Hellboy - 04/03/04

Written by: Guillermo del Toro (story, script), Peter Briggs (story), Mike Mignola (comic book creator)

Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, John Hurt, Rupert Evans

Official Site

Hellboy Official Site

I remember when Hellboy first hit the stands. Mike Mignola joined a pretty incredible group of writers and artists to start up the infamous LEGEND line at Dark Horse comics. Frank Miller, Mike Allred, John Byrne, Art Adams and Paul Chadwick, as I remember. There might be one more artist thrown in there, but I'm not sure.

Hellboy was an interesting series back then... I think this is 1994-95. Mignola had been drawing comics for a while and had a pretty good audience. Miller, of course, got the biggest draw with his Sin City... but I think that Mignola, holding true to his character, came out ahead when it comes to story. The Hellboy Universe is inventive, original and has great potential for expanding.

I'm a huge fan of del Toro's work. I dug Mimic, The Devil's Backbone, Cronos and, of course, Blade II. I think his work on Blade II was his most brilliant. He used David Goyer's script and took that film as far as it could have gone, with excellent results.

del Toro has been the writer on all of his features, save Blade. He even wrote the story for Hellboy, with Briggs (his first produced material). He's also written the story for Alien Vs. Predator and the new Highlander movie... oh dear.

This is a film where I think del Toro should have gotten some more help with the story. He had great source material and had much help from creator Mignola... but I think that the story was way too simple and straightforward. I can't credit the characters to del Toro, I can't credit the background story of the involvement with the Nazi's to him either. All of that was Mignola. The middle part, the creation of the ancient evils awakened... to be honest, I'm not sure how much of that was Mignola or not. But there were certain parts of the film that dragged, then there would be a great fight scene, followed by a slow scene... and then we get to the end of the film, which is where my biggest problem is. There's no real climax.

Ok, there is. But it's too quick, nothing like the climactic fight scene at the end of Blade II... I'll be the first to say that my expectations, after that film, were sky high. But in this film, it all ends too quick. It's a big letdown, after we get a decent set-up, decent action, decent characters... and a crap ending.

I think that del Toro took a few pages from his last feature, Blade II, and incorporated them into this feature. The grenade pack was just a little too easy a setup for this film... better done with the UV grenade pack from Blade II... you can see other similarities as well. I'm a little surprised that del Toro didn't get Goyer to take a look at the script... I think both del Toro and Mignola were a little too close to this project to step back and look at it with fresh eyes.

From what I've read, there was no choice for the roll of Hellboy to be played by anyone other than Ron Perlman, and I agree. He's fantastic. I've enjoyed his work immensly since Cronos and The City of Lost Children. I wasn't a huge fan of Beauty and the Beast, so let's not get going on that. Alien: Resurrection, Blade II... he's got a presense, and it is crystal clear in this roll. Even with all the makeup, you could see the man underneath, the personality. Just great.

I found Selma Blair's character to be a 'situation' character, meaning that she was useful in a specific situation, along with being the love interest... but other than that, she was pretty much useless. I know, I'm being a little harsh. Let me explain.

Ok, her character left the Paranormal facility, went to the psychiatric hospital and is the object of Hellboy's affection. She didn't have to be involved with the job of tracking down the tentacled creatures (can't remember their names), but it just so happened that her power (fire) is what destroys them, and Hellboy is not affected by fire... it all came across as a little too convenient to help out the final situation.

Selma Blair was good in her roll... I just wish that it would have been better written. The love story was written well.

Three incredible characters in this film. Hellboy was very well fleshed out. Abe Sapien (played by Doug Jones with the voice of David Hyde Pierce) was incredible, but isn't used enough, in my opinion. And, finally, Kroenen, the Nazi occultist. Man, that guy was one of the best characters I've seen in a film in a long time. Very cleverly written, well conceived and well acted.

Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro has worked with del Toro before, on The Devil's Backbone and Cronos. He's done some pretty good work over the last ten years, working specifically with Robert Rodriguez on Desperado, Four Rooms, From Dusk Till Dawn and Spy Kids. He also worked on The Long Kiss Goodnight and Jackie Brown.

I thought his work on this wasn't bad, but I think, looking at his resume, he wasn't fully equipped to work on a film with so much CG. The photography wasn't bad, I just find it interesting that he was chosen for this work, instead of Blade II DP Gabriel Beristain who shot a much more distinctive looking film.

Overall, it's entertaining. I think the acting, the cool characters and the makeup save the film... the background story about the Nazis certainly sets the mood, but the rest of the story is a little too formulaic and simple for my tastes. I was hoping for something meatier.

Something else that bothered me... the best parts of the movie were shown in the trailers. That always irks me, but I didn't think that was going to be the case with this film. It was... and that says something right there. I think the studio was worried that the movie was going to fail. With a $60 million budget, I can understand why they might have been worried. The last few comicbook movies (The Hulk specifically) didn't perform as well as everyone would have liked... but this film is different. It's not a character that people are too familiar with, but it has a huge fan base to spread the word. It's in a proven genre, has great effects and makeup (they should win an Oscar for the makeup...) and is helmed by a proven director.

I think it'll just clear $60 million at the box office, and good for them. I just hope that if they make a sequel, they go farther than they did with the original.