There have been many different comic books published over the years, some much more popular than others. Some of the comic books have had movie versions made and I tend to see those movies because I usually really enjoy them even when I know basically nothing about the characters before seeing the movie. I recently watched Hellboy again.
During World War II, the Nazis started using science and black magic in attempts to win the war. Someone was able to bring Grigori Rasputin back to life. One night in 1944, he opened a portal to another dimension that would bring the seven gods of chaos to Earth. The army, with the help of Trevor Bruttenholm, a paranormal advisor for President Roosevelt, were able to stop Grigori and close the portal, but something else got through. It was a young, red demon that had a large stone right hand. The army named him Hellboy and he returned to the United States where Trevor was primarily in charge of raising him.
In the present day, an expedition went to a deserted location in the mountains of Moldavia. Two of them, Ilsa and Kroenen, had been with the Nazis in 1944. They brought Rasputin back to life to carry on his plan of unleashing demons on the Earth.
Trevor had been put in charge of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, a very secret branch of the FBI. Hellboy and Abe Sapien, a sort of half man/half fish with some sort of psychic abilities, fought monsters for the FBI. Liz Sherman had been a member of the team as well until she decided to leave because she had trouble controlling her pyrokinetic power. John Myers was an FBI agent that was just transferred to the bureau. He was supposed to watch over Hellboy. Rasputin started causing problems that the bureau had to deal with. He knew about Hellboy’s existence and wanted him for something.
Hellboy was based on the Dark Horse comic of the same name that was created by Mike Mignola. I’ve never read the comic and I hadn’t heard of the character before seeing previews for this movie. I still decided that I wanted to see it because it did look like it would be interesting. I didn’t have any trouble following what was going on. Something very important to the main plot was introduced right at the beginning of the movie. It was different and a bit strange, but it did make sense with the explanation that was given. I thought that Hellboy was adequately introduced even though a huge portion of his life wasn’t covered. The introduction of the other characters was handled fine as well even though I did wonder about a few things related to Abe and Liz. I would have liked it if there had been some more back story for those characters. I do think that people who don’t have any prior knowledge of Hellboy can still enjoy the movie.
Hellboy included a decent amount of action and adventure. Enough was going on to keep the movie interesting for me. There were several fights throughout the movie, usually between Hellboy and a monster. Different types of special effects were used throughout the movie. They looked well done for the most part, though something looked slightly off in one or two sequences. Several of the fight scenes did also include some violence. It did get graphic in a few of the scenes which might bother some viewers. The fact that the movie dealt with some very dark things, like black magic and unleashing demons on Earth, could also upset viewers. This isn’t a movie for children. There was a little bit of humor added in several scenes that did lighten the mood a little bit. The funny things were usually provided by something that Hellboy said, sometimes even while in the middle of fighting a monster.
Hellboy had very strong feelings for Liz which caused him to do certain things, like leave the bureau alone to see her. He wanted her to be happy, but he was very jealous when he thought she was becoming interested in John. It wasn’t really clear for a long time just what feelings Liz had for Hellboy. John was attracted to Liz the first time he met her. It did seem like he was interested in pursuing a personal relationship with her which added complications to his relationship with Hellboy. The potential romance between Hellboy and Liz didn’t take over the movie or detract from the main plot even though it was important. There weren’t any love scenes in the movie.
There were several characters in Hellboy, so there wasn’t enough time for all of them to be fully developed. Hellboy was probably the most developed. He was a demon who fought monsters to protect humans. He liked candy, junk food, and watching movies. He had several cats and was really kind even though he fought monsters. He had a unique sense of humor and didn’t always follow directions well. Ron Perlman was perfect in the part.
For most of the movie, Trevor was an older man. He had been in charge of the bureau for years and had been watching over Hellboy for even longer. He was an intelligent, kind man. John Hurt fit the part very well. Liz was struggling to control her power and didn’t seem to want to reveal her true feelings for Hellboy. Selma Blair handled the part well. John had to adjust to a lot of strange things when he transferred to the bureau. He wasn’t sure how to deal with Hellboy and that got more complicated by the fact that he was attracted to Liz. Rupert Evans was fine in the part.
Tom Manning was an FBI agent that Trevor reported too. Tom would use Hellboy when necessary even though he really didn’t like him. Jeffery Tambor was good in the part even though he didn’t have a lot to do. Abe was some kind of half fish and half man who had been working with Hellboy for many years. Abe was very intelligent and insightful. He had some kind of psychic ability that allowed him to see into the past or even the future when he touched objects. Doug Jones did well with the part. For some reason, Abe’s voice was dubbed in with the voice of David Hyde Pierce. His voice did fit the character.
Grigori Rasputin had been brought back to life by the Nazis and he planned to open a portal and unleash demons to help them win the war. When that plan was stopped, he was resurrected again many years later and he continued with his previous plans. Karel Roden was fine in the part. It was interesting for a real person to be incorporated into the plot. Ilsa had been one of the Nazis Rasputin worked with during World War II. They had a close relationship and he shared many things with her that allowed her to bring him back to life again. She was around in several scenes, usually just in the background, so Bridget Hodson didn’t have much to do. Kroenen was a very unusual man who was working with Rasputin. Kroenen always wore some sort of mask that usually looked like a gas mask and he had gears in his chest and a knob. He was a vicious fighter and didn’t hesitate to kill. Ladislav Beran was fine in the part even though he never spoke and his face was hidden under some kind of mask for most of the movie.
Main Cast
Ladislav Beran - Kroenen Selma Blair - Liz Sherman Rupert Evans - John Myers Bridget Hodson - Ilsa John Hurt - Trevor Bruttenholm Doug Jones - Abe Sapien Ron Perlman - Hellboy David Hyde Pierce - Voice of Abe Sapien Karl Roden - Grigori Rasputin Jeffrey Tambor - Tom Manning Kevin Trainor - Young Trevor
Guillermo del Toro - Director
DVD Information
Hellboy is available as a two disc special edition DVD. The DVD has the movie in anamorphic widescreen. I don’t know if there is a full screen version available. The first disc contained the movie and a few special features. There was an introduction by the director, commentaries featuring the director, cast, and a producer. For two of the extras, the DVD comics and the Right Hand of Doom set visits, there was an option to turn on that would cause icons to pop up while the movie was playing. If a button on the remote was pushed then, it would access the extras. There was also a way to access them through an index, which was how I watched them.
The DVD comics were drawn by Mike Mignola. There were eight of them that did share a little bit of information on some of the characters. There were also eight things in the Right Hand of Doom. They shared things that happened on the set during filming for specific scenes. It was told where the scenes were set and on what day of shooting the footage was recorded. These things showed how some scenes were set up and actually showed the filming of certain things. That did help to give some insight into how some things were done.
Most of the special features were on the second disc. There were a few deleted or extended scenes that could be watched with a director’s commentary. There was a documentary that was split into several sections. They could be played all together or selected one at a time. The documentary covered many aspects of the making of the movie, including how the director worked to get the movie made in the first place. The planning for the look of characters was shared. The things that del Toro did that changed things from the original comics were discussed, like how Liz was made a more important character for the movie. Mignola said that he was happy with the things that del Toro changed for the movie. It was very interesting to hear del Toro and Mignola talk about those things.
Most of the documentary covered the actual filming of the movie. That part of the documentary shared a lot of behind the scenes information that I thought was very interesting. Some of the cast and different crew members talked about their involvement in the making of the movie. The actual filming of some of the important sequences was shown as well as how different things were created, like some of the sets and how fights were choreographed. It was explained how different special effects were used, and it turned out that some things I had thought were done with CGI hadn’t been after all. The director talked about how he had Ron Perlman in mind to play Hellboy right from the beginning. Some of the extensive make up processes for Hellboy and Abe were shown. The documentary also covered some things that happened after shooting had ended, like the sound design and writing of the score. It was mentioned that another voice was dubbed in for Abe, though it wasn’t said who they got or why the decision to do that was done. The documentary ended by showing some footage from the premiere.
I thought that the character biographies written by del Toro were very interesting. There was an option for an illustrated version of the biographies and a text version. Both covered roughly the same information, though the text version was in much greater detail. The text version had a lot of details, like how Hellboy loved Pixar movies and hated vegetables. There was information about his mother. There was a lot of background information about Liz that explained a lot about the character. There wasn’t a biography for Abe, which did disappoint me. Storyboards and animatics for some scenes were shared. There was an option to watch them or watch a comparison between them and the actual finished scene. The different theatrical trailers for the movie were included as well.
Hellboy was a very entertaining movie that I really enjoyed even though I had no previous knowledge about the characters before seeing the movie. I do think that people who haven’t read the comics before can enjoy the movie. Fans of the comics may also enjoy the movie.
Product DetailsOriginal Title:HellboyActors: John Hurt - Karel Roden - Ron Perlman - Rupert Evans - Selma Blair - William HoylandCondition: NEWFormat...More at iNetVideo.com
Based on the comic book series by Mike Mignola Guillermo del Toro's gleefully eccentric film follows the supernatural adventures of Hellboy Ron Perlma...More at Family Video
From visionary writer/director Guillermo del Toro (Blade II, The Devil s Backbone) comes Hellboy, a supernatural action adventure based on Mike Mignol...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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