A Movie, Not Comics !

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2009)

During the whole 2000s, I didn't get the best of times out of the superhero movies' rush (or rather rash!).
Scarce times when I liked ones of them. It got something to do with having a good script, a clever directing or not. Also I can't stand certain faces in such movies like Keanu Reeves (The Matrix), Tobey Maguire (Spiderman), Ben Affleck (Daredevil), etcetera.
Here, I caught myself loving it. As imaginative fantasy, or solid action, it hit the mark perfectly. Let alone some elements that really were higher than any of their likes in other similar movies.
When I listen to Marco Beltrami's engaging music score, I know so well that he loved the movie very much. Feel this dealing with the story by the music where you'll find: denying the hero's presence, the sense of expatriation, the delicate love (Hellboy's father, or girl), the pride of being different, so the greatness of that different hero despite his difference.
Very few times that a script based on comics managed to present the whole history of its main characters, their world's details, and one hot adventure as well, being that powerful and entertaining in the same time. I remember only (Superman - 1978), (X Men - 2000), and now I can add (Hellboy) with a script that was written by the director himself (Guillermo del Toro).
The directing didn't rely on being crazily showy, or roughly choppy. (del Toro) is a moviemaker who doesn't just know his instruments well, but also understands that making thrill isn't about CGI or special sound effects only, the man goes deep to show us humans not robots, pushes us to touch and smell more than to see, making great action however with scene of humor, and a bleeding hero not a video game with metallic characters and cases, so he succeeded eventually in creating a movie not comics.
I loved the way fantasy is made out of history, because it's smart, and because it shows a point of view in history. Believe it or not, anything other than what you already know by heart could be believable!, and take it from me as someone who studied history for 4 years of his life!
Since The Last Supper (1995), I knew that (Ron Perlman) was a good actor, despite how much he was misused in many Hollywood trite roles. So, here, he was distinct, reminding me of some action movies with old heroes. I love that, it's adorable for so many reasons: it makes you feel good about yourself if you're old, or not; as you feel that even being a 60 year old isn't scary at all! Also, it gives you something else the young charming princes of our time (the Affleck style!).
(John Hurt) pulled it off to the max, handling it with heavy understanding, not as any might do; considering it another commercial flick for kids anyway. He was more like the movie itself; serious despite the unserious nature of it. With honest performance like that, and elements as good as these, this kind of movies could be appropriate to be watchable for causes else the action or the imagination, giving it the magical touch to differ from any takeaway superhero!
About faults: I didn't feel at all that the lead was being seduced at the end, whereas his devilish side wasn't found in the first place, so that part of self- conflict or good / bad irony wasn't served at all. And what about an evil man, (Rasputin), who wants to destroy the world as it's just a worth destroying world?? I saw that this absolute-evil-for-evil is a weak motive. Another yet minor points: if Hellboy can make people revive from death, the way he did with the Russian annoying corpse, why he didn't do the same with his father?, or how all the people in the subway saw him indeed while his being was a national secret? Over and above, I hated the last 2 phrases: "What makes a man? It's his choices. Not the way he starts things, but the way he ends them!!" Actually, that was too far for the story and Shakespearian in the wrong place!
Save some of the most loyal sticky and ugly creatures, including (Blue), it's fun, as nothing like any easy Superhero movie where being merchandise is the point. At last, I recall one of my friends saying why he loved the movie: "This super guy is something else, he gets beaten, suffers pain, and sneers at himself!". Am I add "he's a desperate lover, who has a noble sadness, and no handsomeness". Simply, this is why I believe (Hellboy) will live long.
P.S: (David Hyde Pierce), who's better known as (Dr. Niles Crane) from the TV sitcom (Frasier), did the vocal performance of (Abe Sapien) or (Blue). So while the whole world recognized his voice easily, why his name was "uncredited"?!