Entertaining thanks to Del Toro's direction and Perlman's performance

Rating: 8/10 (2 July 2010)

Hellboy is a very unique and entertaining comic book action movie. it succeeds in supplying great action,imagination and compelling characters. Guillermo Del Tore was an excellent choice to direct this movie. He fuels it with dark fantasy and imaginative visuals,creatures and plot devices. His style of film making makes this film a joy to watch as we soak up his dazzling vision. I must also give credit to Ron Perlman for his brilliant performance as Hellboy. He makes Hellboy sympathetic,likable,funny,witty and dynamic. He holds your attention whenever he is on screen and radiates confidence,power and also a bit of a sensitive side. Hellboy is very self aware and we can tell that he wishes he could fit in and be accepted and despite the fact that some people may fear him,he doesn't hate outside people. The other great performance in this movie is by John Hurt as Hellboys father. He is the wise confident leader who is also a great father figure for Hellboy. One other thing that I loved about this movie was the mythology used here. It is imaginative,frightening and some how very threatening in this film. This film is not without some flaws,some plot elements and characters aren't fully developed(villains mostly) and the film lacks some focus. But these flaws don't hold the movie back to much. this film is fun fast and entertaining but it is also thought full and somewhat touching. Del Toro breathes life into this film and makes it a visually stylized treat and a very good entry into the comic book/superhero genre