Released: April 2, 2004
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
*****
There is really only one problem in Guillermo Del Toro's 2004 Hellboy: pacing. In its Director's Cut form, the first hour flies by with at least three action sequences and a wealth of intrigue and "newness" to the universe. The other 72-minutes carry mostly boring exposition until the final confrontation. Otherwise, it is a fresh take on the comic book genre, courtesy of a red horned monster who likes to spit out one liners and a cast who is game to try anything. Oh yeah, and some refreshingly non-CGI monster. (The DC is ten minutes longer than the theatrical cut and neither version should be longer than two hours. The elongated running time hurts the second hour of the film, as mentioned above.)
During the second world war, a small group of Allied soldiers stopped a Nazi plot to open a portal to another dimension. Well, almost. One creature found its way through-Hellboy. Raised by the American government and working for the Bureau of Paranormal and Psychic Defense, he grows up with humans fighting evil nasties. When a big evil thought dead returns, hellbent on using Hellboy to unleash even bigger evil on the world, a group of otherworldly beings team up to save ours.
Hellboy is of a different breed of comic based movies than X-Men, Superman and even Iron Man. It has a higher fun quotient, allowing the characters to save the world and make us laugh at the same time. While the consequences to the scenario is real in the film, a serious tone never overtakes the story. Why is this a positive? Because we understand the convention of comics. If we are to buy into the storyline, the paranormal aspects of the plot need to make sense in the film continuity, not in the real world. And by keeping the finished production light, Del Toro is able to give the titular character a rounder edge, so to speak.
The lightness comes in the form of small quips and asides littered throughout the film, most coming from Hellboy himself. For instance, when he is caught under a subway car, each time he tries to raise his head, his filed off horns hit the bottom of the car. When the sequence is done, both horns are glowing yellow from the friction. It's not slapstick comedy or out of context; it is organic to the character personalities we get to know.
While the on set creature effects are solid, providing a sense of weight and depth CGI characters don't have, there are instances where the computer images don't hold up. Most noticeably in very minor parts of scenes, like blood running through an aquaduct system of sorts. There is no natural flow or color to it. One or two scenes also look artifically sped up for some reason. But those are minor quibbles. With perfect casting of Ron Perlman as Hellboy (not to mention Selma Blair as a firestarter), the film isn't able to escape its origins as much as it embraces them, along with the campiness, the fun and action the medium entails.