Hellboy

Official Australian release date: 11/4/19. Viewed: 13/4/19.

Director: Neil Marshall

Actors: David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane

Genre: Action / Fantasy

Rating: R

‘Hellboy’ is a total reboot of the (great) 2004/2008 films by Guillermo del Toro – this time Hellboy is played by Harbour and still looks pretty great with this makeup & giant right fist. This time around is from the director of ‘Doomsday’ and ‘The Descent’, so it has much more of a horror/gore/supernatural leaning than the other films. To ensure the R-rating, on top of the all the blood and violence, there’s also plenty of (often needless) swearing.

Plot is somehow linked to King Arthur, Merlin and the Blood Queen (Jovovich), an ancient witch who’s resurrected to wreck havoc. Hellboy has to team up with Daimio (Dae Kim) from M11 and Alice (Lane), an old friend and clairvoyant, to stop “Nimue”. There’s giants, vampires, ghouls and all sorts of weird stuff, but the hardest to go along with is Gruagach (Graham), who is basically just Bebop from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. McShane as Prof Bloom is good, but under-used, and Lane is solid, but the rest of the cast don’t really bring too much and go through the motions.  

There’s some great CGI, but also some creatures and shots that are a bit too gratuitous and don’t really add to the story, particularly in the final scenes. Harbour is OK as Hellboy, but is missing some of Perlman’s charm. In general, the film lacks the heart and humour of the original films – and sorely misses Liz & Abe Sapien.

Overall: Average attempt at a darker hero.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.