Exciting, Different, Solid Yet Unexceptional Comic-Book Superhero Blockbuster Action Flick

Rating: 6/10 (23 August 2008)

Hellboy is a freak from another dimension who works for the top-secret FBI-run Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence, fighting other-worldly monsters and assorted evil forces. But when he comes up against a newly-resurrected Grigori Rasputin, who has a mad plan to bring about the apocalypse, the deck is stacked against our hero ...
Based on the Dark Horse comic strip by Mike Mignola, Hellboy, like all Del Toro's films, is a visually delicious picture, filled with exotic sets, imaginative photography and wild costumes. The story follows the classic Superman structure - we see the origins of Hellboy, learn a little of his formative life on Earth, his adoptive father dies and there's a big showdown with an arch-nemesis and his goons. That's not to say it isn't interesting though; it has a great Nazis-in-Scotland prologue, the villain is an inter-dimensional travelling mad monk, aided by an immortal assassin and a reincarnating hell-hound, and there's all sorts of wacky mythology going on, much of it nicked from Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories. The cast are good, particularly Del Toro regulars Perlman and Jones as the aptly-named Red and Blue, giving fine performances from beneath dazzling make-up jobs by Rick Baker. The only problem with the picture for me is my recurring gripe about atmosphere and tone; as soon as Hellboy gets into a series of fights with Sammael the demon, the movie turns into the usual Hollywood CGI effects festival. I don't mind CGI, but since Hellboy is essentially indestructible, seeing him getting smashed around a lot is a pretty pointless exercise after a while. At the end, there's a battle with an enormous Behemoth, which is rendered in amazing detail, but because we don't really know anything about it, and don't doubt for a second Hellboy will win, where is the punch ? There's a low-budget Cthulhu movie I really like, In The Mouth Of Madness, which couldn't dream of the wild visual effects here, but is far more effective because it takes the time to develop its myth and it's all spine-tingling scary stuff. This movie goes for the standard action/comedy/horror balance so many big-budget films go for and waters itself down as a consequence. It's a terrific ride though, and despite the material is pleasantly inoffensive - Hellboy's regular, "Oh crap !", exclamation at his predicaments is funnier than any profanity could be. Trivia - Abe Sapien is voiced by an uncredited David Hyde Pierce. Followed by a sequel - Hellboy II: The Golden Army - in 2008.