Hellboy (2004) Columbia/Fantasy-Action-Horror-Sci-Fi RT: 122 minutes Rated PG-13 (sci-fi action violence and frightening images) Director: Guillermo del Toro Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro Music: Marco Beltrami Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro Release date: April 2, 2004 (US) Cast: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, John Hurt, Doug Jones, Ladislav Beran, Bridget Hodson, Brian Steele, Corey Johnson. Box Office: $59.7M (US)/$99.4M (World)
Rating: ***
Honestly, I hadn’t given Hellboy (or its 2008 sequel) a hell of a lot of thought since I saw it opening weekend 15 years ago. It’s not that I didn’t like it; it’s simply one of those movies that got lost in the shuffle. With the reboot opening this weekend, I figured now would be a good time to revisit it in order to reacquaint myself with the character. Maybe my movie memory is finally starting to fail me (I hope not!) but I don’t remember it being this much fun.
Based on the Dark Horse graphic novel by Mike Mignola, Hellboy plays exactly like a live-action comic book with its big action set-pieces and preposterous storyline. Writer-director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) takes a light-hearted approach to the material, imbuing it with a sense of humor that nicely offsets the story’s darker aspects. After all, the titular character is literally a demon.
Hellboy opens with a scenario that firmly establishes that what we’re about to witness is incredibly silly. It’s very reminiscent of the climactic scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Let me tell you about it. In 1944, a team of American soldiers arrives in coastal Scotland to stop a team of Nazis led by Rasputin (Roden, 15 Minutes)- yes, that Rasputin!- from opening a dimensional portal to summon forth the Seven Gods of Chaos from deep space. Naturally, they’re acting under the orders of Hitler who wants to use black magic to win the war and take over the world. The soldiers, who are joined on their mission by FDR’s personal paranormal advisor Trevor Bruttenholm (Trainor), manage to destroy the portal (and Rasputin) but not before something gets through. That something is a bright red baby demon with a hand of stone. They name him Hellboy and Trevor adopts him as his son. This is one of coolest, kookiest opening scenes I’ve seen in a mainstream flick. The rest of Hellboy follows suit.
The action jumps ahead to present-day where two survivors of the failed experiment, Ilsa (Hodson) and a guy in a rubber suit and mask (Beran), show up in Moldova and resurrect Rasputin from the other side. They still want to open the portal. Nobody on the evil team has aged a day. Meanwhile, an adult Hellboy (Perlman, Blade II) now works for the government in the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, a secret branch disguised as a waste management plant in Trenton, NJ. An ailing, 80YO Bruttenholm (Hurt, Alien) is in charge. He brings in a young FBI agent, Myers (Evans, The Man in the High Castle), to keep an eye on Hellboy who tends not to keep a low profile in the field. Every time he turns up in the tabloids, FBI bureaucrat Manning (Tambor, Arrested Development) has to deny his existence. He also likes to visit his ex, former BPRD agent Liz Sherman (Blair, Cruel Intentions), in the psychiatric hospital she checked into after leaving the agency. She’s afraid of her own powers. In many ways, she and Hellboy are the perfect couple. She’s a pyrokinetic and he’s fireproof. It’s a match made in…. uh, Hell?
ANYWAY, Rasputin and company come to New York and unleash a demon with the ability to split and reincarnate making him almost impossible to kill. Hellboy and his team, which also includes an amphibious humanoid named Abe Sapien (Jones, The Shape of Water), are dispatched to handle the situation. Naturally, it’s not an easy assignment. Is it ever?
Movies like Hellboy are, by definition, silly and wild. However, what sets it apart from the likes of Van Helsing or any given Transformers movie is that it’s not a big, noisy, incoherent SAV (Sensory Assault Vehicle) that lumbers from one CGI-heavy action scene to the next without any thought to rhyme or reason. Sure, it has plenty of action and special effects but it’s far from being, in the words of Shakespeare, a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. Del Toro makes a noticeable effort to create a fun movie that somehow makes sense despite the story’s inherent silliness. It’s certainly NOT a dumb movie. You can see there’s intelligence at work here. Hellboy is goofy without insulting or underestimating its audience.
One of the movie’s greatest strengths lies in making its protagonist a fully realized character. He’s only partly defined by his appearance, obviously the result of Perlman undergoing hours of makeup work each morning. In order to look less evil, Hellboy has sawed off his horns and takes a sander to the stumps every day. He’s also defined by his tough, no-BS personality and specific traits. His likes include Baby Ruth candy bars, cats, TV, beer and cigars. That’s, of course, when he’s not doing battle with supernatural beings or monsters in tunnels, subway stations or the city streets. In the role, Perlman does a super job. It’s refreshing to see a flesh-and-blood actor take on a character that would likely be CGI-rendered by a less ambitious filmmaker. There’s something to be said for good old-fashioned makeup effects (Rick Baker acted as consultant). It’s a sign of a truly gifted actor that Perlman makes Hellboy believable. Well, as believable as one can make a red, seven-foot-tall being with a tail.
I like that del Toro doesn’t treat the movie’s romantic angle in a throwaway manner. Just like real life, it’s complicated. Hellboy has feelings for Liz. She’s conflicted about coming back to the agency. She’s confused about her feelings for Hellboy now that Myers is on the scene. It sure would be easier to love an actual human, but does he get her like Hellboy does? Hellboy is jealous of Liz and Myers. All of this could have been extraneous, but del Toro manages to make it an integral part of the story. He also has a unique visual sense. His creature creations are unparalleled. He really knows how to stage an action scene too.
The cast does a good job mainly because they know Hellboy is a goof that doesn’t require Oscar-level performances. Tambor, whose character clearly isn’t cut out for this particular line of work, has some funny scenes. There’s a great scene near the end where he explains to Hellboy why cigars must always be lit with wooden matches. Blair, who isn’t the greatest actress in the world, does good work as Liz even if special effects bear a lot of the burden. Hurt has some good moments as Hellboy’s father figure. I do have one question though. Is Jones’ character connected somehow to the fish-man he played in del Toro’s Oscar-winning The Shape of Water?
Here’s the deal. Hellboy is a fun popcorn movie. At just over two hours, it is a bit overlong. It comes perilously close to wearing out its welcome near the end. Aside from that, it’s good. Just don’t overthink it.
