Hellboy: Review

So, I went to the Pictures last night for the first time in months, and saw Hellboy. If you don't know what it's about, well just think about a comic book in which a portal is opened to an evil dimension where some huge chaos demons are just waiting to duck in to destroy us all. The portal is of course shut quickly, but no quick enough as a few things pop on through. Of course, one of those is a little baby red devil dude, affectionately called, "HellBoy". The rest of the movie then involves our hero defending the world from the other evil things that came through the portal. I went into this movie expecting a fun, entertaining comic book style romp (a'la Spiderman and League of Extraordinary Gentleman). That's exactly what I got. It seems that directors are getting better at creating movie versions of comics that make you feel like you are reading them instead of seeing live action. Of course, the live action is getting 'bloody' good. CGI has made the impossible on screen, possible and the effects in this movie are seamless. From the Demon Hounds, to the huge Chaos Demons, the images on screen make you just know they are real, instead of imagining it. Hellboy is not a new plot. There's the hiddn FBI agency, there's the anti-paranormal chief, there's the confusing yet simple plot, and of course there's love. Hellboy's infatuation with a 'firestarter' (Selma Blair) shows off his human side, but to tell you the truth, Hellboy is very human all the way through, what from his cigar smoking to his casual chat with a little boy about how to get the girl. Anyway, what made this movie for me was the charisma of Hellboy, combined with the slick action scenes. You get exactly what you expect, but you don't feel like you wasted your money. Verdict: 3 Stars Sony Pictures - Hellboy

Posted by Mick @ 8/27/2004 09:56:00 am