Hellboy (USA. 2004)

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Based on the comic series by Mike Mignola and directed/written for the screen by film geek fave Guillermo Del Toro,“Hellboy” tries valiantly to forge its own identity in a marketplace glutted by super-hero fare, but is smacked down again and again by the tentacle beast that is the studio system.
The story deals with, well, Hellboy (Ron Pearlman) a baby demon who fell through a dimensional hole during WWII and now that he's all grown up now works for the B.R.P.D, an organization deals withy all those nasty supernatural threats you keep hearing about. Old Horn Head has a crush on one of his flame slinging teammates Liz (Selma Blair) and it doesn’t help that there’s a new kid on the force, agent Rob Meyers (Rupert Evans) who’s gets the responsability of being Hellboy’s “baby-sitter”. The real threat arrives when Rasputin comes back from the dead and wants to destroy all man-kind (Same Old) and Hellboy has to save the day of course, but only after he watches some cartoons and chows down on some pancakes.

Ron Pearlmean’s take on the gruff “Blue Collar Super-Hero” (Hellboy fights the supernatural, but it’s a day job after all) is perfectly realized on screen. He has the physical presence to bring the big red guy to life and his dead pan “Oh Craps” and “That’s going to hurt in the morning” come off as natural moments instead of one-liners that scream “LOOK AT US! WE ARE FUNNY!”. Director Guillermo Del Toro mixes his constantly moving directorial pacing and iconic imagery (Clock-Work Creatures and Catholic Symbolism) with the bold graphic comic book design of Mignola’s world to create something that feels fresh without being too weird for the regular mom and pop movie gooers. Both imaginative maestros obviously love tentacled Lovecraftian beasties and this passion is seen on screen in the monstrous design of Samhain and the Final Big Baddie. The fights between them and Hellboy are a near perfect blend of CGI and goopy practical effects.

But Justin (The cute girl in the back with big brown eyes asks), if all of this is so positive, why the negative introduction? The reason for my sadly worded opening is because while all the elements to make a solid genre film are in place in Hellboy, they never get a chance to breathe. We a good looking monster (Fought over five times), a few creative action beats (mixed in with some terribly anti-climactic ones) and an accessible hero (That isn't given much to do). You can blame it on budget constraints (67 million dollars), the fact that it wasn't a "popular" pop culture property or you could save time and point the finger at the real murderer in the room: The Studio System. I can picture them grimacing as they read through the script, smiling politely in Del Toro’s direction and going “Don’t you think this is a little too…WEIRD? You should have a some kind of young hip sidekick to make things more accessible, oh, we also want a talking birtish monocle wearing poodle that drives fast cars, loves the ladies and helps the poor. The kids will love it!!” After all the audience friendly changes are made, we’re left with a stripped version of the original source material that can walk but doesn’t quite know how to run.

Good thing Hellboy 2: The Golden Army looks like it will deliver the EPIC feel this one was striving for.