film: Hellboy

[Belisarius]

--Just got back from it.

I absolutely loved it. This is coming from a guy who not only had no original interest in seeing it (a family member dragged me off to it), but who had neither read the reviews nor was familiar with the original comic.

The movie had its flaws, to be sure; it felt uneven at times, and a low-level "cheese factor" occasionally raised its head. Nevertheless, I loved the action, the premise, and the humor, which always seemed just about right to balance the darker elements. In short, I think it's a fun, neat flick.

I have to agree on one point, though--it will definitely remind you of the X-Men universe from time to time. In fact, Hellboy himself reminded me more than a little of Wolverine.

 

[dyscotopia]

saw hellboy on the big screen yesterday (after viewing a choppy computer copy - who says downloading hurts music/movies?).

yes, he's just a bit wolverine-ish. and there is just a bit of cheese (the ending speech about "what makes a man a man" is particularly bad). plus, while i can totally believe hellboy's love for liz (selma blair) it seems more borne out of the fact they have a shared history and are both freaky.. since you never sense any passion between them. even at the end.

anyways, pretty damn good nevertheless.

there was a preview for the punisher before the main attraction. looked needlessly violent, with a lame-ass hard rock soundtrack and john travolta at his hammiest. i'll take a miss. though i suppose i should support it since it's produced by lions gate films (who usually do really arty flicks) which is about a 25 minute drive from here.

 

[JerryBlunted]

superhero movies suck.....
natural disaster movies suck...
film trends suck....

I'll agree with 2/3 of your statements, but I can't out of hand dismiss superhero films when Jack Nicholson turned in one of the performances of his career in the original Batman.

In general, a well made superhero movie can be a fun time at the movies and something to bring your pre-adolescent children/nephews and nieces/cousins to go see. Or if you are like me and grew up reading comics you can wait for the DVD and enjoy it as a guilty pleasure.

Not every movie needs to be an overwrought melodramatic takes itself too seriously indy arthouse flick.

 

[LapDawg]

Giovi9 - please tell me that was sarcasm regarding The Punisher. It looks god awful from the previews. I doubt Travolta can even come close to equaling his evil self in Face/Off.

 

[Petersko]

Saw HellBoy last night.

I really enjoyed it. And I'm one of those people that DESPISED Daredevil.

Minor not-really-a-spoiler spoiler...

The scene where he's kicking with the kid, watching two individuals on a date was really humanizing.

Guillermo Del Toro also made the wonderful little film "The Devil's Backbone".

 

[Giovi9]

Giovi9 - please tell me that was sarcasm regarding The Punisher. It looks god awful from the previews. I doubt Travolta can even come close to equaling his evil self in Face/Off.

No not sarcasm at all. IMO the original Punisher is one of those quintessential chessy action packed explosive 80's movies. It think the scene that sticks out in my mind from that movie is the part when he got cut or shot so back at his underground "lair" he takes a flame to this knife and i guess "disenfects" his wounds with it. Always laughed at that part. All in all it prolly one of my fave corny action fighting movies.

As for Travolta, While I think with the whole face stealing aspect his performance of his character was not as evil as it could of been because he has the sweet/gay touching moments with his wife & kids at the end. However his twicthing death when pooned was a great death scene! I think Travolta has been at his evil coolest in Broken Arrow & Swordfish. Swordfish had a more Euro action feel to it that I loved. Even though most of it took place in LA. However he is at his coolest as Babarino & Chilli Palmer In Get Shorty.

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

My review

*****minor spoilers*****

I saw it last week.

I give it a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

A couple things..

Well, first off, it's a comic book movie, and it's aimed at a somewhat younger crowd. One of my biggest problems with it was the ridiculously unrealistic violence.

Some examples..

In one of the early scenes there is a part where these people go to this sacred labyrinth type place..and the evil dead nazi guy kills this guy and he falls and starts bleeding this ridiculous amount of blood, which slowly pours down the labyrinth to fill it up and ressurect this dead guy. This is the ONLY time in the movie they show any substantial amount of blood.


There is a part later in the movie where the same guy chops up all these security guards with these extremely sharp blades (which he used to swiftly cut a statue in half only moments earlier) and they simply fall to the ground and don't bleed at ALL.

This type of cheesy unrealisticness is pretty much what I expected, so it didn't bother me too much.

I thought the storyline was pretty interesting. MOre than I thought it would be.

I think the highlight of this film, without a DOUBT is the Hellboy character himself. I'm a fan of Ron Perlman, although this opinion is unbiased because I somehow managed to NOT know it was him playing Hellboy until I saw the ending credits and realized THATS whos voice seemed so familiar. I thought Perlman made an EXCELLENT Hellboy. And I mean..AWESOME. The voice, the personality, everything..I immediately fell in love with the Hellboy character and enjoyed watching him the entire time. The costume/makeup of Hellboy was also quite excellent. He had it all, personality, humor, attitude, good heartedness, and IMO, sex appeal. I thought he was a hottie (literally)! hehehe

Overall, I would say this was a good movie. It was exciting and I definately enjoyed it. I would go see it again in the theater if the opportunity came up.

 

[Dj DaZ]

alright i finally saw this after a while waiting i was seriously dissapointed. i really think they tried to put too much into one movie but i doubt they can really make another since they killed off most of the charactars. I think the best characters were the evil ones, the nazi assasin was sweet.

oh and why there really wasnt any blood was to keep it in pg 13 rating they do the same thing for james bond movies.

 

[honEbee]

I just saw the movie this weekend. It was great as far as visual effects goes. Worth seeing but not as good as Blade. The movie could have been great had the dialogue and storyline been a little better. For instance...

*spoiler*

- They made a huge point of saying the resurrection demon when killed would come back as 2 demons. At the end, they somehow decided that if you killed them all at the same time it would stop them from resurrecting? I thought that wasn't a good enough explanation and was kindof lame.

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

^haha yeah I noticed that too..I guess if you burn them it doesn't happen?

 

[Belisarius]

SPOILER WARNING!


<< At the end, they somehow decided that if you killed them all at the same time it would stop them from resurrecting? I thought that wasn't a good enough explanation and was kindof lame.>>

I was wondering that myself...the only explanation I can think of is that their resurrection was somehow tied to Rasputin's power, which failed when he was killed.

Also, was anyone else reminded of H.P. Lovecraft's "Old Gods" when they were talking about the Seven Gods of Chaos?

 

[Dj DaZ]

actually if noticed they would only come back from the eggs they cant be resurrected if there is no eggs

 

[honEbee]

^
I don't think that's true. (*more SPOILERS past this point*) The first one killed hadn't laid any eggs and it came back.

And as for the fire killing them, Hellboy had fried/set on fire the one in the subway and it came back as two.

I was wondering that myself...the only explanation I can think of is that their resurrection was somehow tied to Rasputin's power, which failed when he was killed.

That seems like a reasonable explanation.

 

[for_sho]

I liked it, thought it was pretty decent.

*spoilers* (honestly you really can't spoil a movie like this)

I thought the ending was kinda cheap, he got thrown around by the monster for like 2 minutes then blew it up.

I did really like the hellboy character though, she seems immature for being 60 (I know he doesn't age like normal people) but it made him that more likable.

My favorite line was when he told the girl "I can promise you two things.... I'll always look this good, and I'll never give up on you."



sho

 

[Mysterier]

I liked it..alot.

 

[247]

i really thought it sucked

 

[David]

^
I don't think that's true. (*more SPOILERS past this point*) The first one killed hadn't laid any eggs and it came back.

And as for the fire killing them, Hellboy had fried/set on fire the one in the subway and it came back as two.

It laid eggs when it was brought to life. That's how it works. If you kill them of before eggs can be laid, then it dies.

Great work on the CGI.

 

[DemonsFall]

I thought it was a pretty good movie. The story was interesting enough and the effects were done well. Ron Perlman's performance is really the highlight though. He is really perfect for the role. I understand that the studio wanted Vin Diesel to play the part, but the director wouldn't have it. It's a good thing too, because Perlman is truely excellent in the part, I can't think of anyone who would've done half as well as he did.

There's a sequel in the works for it already actually. Should be coming out sometime in 2006.

 

[Benefit]

CGI: B

Plot: D

Ron Perlman as Hellboy: A-

Jeffrey Tambor: A+

Overall: C

It is two hours of mindless entertainment. That's it. Don't go into it expecting anything else. Although this is anathema to cinema purists... when it comes to film, a bit of light entertainment is not the worst thing in the world.

Some of the CGI is unimpressive and looks dated now, only 3 yeas later. Definitely one of Guillermo del Toro's worst films; don't know why on Earth he signed on for it, but thinking about it now, Blade 2 wasn't very good either so he should probably stay away from this genre. Plot holes were massive and storyline made little sense, especially if you are unfamiliar with the mythos of the comic. Then again, you don't go to a film like this for the plot. There was some humor and the film seemingly pokes fun at itself.

The Hellboy character was designed and portrayed well. The perennially underrated Jeffrey Tambor is very funny. The film gets a pass because it doesn't take itself seriously. It's campy. It's corny. It's cheesy. I know it. You know. The film knows it. Enjoy the visuals and the throwaway one-liners and don't think too hard.

It's not very good, but I can think of worse ways to spend two hours.

 

[axl blaze]

The Punisher on the other hand looks very good. Has Travolta going back to his evil witty bad guy days %) ala swordfish & BrokenArrow

hahaha, I missed this thread the first time out. it's interesting to notice a lot of people putting this movie down, even going as far to say that The Punisher would be better!

although I have to admit, the previews way back for this movie mad it seem rather dumbed down. but Guillermo Del Toro delivers in this movie, which looks like it was a stylized, modernized page right out of Lovecraft.