The final week of my look at superhero films is here. Let’s look at Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy. Created by writer and artist Mike Mignola in 1993, Hellboy ushered in a new decade of heroes from Dark Horse Comics. Joining other heroes from other publishers that weren’t from Marvel and DC Comics. This isn’t del Toro’s first rodeo for helming a superhero film. He directed the sequel to Blade. Although, this one fits with del Toro’s motif of monsters and macabre. This is one of del Toro’s best, since he hasn’t made anything that is terrible yet.
1. Man or Monster
The film begins in World War 2 with a scientist who studies the paranormal named Bruttenholm. He is referred by the Seargent as Broom. He tags along with an Allied Team of soldiers to stop the Nazis from opening a portal. They proceed to stop the portal and the main baddies Grigory, Ilsa, and Karl escape. As the Allies investigate the scene, both the young scientist and a captain discover a red creature.
Flash forward to the present and we follow a new Agent named John Myers, transferring to the mysterious Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Like most films, he starts as our eyes and ears to the weird. We then see the red creature now grown up; this time called Hellboy. Ron Perlman is the quintessential guy to play the loudmouth sarcastic devil. His voice perfectly captures who the character is.
So throughout the film, both Hellboy and the Bureau attempt to stop Grigory from summoning an ancient evil. Not knowing that the main character is the key to unlock the threat. I feel that del Toro learned from his mistakes from Blade 2 and really nailed the action for this film. Hellboy manages to handle the demon Samael multiple times. Due to it having the ability to resurrect itself. It’s not just him most of the time. Other agents including the aquatic Abe-Sapien and pyrokinetic Liz manage to hold their own.
This is yet another example of the film being meta with the comic books. Meaning that the film is self-aware. We have that moment when we see reports of Hellboy, there are news articles and a comic book being shown. It was hilarious to see him comment that the comic book messed up his eyes. Now that is something that may have happened as the hero in the comics has just solid yellow eyes. Whereas we see Perlman’s pearly eyes.
The film has the combination of practical and special effects. The main fight where we see this is when see our hero fighting the demon in the New York subway. With the closeups when Hellboy is wrangling the creature it looks like a realistic puppet being operated. And the other shots that are somewhat far away to show that both characters are computer generated. I like that there’s a fusion of the two, since if there’s just CGI the action would look rubbery and fake.
2. Hellboy’s Labyrinth
What’s interesting about the film is Hellboy in general. Throughout the film, Professor Broom has picked a new agent to be a caregiver to our demonic hero. The main point of contention is could Hellboy, a figure who is demonic and key to bringing in an ancient evil, be turned good or embrace who he is.
More so that whenever the agency gets word on a threat, the team is dispatched. As they’re going to investigate, most of the walks have hallways or labyrinths. I think they’re supposed to symbolize just who Hellboy wants to be. There are moments where we see the hero that he is. Like when he fights the demon in the subway, he manages to rescue a woman’s box of kittens from getting crushed. As the film progresses, we see him slowly come to terms with who he is and that he just wants to be accepted.
Another favorite is when we see Agent John and Liz hanging out and Hellboy following them. He’s jealous and there’s a moment where he meets a boy, and he gets life lessons from the kid to suck it up and just tell Liz how he feels. This is the thing that I will always harp on for any superhero that looks edgy. It’s by giving the hero depth to at least not make him be just a tough guy.
3. Legacy or How The Studios Screwed Up
The film was successful and made enough to be deemed a success. A sequel was commissioned four years later, I’ve seen parts of it but not much to really have an opinion. Actually, my first exposure to Hellboy was when he was adapted to animation when one of them was featured on Cartoon Network’s Toonami. Ron Perlman voices the character and will always be the hero.
There were rumors of a third movie being helmed by Guillermo del Toro with Perlman returning. Sometimes the reports would be inconsistent by saying the film was still happening or just cancelled. The director had been busy with other projects so the prospects of doing a third movie at the time was just not possible. It wasn’t until 2019 when another Hellboy movie was released. This time with David Habour being the new hero. I found it odd that the marketing focused on the R-rating, like it wanted people to know that. Ultimately, the film failed and bombed.
One last thing is that this wouldn’t be the first time del Toro would have a film with an aquatic creature. Now I’m not saying Abe-Sapien was the basis for The Shape of Water, since the character in that film was partly inspired by Universal’s Creature From the Black Lagoon. I’m just saying maybe he was bored and wanted to explore a relationship between a woman and a sea creature, a reverse Little Mermaid if you will. What am I talking about again?
4. Overall
Hellboy is the second del Toro film that I have seen. It’s an enjoyable film and one of the rare instances of a director doing the double duty of writing and directing. Ron Perlman is and always will be the definitive actor to portray the demonic hero.
Hellboy gets a four out of five.
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