Take it or leave it.

Rating: 5/10 (3 November 2004)

Even though films made of comic books aren't usually my thing, I thought I'd try this out just because my co-worker couldn't stop raving about it. Maybe my expectations were a tad bit too high, because I didn't come away from the film as excited about it as she apparently was. In a nutshell, I could take it or leave it. It's not one of those films that I wish I hadn't seen, but it's also not a film I'd want to see more than once.
Ron Perlman did a very good job portraying his character - both his strengths and weaknesses, and he brought a certain level of credibility to him. At first, you weren't sure if you'd like the character, but by the end of the film, Perlman had made him pretty endearing, I thought. The villains were pure evil - as you'd expect from this kind of film, but they were also very interesting, with their own set of weapons and abilities.
The special effects were done well, and much more seamlessly than we've seen in other FX films recently. I personally thought the CGI was better in this film than it was in the new Star Wars, Harry Potter, or even Lord of the Rings films.
You don't watch a film like this for the writing or the dialogue, and this movie is pretty typical as far as superhero films go. The dialogue was good in some places, and bad in others. This film doesn't take itself too seriously, but I thought in some places, it was just plain silly. I could say the same about the plot - it was predictable, slow and tedious at times, but interesting and exciting in others.
All things considered, I gave this film a rating of 5/10.