Hellboy

Hellboy has huge potential, but the creators didn’t do a good job in transferring it to the screen. The greatest mistake is that they completely ignored the mysterious Gothic atmosphere that simply oozes out of the comic books. In terms of story this is an almost disrespectful mishmash and the only thing that saves the day is Ron Perlman in the title role of Hellboy himself. Add to that the rather sluggish pace, over-long running time and a lame finale. So the result is unfortunately a mediocre affair that can be watched once, but never again. (07/06/2004)

An enjoyable film that gets more and more under my skin each time I watch it. Ron portrayed Hellboy exactly how I imagined him and the whole universe around him is just delicious. Abraham, Liz (Selma Blair's only sympathetic role)... everything fits together and forms a compact whole together with the second film. There is also, of course, the added bonus that the film features Karel Roden, who certainly deserves praise. Hellboy is just a guy who looks like a guy from hell and likes cats, beer, and his flammable half. It's good to watch both movies with this cool guy. (02/03/2012)

If it wasn’t for Ron Perlman in the role of his life, I would have a hard time understanding this movie. It is he and his immense charisma that give the whole film an unadulterated comic touch, interspersed not only with great catchphrases and action, but at times also with natural human concerns. As a true Hollywood superhero, Hellboy has it all: he's rugged, fearless, committed to goodness, oozing with dry humour and, most importantly, his heart is in the right place; simply great potential, which Guillermo del Toro exploits to the fullest, tailoring the script around Hellboy's characteristics. As a result, we don’t have a grand drama full of twists and turns and dark atmosphere as in Snyder's Watchmen, for example, but we are presented with a lovingly made fantasy diversion that, despite the story's shortcomings, still offers the best entertainment one could wish for in the genre. I was just a bit disappointed by the surprisingly unimaginative final action set-piece, I expected something more than what del Toro served us. But that doesn't change the fact that Ron Perlman is really cool and Karel Roden once again confirmed that as a villain he has hardly any competition. 3.5* (08/28/2012)

Hellboy is a comic book Accenture exactly to my taste. It has a devilishly dark and sometimes perversely disgusting atmosphere, humor as black as a freshly filled grave and a hero so sympathetically unsympathetic that there’s nothing quite like it. The main winner of Guillermo Del Toro's film is Ron Perlman, whose mask creation surpasses everything I have seen so far in the comic book remake genre. Hellboy is a hero with a soul who doesn't have to define himself to the world through tons of explosions and fights... it's a little big poem about the eternal feud between hell power and good human aspects, which turns into something almost poetically tender in that big red body. The scenes where Hellboy strokes a kitten with his stone hand or eats cookies on the roof in the company of a nine-year-old boy, debating love with him, are the highlights of the film. Del Toro was able to properly balance the ratio of action and conversation, thus joining the commendable trend of X-Men 2. It's amazing how a movie about a horned monster managed to impress me... but not only that. The film was able to entertain me with well-crafted action sequences (which, however, are rather only above average and old-world nowadays), and it suggested an atmosphere to me that balances on the edge of black comedy and horror. It too bad that in the end the film loses some of the escalation and directorial cleverness with which it is conducted (with a slight exaggeration). Hellboy's world is very sympathetic and understandable to me, which is why I hope that "Red" does not end his brash journey with this film. It would be a pity if this muddy hellish relic doesn’t get a successor... (09/30/2004)

"I'm fireproof. Not you." I understand that a person who hasn't had the pleasure of reading Hellboy on paper might not appreciate the movie as much. But trust me, it's perfect (although many, many things are changed and many, many things are left out)! As far as Ron Perlman is concerned - that's what you call the role of a lifetime.__P.S. The extended version contains rather cosmetic changes and improvements, but the scene with Rasputin's eyes is excellent. (09/20/2007)