Not So Bad.

Rating: 6/10 (29 May 2015)

Hellboy (2004): Dir: Guillermo del Toro / Cast: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, John Hurt, Rupert Evans, Doug Jones: So much potential wasted on what amounts to two hours of production values. Hellboy was born to be bad but propelled by good. Great back story involves the Nazis in 1944 trying to use sorcery to help them win the war. The result is total chaos and a Hellboy, which is a red demon-like creature. Professor Broom severs the horns and raises Hellboy for the good but dark forces are emerging. Fantastic production and tense directing by Guillermo del Toro who also made Mimic. Story is one action scene after another before concluding upon one climax too many. Ron Perlman steals the film as Hellboy who feels like an outcast but realizes his position as a hero. He approaches monsters like an inconvenience, which allows for humour and attitude. Selma Blair plays an insecure woman whose hands flame under emotional duress. She stays under confinement but Hellboy continuously seeks her out. Doug Jones plays Abe Sapien, another mutated character of the water. John Hurt as Broom is flat, and Rupert Evans as a new F.B.I is just like every other human character in this film, which is to say that he is completely useless. The mutants are wonderfully drawn but the cops serve no purpose other than to die. Big fans of the comic will enjoy it. Score: 6 ½ / 10