Almost as awful as Spawn

Rating: 3/10 (4 April 2004)

Like Spawn, this is comic book horror. Neither achieve anything close to the absolute class of this sub-genre, Darkman.
Nor does the FX measure up to the more recent Underworld, though it borrows a few of its weapons. Like many recent horror films, it imitates Dracula/Werewolf weapons, using crosses, holy water, and silver to protect the good guys. It's way beyond cliche at this point. It's just boring. Please show a little creativity.
Where the comic book seems to ridicule these things, the writer and director of the film, Guillermo del Toro, actually takes them seriously. The result is a film that ends with a yawn.
Not that it begins any better. Indiana Jones derived Nazi stuff. Then the middle of the movie gets better as it turns into an action film version of first-person-shooter games like Quake and Unreal. I mention Quake and Unreal because it's also obvious that the writer/director borrowed from them. Hellboy's world is dark and gothic.
If you've already seen this and like it, I recommend tracking down The Tick. Much more fun without all the heavy-handed religious propaganda.
For the actors, Ron Perlman caries the film, giving Hellboy Tick-like character (which is to say, a big goof). David Hyde Pierce (voice only) makes one of the sidekicks, Abe Sapien, funny. But other than the gas-mask man (not sure if he was acted or FX), the only villains to keep things interesting enough so that you don't start dreaming were the Alien-like creatures created with FX. Just don't expect originality.
The tagline for this movie should have been: Jesus will save you and give you a beautiful virgin even if you're ugly and were born in hell. Sell it to the Middle East.