Hellboy (2004)
"Wouldn't that be bizarre...
if at the Oscars next year it was 'Hellboy' vs. Jesus?"
- Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show"
The trailer for "Hellboy" makes
it looks like a complete rip-off of "X-Men." That's
the marketing department at work, not director Guillermo
del Toro. Having long championed this film, del Toro
is the perfect director for it. He's funny and smart,
understands sarcasm and has a joyous love of monsters
and villains. Hell, del Toro revitalized the "Blade"
franchise with his work on the second feature in the
series and proved his worth as a director in the modern
"action" genre. Because of this, Revolution Studios
decided to greenlight the filmmaker's long standing
dream to adapt the cult comic book, "Hellboy" by Mike
Mignola, and to cast ageing actor Ron Perlman in the
lead. (Sony was willing to greenlight it only if The
Rock were cast. del Toro declined). Of course, for
faithful fans, it turns out to be no surprise that
del Toro was correct all along. He's smart enough
to take his decent budget and give the film a slick,
modern look that puts it right up there with "X- Men,"
"Spider-Man," and "Batman" while also crafty enough
to provide a script that delights in chomping on the
tongue in cheek aspect of emulating such films. What
a treat.
Don't go in expecting plot and dark
sinister secrets ala "X Files" or futuristic fantasy
like "X-Men," "Hellboy" is more like "Spider-Man"
meets "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with a little morality
play shoved in for good measure. The titular character
is a demon, captured when a modern-day Rasputin opens
up a portal to the dark side during WWII for the Nazis.
Of course, the American GI's are already on the scene,
swooping down to annihilate the fascists tampering
with the occult and capture the young demon spawn
whom has been released into the real world by utilizing
some Baby Ruth bars.
Switching to modern day, Hellboy,
as the demon is dubbed, works for the US government
in our own little occult section of law enforcement
and Homeland Security. Monsters are, of course, always
getting released on the unsuspecting public (just
like comic book movies are) and Hellboy, in true Marvel-esque
fashion, is always around to swoop down and avert
disaster with the help of his innate understanding
of such demonic impulses. Along the way he is also
helped by an American/British occult specialist (John
Hurt) and a guy in the old suit from "The Creature
of the Black Lagoon," here named Abe Sapien. Also
along for the ride is Jeffrey Tambor as a government
official spokesman made media darling by his flashy
denials of Hellboy's existence, a firestarter played
by hottie Selma Blair and a newcomer FBI agent played
by fresh faced Rupert Evans.
Working humorously by giving a nudge
and a wink to comic book cliches, del Toro creates
a delightful, fun and action packed film that is always
easy to watch. Perlman has the time of his life and
proves what an excellent choice he was for the role
even if they wrongly try to sell him as "like a 28-year
old." Hurt shows Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan
that he is just as capable as being the pretentious
know-it-all scientist with a British accent as they
are. The special effects crew also shows that they
have what it takes to make a fun and action-packed
CGI film and do so with a budget much less than their
peers. The audience gets entertained for 100 minutes
and all is good. "Hellboy" is just fun like that.
Always the joker, del Toro plays
the biggest gag on the audience. His "Blade 2" had
one of the most amazing and action packed climactic
fight scenes in the genre. He gave it his all. Here,
when the big moment comes, as Hellboy takes on the
monster-to-end-all-monsters, he finishes him of in
about 15 seconds. That's the wit of del Toro: Always
a cliche smasher. Now that's a perfect ending to a
perfectly fun film.
Infused with a silly ideal about
the "freedom of choice" provided by God to all humans,
which Hellboy desperately wants to be (that's why
he files his horns down), the film has an underlying
message of Christianity. It's no accident here that
Hurt, as Hellboy's mentor and guardian, is called
"The Father." Hellboy, like all humans, has to choose
to be on either the side of good or evil. It's a sweet
little message in a film that doesn't appear on the
outside to have such serious intent.
Thank goodness Hellboy chooses the
light instead of the dark. Now if we could only get
him to knock the head off that demon spawn Mel Gibson,
we might really have something.
Note:
del Toro turned down "Blade 3" and
the third Harry Potter film to do his dream project.
Viewed in Austin in April 2004.
