great just great

Rating: 5/10 (13 April 2004)

Warning: Potential Spoilers !!
First things first: I've never read a "Hellboy" comic and I only heard of the character a couple of months ago. However, this is an enjoyable and well-made comic book flick that is better than expected.
The movie begins in 1944 Scotland, with the Nazis (they always make great bad guys) and Rasputin opening a portal to get other-worldly help for their cause. The Yanks ruin the party and save the day, but Professor Broom finds a young demon child and calms him down with a Baby Ruth bar. The child grows up to be Hellboy, a wise-cracking, cigar-chomping, guy's guy. He works at a department for Paranormal defense and his colleagues include Abe Sapien, a telepathic fish-man, and Liz Sherman, a real flamer. Turns out the supposedly dead bad guys are not dead and they plan on reeking more havoc.
The director is Guillermo del Toro (Blade II) and he shows his great visual style, whether it be very rainy Scotland or chilly Moscow. In the title role, Ron Perlman is great. Under all that make-up, he delivers a fine performance and spits out some great one-liners. Thankfully, the movie has a sense of humor and doesn't take itself completely serious, because it would become funny for the wrong reasons. If I did any complaints, it would be the kinda abrupt ending and not knowing what happened to Jeffrey Tambor's character. All in all, "Hellboy" is a good movie.
Rating: **** (out of *****)