Great comic book movie, Ron Perlman is the man!!

Rating: 8/10 (16 September 2004)

The latest comic book to be transferred on to the big screen is Mike Mignola's cult series, Hellboy. Hellboy is the son of Satan who found his way to earth in 1944, when Nazi's by the order of Adolf, decided they would try and win the war by opening the gateway to hell. Hellboy slipped through and was taken into care by the Allied army's paranormal specialist played by John Hurt. With the Nazi's having been foiled in a brilliant opening scene set in wartime Scotland, we flash forward to present times and Hellboy is now a fully grown beast working for the FBI in a special unit that battles all manner of devilish demons. Hellboy is the main government assassin against these freaks of nature. Alongside him is his father (Hurt) and mer-man Abe Sapien, a strange creature who can read minds and see into the past and future. There is also Hellboys love interest played by Selma Blair, who has the distinct gift of bursting into flames whenever she gets angry or upset (thank god all women don't do that otherwise that time of the month would be hell).
The films source material is much like that of the Crow, and the Blade series. It is real cult material and few will have an assumed knowledge of it and the few that do will probably know it inside and out. It is probably the sort of comic that doesn't have casual readers like many of Marvels favourite heroes. It is far darker material. Despite a dark theme and dark material this film isn't excessively dark like the Crow was and Blade. They have done it out so that visually it is fantastic and dark but this was only a pg-13 in America and a 12A in the UK and as such it isn't massively violent and they have lightened the tone a fair bit with plenty of humour. In some ways I would have enjoyed more grit and edge, an R rated version but it still works very well. What helps here is that director Guillermo Del Toro is probably the biggest Hellboy geek on the planet by his own admission and his passion ensures that fans will be satisfied. I don't know how faithful it is personally but I have seen artwork and visually the have got Hellboy spot on. By all accounts though, the geek-boys loved it. Del Toro is a great visual director as he proved in Cronos and also Blade 2 but this film looks amazing. From dark and grimy rain soaked locales, to snow covered, to a fiery hot, burning post apocalyptic vision of the future. All the sets are great as are the effects.
Del Torro is no stranger to cult movies as I mentioned before with Cronos and the second Blade film and in each of those films and this too, there is a recurring element, Ron Perlman. He's a master of cult movies having worked with Del Torro several times and also appearing in cult French fantasy City Of The Lost Children. Perlman is one of those recognisable faces you see in a lot of movies and it's a shame is not more well known. He has a strange cult following who like the guy. Perlman is certainly capable as an action man, he has the build and is very tall but what has held him back is his looks. He doesn't look like hero material, he's not particularly photogenic and that is proved by the very fact that his full 4 hour Hellboy make up is actually a marked improvement. The part that is tragic is that he is a good character actor, he has charisma and is cool. I think that Hellboy gives him a potential long series of films to turn him into a star and make him more popular but the fact of the matter is, he will never sell a movie by his name. He has gone from big budget Hellboy and his next movie is a $2 million, more than likely DTV, action film. Hellboy wasn't a massive box office hit, due to it being very cult material and having no star name, but it was a critical success and has done well on the video shelves so hopefully a sequel will come, by all sources involved it seems possible, and the appeal can only increase for another film. Let's face who imagined it would be a really good movie, not many. I would have been satisfied if it had matched the Blade films but it beats them. Perlman is superb in this film, he rocks. He has come form nowhere really to the majority of the general movie going public and has been a revelation, it is his most high profile role and film. John Hurt is also good in a brief role and also Selma Blair is good too.
The action kicks bum. Del Torro crafts some wonderful set pieces and the film has good effects, particularly for a film with a fairly modest budget for a summer action movie. The whole look of the film is striking and there is a great attention to detail. Marco Beltrami also provides a marvelous score. The only minor quibbles are that certain elements are not fully explained. How the Nazi characters don't age for example and also the backgrounds to some of the supporting characters. For a summer movie that has such a brisk pace the plot-holes don't affect it too much. Overall this is a very good and entertaining summer movie with some character. Perlman is superb and Del Torro's stubbornness in holding out for Perlman and agreeing with the studio to drop the budget to have him in, was inspired. It was certainly a risk but you cannot put a price on good casting. The studio wanted the then, flavour of the month Vin Diesel and although I like him he would not have nailed the role as perfectly as Ron Perlman. ****