Hellboy

Cast: Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Rupert Evans, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Doug Jones and the voice of David Hyde Pierce
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writer: Guillermo del Toro and Peter Briggs
Genre: Action/Sci-fi/Horror/Adventure
Rated: M medium level violence
Running Time: 122 Minutes

Here To Protect

Synopsis:
From visionary writer/director Guillermo del Toro (Blade II, The Devil's Backbone) comes Hellboy, a supernatural action adventure based on Mike Mignola's popular Dark Horse Comics series of the same name. Born in the flames of hell and brought to Earth as an infant to perpetrate evil, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) was rescued from sinister forces by the benevolent Dr. Broom (John Hurt), who raised him to be a hero. In Dr. Broom's secret Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence, Hellboy creates an unlikely family consisting of the telepathic "Mer-Man" Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), the woman he loves who can control fire. Hidden from the very society that they protect, they stand as the key line of defence against an evil madman who seeks to reclaim Hellboy to the dark side and use his powers to destroy mankind.

My Verdict:
The beginning of 'Hellboy' is one of those vague, confusing segments that are only there to provide the origin behind the main character. Very often this precursor is superfluous and here it definitely was. The origin of Hellboy may well have been explained without this introduction and saved us all much confusion - the recent 'Spiderman 2' got around this by introducing the character and story through the opening credits via a series of comic book drawings. Seeing Dr. Broom, who was to become Hellboy's father, discover the baby Hellboy was laughable and not a good sign for things to come. However, the movie did manage to turn itself around and provide some great entertainment.

'Hellboy' is a comic book adaptation which is very popular (think X-Men, Spiderman, Conan the Barbarian, etc.) and akin to many of the comic book genre where, apart from the main character, there are other characters that have some form of 'special' qualities. Here there are a few and they are all used well - especially Kroenen (Ladislav Beran) who is discovered to have an addiction to surgery, even resorting to having his eyelids removed - yuk! These characters all provide excellent opportunities for some great computer generated image work and associated special effects and make-up.

Ron Perlman is perfect for the role of Hellboy and was the original choice of director Guillermo del Toro, having already worked with Ron in Blade II. Hellboy has a dark sense of humour and delivers some clever lines in a deadpan voice, so he is not without some endearing personality but he struggles with his identity on a daily basis, constantly reducing his horns to stumps and pining for the woman he loves - Liz Sherman (a forlorn Selma Blair) - but thinks he can't have because of his looks. He continues his work against evil for the sake of his father, Dr. Broom, played by an aged John Hurt. Dr. Broom has a new assistant assigned to Hellboy, John Myers (Rupert Evans) who adds a kind of love triangle angle to the already disillusioned Hellboy and Liz. Nevertheless, they head off to finally destroy the evil that created him, which is really another excuse for some more fun and games with special effects and they really are fun.

'Hellboy' is essentially a movie for anyone who loves a comic book adaptation with plenty of action and lots of special effects. Certainly a good-looking B-grade movie that might not be for everyone, but for the diehard fans, this Hellboy manages to give evil hell.

Rating : B-

Christina Bruce