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Hellboy

Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, John Hurt, Rupert Evans, Doug Jones, David Hyde Pierce, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Reviewed by Chris Ching

The makers of last year's megabomb The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen took a cutting edge comic and in the process of Hollywood-izing, rid it of all the unique elements that made the story great in the first place. Thankfully, Hellboy, the latest participant in the comic to movie frenzy, doesn't sacrifice its roots for glitz.

"I'm ready for my close up."

Like most comic book movies, the first quarter of the movie is devoted to the hero's origin. Here we find Earth orphaned Hellboy, a victim of a 1944 Nazi experiment to open a door between dimensions. Rescued by the American Army, the little fella is the thing from which CGI nightmares are made of- about as real looking as, well, Jar Jar Binks. Thankfully, when we meet him grown up, he's now in the form of Ron Perlman with a lot of make up doing a riff on his role as the cynical smuggler in Alien Resurrection. Hellboy is the main field officer for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, a Men in Black style operation who tackle supernatural monsters instead of aliens. Perlman, hardly the first name when you think "leading man", is terrific in the role, and Arnold worthy in his ability to toss a quip (even if he does it way too many times). It's a cliche, but he does bring a humanity to the role of Hellboy, and you will feel for this guy who files down his massive horns in a attempt to fit in. Everyone, even interdimensional creatures, want to be accepted.

The movie disappoints when it turns away from the character exposition of Hellboy and his fellow B.P.R.D. members, the super squishy aquatic Abe Sapien (body by Doug Jones, voice by David Hyde Pierce) and the super hottie firestarter Liz Sherman (Selma Blair). The plot that out heroes have to wander through involving Russian baddie Rasputin's desire to bring about the apocalypse is pedestrian at best. Rasputin is hardly the stuff from which great villains are made; he looks like he just stepped off the set of Saturday Night Live's Sprockets. Infinitely cooler is his right hand dead man Kroenen. With an addiction to surgery and black magic not to mention a set of wrist blades he gracefully impales people with, Kroenen is a hundred times more menacing than his boss.

The world of Hellboy is an idiosyncratically wonderful one brimming with marvel and does its source material proud. Director Guillermo Del Toro should be applauded for his respect for Mike Mignola's creation, but in his adherence to Helloy...ahem... dogma, he prevents his movie from achieving the sort of populist appeal of a Spider-Man. The characters look cool, the set pieces look cool, but the story which works well within the framework of the comic book doesn't translate well to the film. Hellboy is worth your money, but its disappointing that it doesn't fully deliver on its potential.

Rating:

(2 1/2 out of 4 stars)