Hellboy review
Being the next Hellboy movie after not one but two great movies by Guillermo Del Toro as the director and Ron Pearlman as the demonic beast was never going to be easy to follow. With this version of Hellboy this time around portrayed by David Harbour we're given a much stronger delve into the comics side of the character. The story revolves around an ancient sorceress called The Blood Queen played by Milla Jovovich. After terrorizing the land and unleashing all sorts of monsters upon the world from ghouls to demons she ends up getting slain by King Arthur and Merlin. She is not only beheaded but is cut into pieces with each limb placed in a box before being sent away to never be discovered. And it's soon after this were the movies biggest problem begins. It's villain or should I say villains as they just aren't engaging enough for me to want to really root for Hellboy and his band of misfists to kick the crap out of. Milla Jovovich is fine as the Blood Queen but she isn't exactly good either. She is entirely cliche in what she does and says. And the other villain? well it's a giant man bear pig creature that has sought revenge on Hellboy for exposing him to the world many years previous. He's actually more entertaining than Jovovich's Blood Queen as he screams and shouts profanities throughout. By the time the inevitable happens however I was left feeling a bit unsatisfied.
David Harbour fills the shoes of Ron Pearlman who I included think was the perfect Hellboy. But that's not to say Harbour is bad here because he really isn't. He gives a very original performance as the titular character that is completely different from Pearlman's portrayal. He is the shining light of this movie that for the first half tires to be a number of different things. At first we're thrown into this big action set-piece involving Hellboy and a Vampire and it's fine, infact all the action scenes are done well throughout, ranging from Hellboy taking on a vampire like creature like I mentioned, to a titanic tussle with 3 giants and even a creepy encounter with Baba Yaya. It's soon after this we're introduced to Hellboy's 'dad' played by Ian McShane who is rather bland in his role. Only there to give words of encouragement to Hellboy. There's also humor littered throughout with some things being funny while others painfully cheesey and rather stock. The movie is also incredibly gory and violent as blood splatters throughout a number of scenes. All thanks to it's R rating which did help the movies as a whole.
★★★
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