TERRIBLE (w/ SPOILERS)

Rating: Null/10 (10 April 2004)

Hellboy did have its fun moments but it just seemed too over the top for my tastes. It featured too many cheesy moments that ruined the feel of the film. There was also an underlying frustration factor present as the movie unfolded. I don't think the director was aware of this mounting viewer frustration but he re-enforced it with practically every scene. The good guys were buying the farm at every turn. From the beginning with the Nazi slice and dice to the museum guard massacre to agent after agent of the bureau being slaughtered to innocent guards and bystanders dying to poppa Hellboy through the end, I hate the overwhelming supernatural enemy that can't be killed but takes out good guy after good guy. It's one thing to establish a horrific and formidable villain but it's another to frustrate the viewer. This movie had more of the flavor of an idiotic Freddy Kruger movie instead of the feel of a good comic/action film. It seemed more interested in making the audience delight in the way people were killed instead of portraying the actions of the lead hero. When the agent with Hellboy that had the talking half corpse on his back was killed by the giant hammer/pendulum fell to his death, did anyone laugh at that subtitle? This director missed the mark by being all over the place in terms of style and he seems to be too warped to notice. The ending also seemed so very anti-climatic. Spoilers ......................... ...................................................... ........................ ................. The mastermind of all this carnage has a giant squid jump out of him and gets squashed by it off camera??? What??? An interesting effort but this film is ultimately a failure because the plot couldn't keep up with the CGI. (PS-By the way, after killing every agent in sight, why keep the useless agent Myers alive and poorly chained?)