overall,an overrated disappointment..(2/10)

Rating: 2/10 (18 September 2004)

contains some **SPOILERS** (but not too many =P)
in my humble opinion,hellboy (the movie) sucks..of course,one has to keep in mind,whilst appreciating a superhero flick,that this kind of movies aims at entertainment rather than quality (exception made to shyamalan's 'unbreakable',but then again it isn't really a superhero movie)..still,hellboy fails to be merely good in so many ways that it ultimately becomes boring,monotonous,predictable,cliché'd and overall utterly bad..there are some good slapstick scenes (like the one when hellboy gets run over by a train),but that's about it for the positive aspects..the story is lousy (even for a superhero flick) and a bit megalomaniac and manicheistic (i mean,the Nazis and rasputin on the bad side and America on the good side,or hellboy resisting his devilish tendencies and becoming a good guy..get real!),but i can't tell whether it has got something to do with the original hellboy comics or not,since i've never read them..the acting is mediocre (except for leading man ron perlman),and most characters are slightly(?) ridiculous (remember the wind up sand doll,aka kroenen?)..sfx aren't that bad,i think,and the soundtrack..well,can't quite recall it now,so i'll skip this one..in the end,it's as worth seeing as daredevil (which also sucks big time,if you ask me),and stands miles away from all the other recent superhero movies (i'm not including catwoman* in the pack,since i haven't seen it yet)..oh,one last note - no matter how ridiculous a character kroenen is,the 'improvements' he did to his face are remarkably disturbing,and evoke some of hr giger's drawings (that's a good thing,by the way =P)..2/10
*info update: catwoman sucks even more than hellboy,and should be part of the '10 worst movies list'..and then again,it doesn't really deserve that distinction..just avoid watching it at all costs,and save yourself time (and perhaps some money!)..