monster trapped for another sixty years when things don't go as planned (US soldiers heroically intervened). Hellboy is raised by Prof. Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm (John Hurt), an expert in the occult. Our demonic hero is initiated in to the Bureau of paranomal research were he joins the amphibious, kind hearted, and clever fellow "Freak", Abe Sapien (voiced by David Hyde Pierce). When Rasputin returns once again with the aid of his minions the maniacal, undead asassin Kroenen (Ladislav Beran) and the monks faithful lover Ilsa (Biddy Hodson). Hellboy must unwillingly pair up with John Myers,(Rupert Evans) an idealistic, naive new agent of the Bureau. Not only that but the big hunk of an evil basher becomes entangled in a love triangle with the pyro-telekinetic love of his life Liz (Selma Blair) and his new comrade. Fighting evil couldn't prove more difficult or out there.

Think I must be going into some form of comic book film overdose, because I really can not find the general level of enthusiasum for this as shown by the more vocal devotees of the genre.

Better than Dare Devil undoubtedly and generally enjoyable. But just a derivative, taking a load of set pieces from anything that seems good at the time, be it Raiders of the Lost Arc for the opening, or the Mummy Returns for large chunks of the rest.

Having said that Hellboy was only ever a second rate hero too. A scarlet Hulk, with brains of the Beast and Wolverines sideburns.

 

[Kanazaka]

I just finished watching this a couple of hours ago, and liked it a lot. Solid acting, directing, visual effects and screenplay. Not superb, but better than the first and third X-Men movies as well as Superman Returns, in comparison to recent comic-book action films. Ron Perlman was very good, though I felt that Selma Blair as Liz wasn't given enough except for at the very beginning and end of the film. Sometimes the movie felt like a series of set pieces, but the character relationships held the movie together.