Hellboy Review

Hellboy the latest work by director Guillermo del Toro is also another comic book adaptation. This is also not the first time del Toro has directed a movie based on comic book characters. His first being the sequel to Blade, Blade 2. Ron Perlman who plays the title role of Hellboy is no stranger to the comic book world or del Toro. Perlman first worked with Del Toro when he played the leader of The Bloodpack in Blade 2. Hellboy is the story of a demon summoned by the Nazis during World War II in order to help win the war. Unfortunately for them, the Allied Forces thwart their plans and raise Hellboy as one of their own. 40 years later, Hellboy works for the U.S. government investigating and fighting the paranormal alongside his psychic, alien partner Abraham Sapien. Now, the man who first summoned Hellboy has returned with plans to dominate the world.

Perlman's performance as Hellboy is very reminiscent of Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine from the X-men movies. The character is full of snappy one-liners and is constantly smoking a cigar. The difference, though, is Hellboy has the mentality of someone in their twenties and Perlman is able to present this well. Selma Blair plays the role of Liz Sherman, Hellboy's pyrokinetic, love interest. Blair's character is first introduced as a patient at mental hospital, and as such Blair seems to act as if though she'd been sedated before every take. John Hurt who plays Professor Broom is the father figure to Hellboy. For this role, Hurt tacks on more than 20 years to his actual age through prosthetics and carries it off very well. As for Rupert Evans who plays John Myers and Doug Jones who dons a rubber suit to play `Abe' Sapien, their performances aren't stellar but are certainly believable and are more bearable to watch than Selma Blair.

Again like Blade 2, del Toro's Hellboy is very dark when it comes to the ambient tones. This is due to most of the movie occurs during the night, because Hellboy is a demon and needs to conceal his identity, and because of the subject matter with which the movie deals with. The dominant colors in the movie do change. Where as a movie like The Matrix could be catergorized as just being green and black throughout, Hellboy never really sticks to a certain color scheme. Underground sequences, though, tend to lean toward being dominated by the blue, dark blue, and black. There is something del Toro has done with this movie that doesn't follow the trend that most comic movies take during production. He uses more physical effects than CGI. The character's of Hellboy, Abe, and the Sammael are all represented mostly by guy's in rubber suits, and they even do some stunts in these rubber suits. Some of the more impossible effects are done with CGI, but they don't come off as completely hokey, unlike some of the effects featured in Ang Lee's Hulk. Del Toro also uses some CGI to expand the environments that the movie occurs in, but again to those unknowledgeable in the ways of movie magic, it will not be very noticeable.

The subtext to the movie is one that can speak to a lot of people. It's mainly a movie about fitting in and remaining true to yourself and the people around you. Hellboy is an automatic outcast just because of his appearance. Hellboy evens tries to mask his true nature by sanding down his horns. As the movie progresses, those who have encounters with Hellboy learn that he's really more of a man than a demon. A theme that Professor Broom continues to preach throughout the film. Hellboy and those around him who try to protect him from the public learn that although society as a whole might not accept Hellboy right away, those who meet him on a one-on-one basis do.

I liked this movie a lot even though I've never read a Hellboy comic myself. It carried a good bit of heart and humor to complement the action. I'd give it a 7 out of 10. For the geeks and those who like action, it's a definite must see in theaters.