Hellboy - Review

Will Smith's new movie "Hancock" sports the tagline "not your average superhero." Well, the marketing people behind that movie can thank the makers of "Hellboy" for not using that tagline, because it's probably the most appropriate way to sum up the title character from director Guillermo Del Toro's comic book adaptation. Hellboy (played by Ron Perlman) is brought into the world as a baby demon in 1944, when the Nazis open a portal to another dimension looking to gain an advantage in World War II. (And you thought the Nazis looking for the Ark of the Covenant was a crazy idea.) He's kept secret by the U.S. government's Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, run by Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt). Bruttenholm explains the bureau by saying "There are things that go bump in the night. And we bump back." Somehow involved in all this is Hellboy's pyrokinetic love interest Liz (Selma Blair), a good guy who looks like the Creature From the Black Lagoon (Doug Jones), a masked, knife-wielding assassin, a bunch of evil hound-looking things, and Grigori Rasputin (yes, the guy who was stabbed, poisoned, shot, and drowned in real life before finally dying.) I'll be honest - the plot is very fantastical, and doesn't make too much sense. It's not Del Toro's fault that it doesn't make sense - the comics just involve too many monsters, magic, and nonsensical things to make much of a clear storyline. But the movie succeeds as an entertaining and witty film, mainly due to Perlman as the title character. His Hellboy is a sarcastic, one-liner machine. He constantly spouts off dry humor while battling the bad guys. And despite being, well, a demon, Hellboy's probably the most relatable superhero of any recent movies. He has real-life problems and wants to be accepted. "Hellboy" isn't perfect by any means. You wish there was more than just the same old hound-thing over and over and the nonsensical story gets annoying sometimes. But it works, thanks mainly to the sarcastic Perlman and the visionary Del Toro, as unlikely a team as there is.

The Verdict: Despite the fantastical universe Hellboy lives in, Perlman makes him a witty and enjoyable character and provides for some solid entertainment.
3 / 4 stars