| | I liked this comic-book adaptation (I still haven't read Mignola's "Hellboy" comics) much more than I thought I would. It has stylish direction from Guillermo del Toro--even inspired sequences in the action bits--and solid performances from Ron Perlman, John Hurt, and Selma Blair, among others. The characters, facing evil for a world that has cast them out, are likeable; I particularly enjoyed Doug Jones' turn as the learned fish-man, "Abe Sapien." Special effects and great costumes help quite a bit; Abe, for instance, has really great webbed fingers, and this cool fishbowl thing over his head, and Ron Perlman of course looks pretty imposing as the muscular, red-skinned, horned, cigar-smoking title character.
Oh, and you really can't go wrong with evil Nazi enemies, can you? No, I don't think you can. Throw demons in as well, give it the benefit of a well-written screenplay, and you've got good entertainment. There were a few bits that fell flat with me, such as a subway fight sequence with really cliched lines and action stunts that went on far too long, and also the young FBI (or whatever) agent who formed the third part of a love triangle with the two main romantic characters, but on the whole, Hellboy is good comic-book fun. |
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