Fails to deliver

Rating: 5/10 (21 March 2018)

Hellboy's initial act sets you up for a wild ride, and promises much in its first half. The characters are interesting, the story has potential, and the concept of the film is engaging. Unfortunately, it loses its impetus more and more the further it goes, and while it remains visually interesting, it becomes hammy, lumbering and predictable.
I think it suffers from the lack of a really fine villain. Kroenen simply isn't menacing enough - he is a curiosity, but his lack of humanity actually lets him down as an antagonistic presence, and his death is a bit underwhelming considering his previous resurrections. Rasputin is well played, but he is a little too much in the background. We know he's there, but the fact of that almost makes it uninteresting, since there is no relationship between him and Hellboy of Broom - things which might have been interesting to explore - and so he can almost be forgotten until his inevitable return. The Lovecraftian gods, similarly, are not given enough mythical weight to act as anything other than a vaguely unpleasant looking threat. You feel the man himself would have conveyed the horror far better.
It is a shame - whilst Hellboy never gives any indication of being a masterpiece, it could have been a solidly enjoyable film, but the way the story wraps up feels somehow hurried, or, as it certainly doesn't feel too short, perhaps simply clumsy, as if the writers got tired of it. There are also a number of irritating loose ends. The action set pieces are pretty good, although nothing new really emerges as the film goes on, meaning that by the climax it has lost some of its edge. The film's best feature is certainly its lead, who looks, sounds, and absolutely acts the part, though all the performances - particularly John Hurt and Doug Jones - are excellent. It's a shame the story ultimately leaves them fighting a losing battle.