Hellboy

A new, brasher take on superheroes begins with Big Red. Guillermo Del Toro masterminds a film chock-full of sardonic humour, Lovecraftian horror and those old movie favs the Nazis.

Hellboy (Perlman) is a demon brought through a portal by the Nazis, and who grows up to be humanity's weapon against the supernatural and bizarre. Coupled with pyrokinetic Liz Sherman (Blair) and fish-man Abe Sapien (Jones/Hyde Pierce), the big red guy goes after those pesky Nazis, who crop up again in an attempt to unleash tentacled gods onto Earth's unsuspecting citizens.

Ron Perlman plays Hellboy, and the anthropomorphic demon is probably one of the most entertaining superheroes around. Perlman manages to get across a great performance through his prosthetics and make-up, and this only serves to accentuate the quality of his performance, like a modern day Lon Chaney. Rupert Evans can probably be considered the second lead actor, his Agent Myers the audience’s onscreen representative, playing bemused and confused quite well for a first-time actor.

Selma Blair plays Liz, a pyrokinetic love interest to Hellboy, and as her character is mostly shut away and sheltered for most of the film, her performance is reflective. I almost wish she had been allowed to be more creative with her performance, as the character appears completely staid at times, but the actress is still miles better than many others that would take the role.

Doug Jones plays and David Hyde Pierce (Niles from “Fraiser”) act and voice Abe Sapien respectively, the bizarre man-fish a witty comic foil to Hellboy’s brash character. John Hurt takes the stock father figure/benevolent old man/advisor role here, and the British actor does it with some class as well as humour. Jeffrey Tambour is the FBI spokesman who wants the department shut, and the American actor is comedically perfect here, as his stuffy and pompous attitude completely wilts in Hellboy’s presence.

Guillermo Del Toro gets to showcase a little of his love for all things monster, and he directs a film that’s part comedy, part supernatural horror and part romance with able hands. The music is anonymous, normal movie fare, but visually it is stunning. The newly announced director of the “Hobbit” films presents a small hint at the visual genius he possesses with “Hellboy”, as well as his handle on humour and mythology. Hellboy is a sympathetic, unconventional superhero, and so the viewer is able to have more of a laugh than most comic-book films (cough DARK KNIGHT cough) allow. Fight scenes and dramatic scenes are handled with balanced skill, and Del Toro followed this up with “Pan’s Labyrinth”, another fantasy-based superhit. What this director can do wrong, I don’t know!

Some classic lines are heard, mostly from Hellboy, but there is a lot of exposition to deliver in this movie, and fortunately most of it is easy to deal with. Musically, this was totally standard action movie fare, and as such, it’s simply backing for the images, nothing more stirring or memorable to be heard. From Hellboy himself (a mastery of acting from Perlman and a whole body prosthetic!), and onto the clockwork Nazi, the film visually depicts supernatural creatures in a strangely tangible way, and the special effects are good for 2004 (which is bizarre to say only four years later).

All in all, the film serves as a reminder that fantasy and superheroes can be a little unconventional in execution, and yet be more entertaining as a result.

8/10