Hellboy (2019)

Review

120min

Genre:       Comic-book, Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Director:    Neil Marshall

Cast:         David Harbour, Ian McShane, Milla Jovovich…and more

Writers:     Andrew Cosby and Mike Mignola

-Synopsis-

While monster-hunting for the ‘Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense’, the big red acerbic and heroic half-demon clashes with a resurrected and powerful ancient sorceress, finding himself at the centre of a mythical conspiracy which threatens to bring about the destruction of the world—in this hard-R screen reboot of the popular Mike Mignola comic-book, from the director of ‘Dog Soldiers’ and ‘The Descent’.

When visionary director Guillermo del Toro applied his unique cinematic sensibilities and design aesthetic to Mingola’s dark mythical comic series in the earlier part of this century, he delivered audiences a brace of films which left most of them wanting more. Now buoyed by the boundless success of movie comic-book fare, and driven by their own ambition, Lionsgate recruits British director Neil Marshall and leverages his horror credentials to create an over-the-top origin story, combining Arthurian legend and English history with monster-based magic fantasy and European mythology, while applying light horror and comedy touches—leaving the audience thinking, that’s more than enough now thank you.

David Harbour stars as the wisecracking half demon-gone-good ‘Hellboy’ himself, battling monsters and witches for the shadowy organisation run by his adoptive father ‘Professor Broom’ (Ian McShane), while defending the world from mystical and metaphysical threats. But when a fearsome medieval English witch is reborn with plans to cover the globe in darkness, and Hellboy uncovers the truth about his origins, the big red paranormal warrior with a mighty right hand is plunged into an existential crisis—as he teams up with young figure from his past ‘Alice Monaghan’ (Sasha Lane) and ornery special agent with a secret ‘Major Daimio’ (Daniel Dae Kim) to save the planet . . . if not bring about its destruction.

Despite the instinct to label it as such, this is neither a remake nor a continuation of Guillermo del Toro’s films. Instead this is a cinematic reboot of the character—with a clear eye on franchise potential—more deeply involving Mike Mignola while sticking closer to his work, combining characters and scenarios from several of the comics into a mix of origin story and series-starter. But it’s painfully evident that this ‘Hellboy’ is an unfortunately clear example of one simple truth—more faithful adaptation of source material a better film doeth not necessarily make.

Make no mistake though, ‘Hellboy’ doesn’t skimp on spectacle and dazzling visuals, transporting us to various picturesque mostly British locales all vividly captured by cinematographer Lorenzo Senatore, plus an unexpected Tijuana detour and a big London town finish—while unleashing huge frenzied and occasionally gory action set-pieces, involving many mighty scuffles and magical shenanigans. Meanwhile some of the makeup, production designs and creature effects are outstanding, particularly involving the mighty red titular hero himself. But as you might expect, there is liberal use (and arguably overuse) of CGI here, often coming off as lifeless and half-hearted, and occasionally proving downright subpar, most egregiously with one of the film’s major characters.

This is also a much darker version of what you’ve seen from the character on the big screen thus far, blood-soaked and riddled with body parts, often gruesome and occasionally grotesque enough to bolster the film’s horror credentials, yet never scary or terrifying enough to truly qualify it for the genre—nevertheless definitely not your typical comic-book or superhero fare.

The casting of David Harbour as the lead meanwhile is inspired, and about the only thing that ‘Hellboy’ gets unequivocally right. The ‘Stranger Things’ star manages to hold the film together with an admirable performance as the reluctant dark prodigal son, nailing the character’s attitude and wisecracking sardonic sense of humour, while adding layers of brooding self-doubt—but clearly having a whale of a time. Meanwhile he’s supported by an eclectic cast and an array of performances, which range from solid and dependable to passable and mediocre.

All the film’s positive and neutral qualities are overshadowed though, by its glaring shortcomings where it really counts—the narrative and the story. With a convoluted narrative that’s all over the place—both figuratively and quite literally leading us around on a merry dance like an ill-conceived mystery adventure—‘Hellboy’ just throws too many ingredients into the pot. While bending over backwards to bring several character and story elements from too many of the comics into the mix, it delivers a supernatural quest which proves more haphazard than adventurous, with a momentum that often gets killed by unconvincing exposition.

Meanwhile apart from the big red half-demon himself and his pseudo Shakespearean father-son relationship with Professor Broom, the general character development is woefully lacking and captivating chemistry between them almost non-existent, resulting in the audience struggling to care about what happens to them, which isn’t helped by the darkening tone with too many unintentionally comedic moments, and some excessive monologuing. By the time you get to the ubiquitous post credit sequences, you’ll struggle to care about what they reveal.

In these days of tentpole filmmaking, movie franchises and cinematic universes, it’s perhaps naive to expect a studio to focus on the movie at hand at the expense of future opportunity, but ‘Hellboy’ smacks of a film conceived with consideration for a potential series at the front of the mind, instead of the back—and he result is telling. Ultimately only time and box office results will tell if this franchise is grounded before it gets the chance to take off, but despite Lionsgate’s mixed track record of boldly taking on big spectacle projects, the engulfing of 20th Century Fox by Disney might leave an opening for the youngest major Hollywood studio.

The Bottom Line…

An unusually dark and gory comic-book adaptation which ultimately proves a dazzling but dull reboot of a beloved series, ‘Hellboy’s’ sterling lead performance and vivid visuals are overwhelmed by a hugely disappointing narrative and underwhelming supporting turns, making for an inauspicious start to a subversive super anti-hero series we’re no longer sure we want to follow . . . and which may struggle to survive anyway.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

Vin Diesel stars as a 12th Century warrior turned immortal witch-hunter who’s spent 800 years keeping the peace between humans and those with dark powers. Now in 21st Century New York, he must again fight the dark resurrected menace that cursed him with eternal life and now threatens humanity.

Directed by Breck Eisner and starring Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie and Michael Caine among others.

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