| Product: |
Hellboy (DVD) |
| Date: |
12/03/05 (97 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Ron Perlman as Hellboy . Fantstic Special Effects
Disadvantages: The script and plot just seems to be missing that edge to keep the attention
You would think by now I’d have realised that comic books generally don’t seem to make decent films. I’ve seen a few over the last couple of years and the only one that really stood out was The X-men films. As far as bad conversions go there have been quite a few, The Hulk, Daredevil and Spiderman for example. Well it seems there is another name to add to that list. Slotted somewhere between Spiderman and Daredevil comes the new release, Hellboy.
Towards the end of the war the Nazi's were starting to get a little bit desperate. So in 1944 they sent a special unit to a remote Island in Scotland to perform a ceremony to gain help from an alternate dimension. When the Americans storm the camp the ceremony goes wrong and Grigori Rasputin is sucked into the alternate universe. His place is taken by a small red creature, who is rescued by the American army and adopted by Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm.
Now 60 years later and that creature has grown up and id now known as Hellboy. He is part of a secret branch of the FBI who deal with paranormal and unexplained phenomenon. A few members of that Nazi unit escaped and now they have a way to bring Grigori back to carry on where he left off. This prompts the usual comic book face off between good and evil as Hellboy tries to find Grigori.
The film will probably be a must for fans of the comic books. As I'm not a big comic book fan that may be why I felt there was a little something lacking from the film. As a whole it's well made and directed the story just seems to miss that key factor that jumps out and grabs you.
It comes from director Guillermo del Toro, who was also the man behind the second Blade film. The more I've watched that the film the more I've felt something was missing from that film as well. His direction is good and the film comes together quite well. A real advantage with Del Toro's films is the amount of work he puts into creating alternate environments. He also seems to be able to get the most out of the majority of the actors as well, which also helps the movie a lot.
The biggest problem I had with the film though was the plot and script. On the whole it felt too much like an introduction to a series of films rather than trying to make this into a good stand alone film as well as part of a series. Perhaps Del Toro would have been better getting someone else to write the screenplay. He really makes up for it with the special effects though, which look absolutely fantastic. It's a real testament to Del Toro as he creates a fantastic alternative setting and every location used adds a nice atmosphere to the movie.
It's in the casting that I felt he really got things right though. I'd seen Ron Perlman in a few films and always felt he would make a good lead actor and he does just that as Hellboy. With the average script he manages to impress and even injects some humour with his impeccable timing. There is some chemistry between him and his love interest played by Selma Blair. I previously thought that this really wouldn’t be here kind of role and although she is quite good I'm still not convinced.
As for the rest of the cast on the whole I thought Del Toro made some good choices. I really felt that John Hunt was a good choice as Bruttenholm, but felt the character was a little poor. He also made the perfect choice for Grigori Rasputin. I thought that Karel Roden fitted the part perfectly and really pulled off the role fantastically. He is very convincing in the role of Evil and I think he'll go on to play a lot of similar roles.
The soundtrack was pretty average, with no songs really standing out. It worked well as all the songs seemed to fit the film well and the fact they didn't stand out didn’t deflect attention away from the movie. In places although it wasn’t really grabbing you, one of the songs really adds a darker edge to certain scenes.
I cant say the film is all bad and in fact I think I did it a bit of an injustice with the introduction. On the whole it has a good basis to the film, but it’s let down by a weak script. This is the ideal film to watch once but I think that watching it more than once will be a step too far. It’s certainly a film to either see in the Cinema or on rental, I wouldn’t advise buying it unless you can pick it up cheap. The follow up has already been announced and hopefully it’ll be better than this first effort.
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