The "heavy metal remix" version of Hellboy.
The Good: awesome action, dark humour, witty dialogue, new fresh take on the character, features many rarely seem creatures from english folklore
The Bad: seemingly fragmented narrative, many flashbacks break flow of story, little development of main character,
***********Review***********
Hellboy does not deserve its negative reviews. It is a competently made, thoroughly enjoyable adaptation of Mike Mignola’s “Hellboy: The Wild Hunt” “Darkness Calls” and “The Storm and the Fury” comic stories. It is a briskly paced film, with a tone that combines CONSTANTINE with DEADPOOL.
David Harbour portrays an angrier more quick tempered Hellboy which he describes as being more adolescent compared to Ron Perlman’s previous version. Not necessarily darker, but less at ease with himself, more rebellious, and swapping out Perlman’s more laid back attitude with a more tight wound angsty one. His performance and make up are fantastic, looking much more natural than the previous portrayal and less cheesy.
Our story starts with Hellboy in Mexico on a mission to retrieve a rogue agent. He ultimately fails but receives a dire warning which brings him to Britain. There he runs into Guargach, this fearsome boar man, who is working for the blood queen Nimue. But before he embarks on his quest to slay Nimue, requiring him to dig deep into ancient legends of King Arthur, he has to contend with The Osiris Club who are a posh uppity society who hunts giants on what they call “The Wild Hunt”. A twist of fate brings Hellboy together with Alice Monoghan, a british girl with a supernatural gift who he saved when she was still a baby. Saved her from Guargach, for that matter. Her story is fleshed out in flashbacks. Then there is the UK arm of the BPRD organisation, and the abrasive agent Daimio, whom Hellboy is forced to work with.
Already this narrative may seem fragmented, despite slowly coming together by the end. It feels like separate stories that detract from the main plot of the blood queen. However I will posit a counter argument and say it replicated the feel of reading the comic more so than any of the previous movies. Each story is like a monthly single issue. Unfortunately, unless you can appreciate this aspect, the comic style of storytelling might not be to the majority’s preference.
Thanks to the brisk pace of the movie there is little room for character development of Hellboy himself. It fleshes out its side characters through flashbacks, we see Hellboy’s origin in a flashback, Nimue and Guargach origin in a flashback. So many flashbacks that it takes time away from our main character. At times it seems he gets no development at all and is just a player put in different situations to see how he would react. The climax of this movie where a Hellboy realises his true power should have been an emotionally powerful turning point but ultimately feels too similar to the climax of the previous HELLBOY movie with less of the emotional impact.
It is not my typical style to compare a new movie with a previous incarnation featuring the same character, but HELLBOY replicates one too many story beats from Guillermo Del Toro’s 2004 HELLBOY movie. An ancient enemy resurfaces intent on unleashing Hellboy’s full power and turning him against humanity. Meanwhile, Hellboy is dealing with his personal problems, gets sent on a disastrous mission, and gets saddled with new teammates that he would rather not have. He gets separated from his adoptive father Professor Bruttenholm at one point thanks to his own emotional falling out with his father. At the climax Hellboy’s full power is unleashed and he makes a choice to not give in to his demonic nature and defeats the big bad. These plot points apply to both Hellboy movies! That is how similar they are.
Where this movie falls short in character and emotional impact, it makes up for it with some great action. The CGI is decent considering the movie's modest budget, but the action is a real thrill to follow; clearly shot and well paced. There is a lot more superhuman feats of strength compared to the movies that came before in which the action tended to be more grounded in reality. Fight scenes are intense when they have to be, and epic where it fits. The humour too falls into black comedy most of the time and it is genuinely funny. The witty dialogue adds to the energy of the script and does not feel forced. My favourite aspect is definitely the make up and prosthetics on Hellboy himself. It looks real, raw and never once feels like a man painted red with stuff stuck all over him. It looks amazing.
So is this the worst movie of 2019? Hardly. HELLBOY 2019 is a solid action movie replicating the experience of reading a comic book, almost to a fault. Splitting a movie like issues of a comic book might not work for everyone. Although director Neil Marshall revels in showcasing UK landscapes, london and old english folklore, there does seem to be an overall lack of the same passion the director brought to previous movies like DOOMSDAY and THE DECENT. It looks great, sounds great and is thoroughly entertaining but it does feel superficial in thematic or emotional depth. Like the soundtrack by Benjamin Wallfisch, this Hellboy is to the previous Hellboy movies what heavy metal is to classic rock music.
***********Review***********
Entertainment: A-
Story: B-
Acting: B+
Characters: B-
Music: B-
Replay value: B+
"Brains": D-
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