An Entertaining Comic Book Adaptation Worth your Time

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2018)

In the early to mid 90s, comic artist Mike Mignola created the character Hellboy for Dark Horse comics, and the series became a favorite amongst the comic community, mainly for its dark atmosphere, gritty design and sardonic humor. Fast forward roughly 10 years later, when the director of Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro, helmed a film adaptation. Despite it being more of his own interpretation of the series than Mignola's, it went on to become a cult favorite. But does this film truly stand as a worthy adaptation, or is the upcoming reboot more of a blessing in disguise?
The plot itself is rather simple and straight forward, as it centers around a devilish creature named Hellboy, an agent in the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, where he, the psychic merman Abe Sapien, and the pyrokinetic Liz Sherman protect America against dark forces. However, these beings called the Sammael are resurrected by Nazis in an attempt to not only open a portal to a paranormal dimension, but to also summon Hellboy in his true form. Simple enough, and most of the first half of the movie does sort of drag on at points with Hellboy trying to stop the Sammael creatures. That being said, what does keep the film going is the entertainment value, the relation between Hellboy and Liz, as well as his father, and the mythos behind the nazis plan.
In a way, the film is very much like a graphic novel turned into a movie, and the grim atmosphere aided by cinematographer Guillermo Navarro and the production design by Stephen Scott bring out a very spooky presence to an already unsettling and suspenseful feature. Not to mention, the action scenes are very well choreographed and it shows how much hard work the stunt team put into the film (although sometimes they can be hard to make out due to the dark shadows). In addition, the makeup for Hellboy provided by the phenomenal Rick Baker is so fantastic that it's hard to only see Ron Perlman playing the character. Admittedly, the computer animation of the Sammaels and other things does look dated, although that mainly comes from the moderate budget the film had to work with, but they still look cool nonetheless.
The characters themselves are more of a mix; some are worth rooting for, while others feel somewhat shallow and underdeveloped. Hellboy is the tough and sarcastic albeit subtly emotional demon who knows how to pack a punch but also has more layers underneath him based on his origins, Liz is the emotionless fire starter who has to keep her powers from getting unleashed after a traumatic past, and Trevor Bruttenholm, Hellboy's adoptive father, is the most knowledgable head of the BPRD who carries a strong emotional bond with his adoptive son. Abe Sapien also has strong knowledge through being psychic, aided by a wonderful physical performance by Doug Jones. These are the characters that keep the viewer intrigued enough to follow their mission, especially to take down the notorious Rasputin who will not stop in any way to fulfill his plans of world domination.
However, the characters that don't stick out as much are just sort of two dimensional. John Myers is the somewhat neurotic FBI agent who tries to help out when needed, but he isn't developed enough to really warrant much stakes when he's in danger, but at least he gets brave by the third act. Tom Manning is the stuff-shirted bureaucrat who tries so stubbornly hard to do things his way over anything paranormal that he gets too annoying and selfish for his own good. Also, many of the antagonists like Kroenen and Haupstein are the typical power hungry nazis who will stand in nobody's way to get what they want. To put in bluntly, the film has its share of underdeveloped and inflexible characters as much as it has its share of highly determined, charismatic, and emotive characters.
Overall, while it may not pick up much until the second half and some characters are more interesting than others, Hellboy packs enough raw action and stakes, mythos of the titular character, well detailed set pieces and makeup, and even some occasional snarky humor. I think fans of the comics will get a big kick out of the film, even if it does kind of stray away from the source material, as it represents the iconic rough and sardonic agent they've come to know and love. Heck, even if you haven't read the comics, this film will be a welcome introduction to newcomers who want to get sucked into something exciting and macabre. While I'm not sure how the reboot will play out, we still have this entertaining thrill ride to get sucked into.