Guillermo del Toro does a great job here directing the story of Hellboy. I felt that his origin was well explained and that the story was strong, although I felt that Abe should have had a larger role.
I was very satisfied with the computer animations that brought not only hellboy and his friends to life, but also the enemies that he fought throughout the movie.
The top-secret weapon at the top-secret Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense is named Hellboy. He's a strong, red-hued man with horns (which he files down), a tail, and a huge right hand made of stone. He was found by the U.S. military in 1944, a byproduct of the Nazis' failed attempt to open a portal that would unleash a set of hell-gods on the world. Now he helps the good guys anytime monsters attack. The greatest weapon in the film's arsenal is Ron Perlman, who plays Hellboy as a wise-cracking over-grown adolescent. He is resigned to his fate as a freak, but he continues to pine for fellow misfit Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), who can make fires with her mind. He initiates and torments his new caretaker, young John Myers (Rupert Evans), who also has a crush on Liz, the way kids treat new babysitters. He sneaks out against the wishes of Professor Bruttenholm (John Hurt), his surrogate father. Ron Perlman, a character actor who has finally been given a chance to shine, quite literally is Hellboy. I can't imagine any other actor in the part. All square jaw and chomping cigar, Perlman brings a rare humanity to a character who is, not really human. Hurt brings a certain dignity to the film with his worn eyes and Doc Brown-like hair. The attractive Selma Blair's character, Liz Sherman, feels slightly underwritten in comparison to the rest of the film, yet Blair brings pathos to the character that mixes well with Perlman's gruffness. Doug Jones (body) and David Hyde Pierce (voice) give a human quality to Abe Sapien, the webbed, slimy blue mutant who can see into the past by touching any object. Even the film's token human character, played well by Rupert Evans, finds his niche instead of being completely bland. Reigned in immediately is the intimacy of the drama, and out comes the elaborate CGI. Del Toro gives himself time to demystify Hellboy, providing chances for the audience to bond with the character, as well as time to get used to the idea that we should be cheering on a creature that was ultimately made to ring in the Earth?s demise.
Abe Sapien: [after probing the sealed door] "Behind this door, a dark entity. Evil, ancient and hungry.
Hellboy: [sighs] Oh, well. Let me go in and say hi."
Del Toro's vision of Hellboy is clearly one of passion for a reluctant and unwanted hero. The many character moments between Hellboy and his adopted father take this film beyond simple brainless fun to fun with substance. Hellboy's relationship with his father, infatuation for Liz and love of cats gives his character a very human quality. Perlman is perfectly cast, giving Hellboy a believable, three-dimensional feel, right down to his rambunctious nature and adolescent irresponsibility. The villains are smart and creepy, especially the sand-for-blood, blade weilding, undead assassin, Sammel, while the introduction of the infamous Rasputin gives a sense of history to the story. Wonderful special effects, an exciting plot, fascinating creatures and grand obstacles, make this a perfect escapist experience.
A lot better than I ever would have expected!!!! I never had any interest in watching this film but I went ahead and watched it and really really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it.
very strange pretty much through the whole movie i was going, "ewww, what is that?!", but either way intresting movie - in a good way.
The acting was superb for the caliber of this movie Ron Perlman did a fantastic and humorous job as well. What can i say about Selma Blair? she was brilliant, hot too, in both ways get it?!
overall i would recommend this movie to anyone who loves creepy monsters.
Born in the depths of hell, Hellboy is by Dr, Boom. Raised to be good and fight for truth and justice, Hellboy forms a team of unlikely allies. Now he must join forces to stop a mad Russian scientist who built a machine to bring mayhem and destruction to the Earth. Can this group of misfits unite and stop the Russian and his plan to destroy the world.
Hellboy is fun and creative movie based off the Dark Horse comic book of the same name. Hellboy is brought to life by visionary director Guillermo Del Toro. Del Toro?s eye is sharp and his direction is marvelous. Hellboy has a complicated story that may take the average person two viewings to understand and enjoy the full concept of the movie. Hellboy is Ron Perlman?s best feature to date, the creator of the comic books even envisioned him as Hellboy. Hellboy has some good action packed moments along with some strong comedy slapstick. Hellboy is a fun ride that receives four demons out of five for capturing the fantasy and the comic book aura all into one.
Ron Perlman is awesome! Hellboy's charisma and stride is what beats this movie's heart and soul. I enjoy all the characters' relationships around this complex hero, and the plotline!
I resisted seeing this movie for years, mainly based on the title. However, it is more of a fantasy than anything else. Straight out of a comic book, this very stylistic tale of good vs evil is amazing to look at to say the least, but lacks a real substance underneath. Worth seeing for just the visuals alone.
One of the best comic book adaption to date. Hellboy is dead on and cool as hell. One of the best original characters in comics in years, its great to see him get his due in movies.
In preperation for the much anticipated sequel, I revisited the original Hellboy a few weeks ago. The film adaptation of the little known comic book character was helmed by then unknown director Guillermo del Toro. It was something we hadn't really seen before, and was marketed as this sort of anti-hero hero story; the tale of an estranged big red demon, soft on the inside, hard on the outside, struggling internally with his purpose while he continued to save mankind behind the scenes of everything. On the surface it seems like it would work, and on the surface, it does. The main problem with Hellboy was that there wasn't a whole lot under everything. We establish Hellboy's character in about 20 minutes, and then it's a wham-bam ride through the world as supernatural beings fight supernatural beings. But when the action stops and we start to delve a little deeper into the characters, everything gets slow and lazy. The dialogue feels like its been run through a cliche machine, and all of the inter-character relationships are fairly underdeveloped. The only one I would approve of, and call appropriately set up, is the relationship between Hellboy and his father; its the only emotional gravity that the film can establish. We're pretty sick of Liz and Red doing their thing halfway into the movie, and as soon as Myers (whose an unneccessary little bitch character to begin with) gets into the love triangle, things get childish and stupid in an eye-rolling way. As for the rest of the movie, get ready for hit-and-miss sarcastic quips, stellar creature work from Doug Jones as an underrated Abe Sapien, and a lot of sweet special effects dominated battles. Hellboy is a lot of fun, some of the time. Ron Perlman does a pretty good job tackling a pretty one-dimensional character, the humor keeps it coming, and the action is exciting, but don't expect anything more than a decent action flick when push comes to shove.
A different superhero movie with nasty realistic monster and ''very fantasy'' dialogues .
The review :
the story : Less appealing and less attractive , the story got less tension and less action , the only action pack i had seen for the entire movie just the red creature's action.
Visionary : Full of nasty (but realistic) looking monsters a la Guillermo Del Torro . (You can say the visionary just really good)
Script : Very very fantasy and irrational , that kind of dialogues are (IMO) annoying .
Casting : They're ''gloomy faced'' and suited their role perfectly .
Setting : Not very ''dark'' (not as ''dark'' as Batman) and matched the movie well with it's ''snowy'' downtown setting .
Overall :
Hellboy is a odd monsters parade movie with not so strained story and dark characterization with annoying ''too irrationally fantasy'' script .
Hell boy hammers those Nazi's. There's something that's not entirely satisfying about this movie though..I blame the dark CGI. Hellboy 2 looks a hell of a lot better though w/ a fine mix of makeup and CGI
A strange story with undeniably weird characters. Yet, it totally capture my imagination. The craftmanship is first-rate and the extremely dark and bizarre set pieces keep things unpredictable. The character of Hellboy and the passion of Del Toro is what makes this comic-book film a cut above the norm.
Pocas veces un héroe extraído directamente del universo de los cómics resulta ser simpático y poderoso al mismo tiempo. Hellboy (2004), adaptación de la novela gráfica creada por Mike Mignola, es la historia de un demonio que llega desde el infierno a la Tierra por accidente, por un ritual hecho por los nazis durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Su adaptación al cine se debe a la iniciativa del realizador mexicano Guillermo Del Toro, confesado fanático del cómic y que fue capaz de imprimirle su fantástica visión, a pesar de que la novela gráfica es de un estilo visual, más bien, minimalista, con apenas y algo de color.
Del Toro gozó de tal libertad creativa para la realización de la película (escrita por él junto a Mike Mignola), que en ella se aprecia una perfecta combinación entre los elementos del cómic original y otros de la imaginería propia del cineasta, como las complejas maquinarias y engranes (trabajadas desde su magnífica Cronos), presentes tanto en ese temible villano nazi mecánico como en muchos escenarios; los arcángeles, insectos, etc. Lo mejor, es que su estilo personal en ningún momento se nota en conflicto con la espectacular y obscura historia original de Hellboy.
Divertida y con excelentes efectos especiales, Hellboy tiene una gran virtud en su historia de superhéroes: su capacidad de no tomarse muy en serio. El demonio rojo es capaz de burlarse de sí mismo cada vez que abre la boca, de tomarse con humor lo poco agraciado que es al verse al espejo. Más en http://pantallanueve.blogspot.com
MCT:July 23, 2008
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