Hellboy

This review may contain spoilers!

This film is a mess from the script, to how the production looks and right down to those post-production visual effects. I would give Hellboy a 2.5/10.

Hellboy is a reboot film that focusses upon Hellboy, a half-human half-demon agent of the BPRD (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) who has to stop Nimue, The Blood Queen, from bringing about the end of mankind. I really enjoyed a lot of the dialogue written for the lead role, he has a dry, sarcastic wit that does wonders to lighten up scenes that are bogged down by serious exposition. The soundtrack for the film also has an intense rock theme throughout that goes hand in hand with the demonic protagonist, say what you will about this film but it has one of the best music compilations so far this year.

Ian McShane, who played Professor Bloom, does wonders as the gruff and sardonic father figure; McShane really captures this figure of authority well but more impressively he really convinces you of the bond between himself and Harbour's Hellboy.

However, the best performance came from David Harbour, who played Hellboy. I have really had Harbour come onto my radar in a big way the past few years with projects like A Walk Among the Tombstones and Stranger Things, so it's brilliant to see him own a leading role in a film like this so convincingly. As I mentioned previously Harbour clearly knows how to have a bit of fun with the dialogue, lending a really nice sarcastic wit to the character. I really felt Hellboy have to grapple with the darkness of his origin versus the good he actually has done throughout his life and working alongside the BPRD. David Harbour shows how weary this role has grown of all the violence at his hands and more significantly, how differently he is treated as an outsider. If anything makes this feature worth watching it is the hero depicted by this standout performer.

Hellboy as a film just never seems to get itself together, throughout the film is stumbling along rushing to explain itself and the immense amount of backstory it is heaping with. There is a lot of exposition constantly being bandied around in dialogue which makes you feel like for half the film they are explaining something that could have quite easily been shown in a film preceding this one. It's quite confusing at times keeping on the main track of the narrative because there seems to be a constant interruption with flashbacks, dream sequences or monologue explanations. This is a film with a wise-cracking lead role but no one else in the cast seems entirely capable of humour, in fact the cast of characters seem so serious that you're left wondering where you're meant to find a moment to enjoy yourself. The big conflict throughout the film feels almost entirely empty, the question of whether Hellboy will turn villainous or not. It's a rather played out storyline and you never really buy into it for a second, yet the film keeps pushing this will he/won't he theme and the result is that you realise the lack of substance put into the project. The cinematography is decidedly boring and sloppy, often what is easiest seems to be the avenue taken and there are some scenes where intense close ups are inserted that just don't need to be there. The special effects budget for this film probably wasn't all that big and it shows, it looks like things were poorly planned and the budget stretched thin to meet all the scenes that needed visual effects.

Brian Gleeson, who played Merlin, comes in and seems like a role that you won't even think much of throughout the film; then when you least expect it Gleeson return to spout a lot of useless exposition at an already very full second act. Milla Jovovich, who played Nimue, is probably used to picking bad B films by now; Jovovich has never really shown herself to have much range in the past and the same can be said for this boring antagonist. Alistair Petrie, who played Lord Adam Glaren, was the antagonist who almost killed me with exposition; Petrie spent most of his time onscreen monologuing about history that preceded events of the film and it meant you didn't really care when his role turned out to be a villain. Sophie Okonedo, who played Lady Hatton, shared a similar issue with Petrie in that she seemed unable to do anything than present information; Okonedo just layers things on in a way that doesn't draw in the audience. Thomas Haden Church, who played Lobster Johnson, is just unbridled fan service that does not serve the film; Church just plays a generic tough superhero and it is very awkwardly slotted into the film where it can be. Stephen Graham, who voiced Gruagach, gives such a ludicrous voice to the secondary antagonist that he becomes impossible to take seriously; Graham just spends the whole film hamming it up for a role he clearly doesn't understand or have much confidence in. Sasha Lane, who played Alice Monaghan, is a sidekick character that is sort of placed into this film at a time that seems quite far into the film; Lane doesn't really have the acting chops to sell you on this sudden insertion and you're left wondering just how much you buy into the role for a lot of the film. Daniel Dae Kim, who played Major Ben Daimio, gives a rather generic stoic soldier with anger issues; Dae Kim plays this role very straight and far too seriously that he just isn't interesting to watch. Troy James, who played Baba Yaga, is one of the worst creature performers I've watched so far this year; the over the top movements James commits to leads to a role that doesn't feel necessary and is quite simply, annoying.