Hellboy movie review

Here's what you need to know; FBI agent John Myers gets transferred to the BPRD, where he joins forces with Hellboy and his fellow freaks in the eternal battle with evil. But now an old enemy has returned, and Hellboy must defeat him or face his destiny.

This film is something different from del Toro's usual films; Cronos, Mimic and The Devil's Backbone, while all of those were very dark, suspenseful horrors that dabbled in the supernatural, Hellboy literally goes all out with the supernatural but eases off the horror a good bit. Hellboy is by far del Toro's most light hearted film up until this point, and that is for me one of the film's most appealing elements, it's a film that you can have fun watching. A big part of that is the characters, which is where I'll start with this review. The characters are a bit of a mixed bag, some of them are serviceable, but are eclipsed by other characters, lets start with the weaker ones; John Myers is a character I ultimately didn't care about, he's a completely serviceable supporting character, but that's all, he is not remotely remarkable or really that interesting. The same could be said of the film's main villains, Rasputin and his Nazi girlfriend really aren't that interesting, they're just the bad guys, but like Myers, they're not remarkable. More interesting but still nothing amazing is John Hurt's Bruttenholm and Liz, Hurt's character is more likable than Liz, who looks like she's on downers for the entire movie, for some reason I don't like how she always sounds like her dog died for the entire movie, she's just a bit of a boring character, even if pyrokinesis is an absolutely badass superpower. Now for the better characters, and by better I mean the ones that make the film, Hellboy and Abe. Abe is a genius fish that can read minds, that sounds a lot stupider than it actually is, and he's really funny, some of the things he says just crack me up. Now onto to Bellboy, who is just completely awesome, he's badass, he's funny, he talks shit, but he must face adversity, everything I personally like about good movie characters, but with added shit talking. He has some brilliantly funny scenes, and his altitude and approach towards his job is awesome, but when he throws down it's pretty cool to watch, as him and the Hellhound throw each other around and lay waste to a subway station, he and Abe are by far the best parts of the movie.

The film's story is interesting enough to follow, but it's ultimately not one you'll remember, due largely to it's serviceable villain, it does have a good mix of action scenes and slower character scenes, the latter actually being the ones I prefer. That said, any scene with the crazy clockwork assassin was awesome, the guy was badass and really unsettling, especially when he's naked in the operating room and you see that fucked up beyond imagining face. Speaking of the clockwork assassin, this film has a really cool look to it, the design, the practical effects, the sets, they all have a very noticeable attention to detail, CG is used in this film, but just like Mimic, a lot of the effects are practical, and they look sweet, even if the jumping from lumbering guy in suit Hellhound to fast and lively CG Hellhound is a little noticeable, speaking of CG, it looks really good, there's one particular instance with Hellboy's hand where I didn't know that it wasn't a prop, this is an example of Jurassic Park syndrome, when the combination of CG and practical effects strengthen both types of special effect against becoming dated. Back to the film, the film also has a mixed bag of good and ok scenes, the first fight with the Hellhound is awesome throughout, the scenes with John Hurt in them are usually awesome, and the scenes with Hellboy and or Abe are gold, but one of the weaker ones is sadly the ending, no spoilers, but it just lacks the climactic ending of The Devil's Backbone, more comparable to Mimic, it goes for a big ending, and just ends up having an ok ending, it's not a bad ending, it's just not an ending that will leave any kind of impact.

Hellboy is a fun movie, it has some weaker characters but then it has Abe and Hellboy, who are completely awesome, it has some fun action and really good special effects, it has some brilliantly funny writing, and a story that, while not impactful, is still cool and enjoyable, Hellboy as a film is enjoyable, and I'd recommend it, it's worth a watch for sure.