Seeing Red

Rating: Null/10 (7 September 2004)

Some spoilers.
As in a big red man with chopped off horns, with a fire starter, a psychic fish-man, Nazis and Rasputin. It makes for (what my friends tell me is) a great comic, and an entertaining movie. We are introduced to Hellboy at the tail-end of World War II when the Allied forces stop the Nazis and Rasputin (yes, the supposed "sorcerer" last seen in Russia's royal court--and in the cartoon Anastasia) from opening a portal to another dimension and bringing about the 7 Gods of Chaos to bring forth Ragnarok. Now I know the Axis powers wanted to take over the world, but I didn't realize that they wanted to destroy the world while at it. Anyway, it's probably just Rasputin with an apocalypse-wish. The Allies are able to nip the plan in the bud and the only thing that comes of the portal is a red-skinned baby with a huge hand, which John Hurt's Professor Broom befriends with a Baby Ruth bar. Broom will later head the secret FBI Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, which watches over prized government assets Hellboy, Abe Sapien (a psychic merman who reminds me of Frasier's brother Niles) and Liz Sherman, a pyro-kinetic (or fire starter if you will).
Rasputin has been resurrected, stronger than ever, and is planning to start up world destruction again. Apparently, the key to all this is Hellboy (which is why he was the first one to come through the portal). Hellboy, Liz, rookie FBI agent Meyers and FBI head Manning have to stop him before it's too late. It's a comic-book movie, with comic-book inspired fights that are fun to watch, and it's colored like a comic book, too: the stark red of Hellboy, the vivid interiors, and the darkness of Rasputin's palace-cum-hell mouth. In fact, the only colorless thing seems to be Selma Blair's (Liz Sherman) face, which is also quite revealing because she is cutting herself off from her emotions to control her pyrokinetic tendencies (just like Drew Barrymore's fire starter and not the X-Men's Pyro).
Although the movie is about supernatural entities and ruthless villains, the story is not devoid of humanity, and the most remarkable thing is that Hellboy is trying hard to be human--and succeeding magnificently. Hiding behind a mack truck body and a voice not unlike Darth Vader's, he is sixty but ages slowly so basically he's in his early twenties, and showing the gamut of emotions associated with that age. He gets aggressive, petulant, mischievous, and most importantly, he falls in love. That a minion of hell, destined to bring about Ragnarok, can do so--and save the world--then there's probably hope after all.