I have to start this off by saying, Hellboy fans waited years to see Guillermo Del Toro complete his trilogy, for that project to ultimately fall apart. So when we caught wind that the property was being rebooted, this time with comics creator Mike Mignola being more involved, many approached it with a level of skepticism. This time David Harbour is suiting up as the Big Red demon, the role once associated with Ron Perlman, for a new picture said to be darker, and harder-edged.
The result is sadly a film that feels very cheaply thrown together. Harbour is probably the thing I like most about this, besides Ian McShane as Professor Broom, who is always solid. Granted, there are some elements that I prefer in this incarnation, it does play more faithful to the graphic novels with regards to characters and settings, but there’s an equal amount of things I really didn’t like. It’s a shame the filmmakers didn’t make good on their promise to deliver a dark monster movie, because what we get is basically a knockoff of Del Toro’s series. All that being said, should a sequel happen with Harbour, I believe there is some potential for this incarnation, but it would require a new creative team behind the camera. For my full thoughts on the film, be sure to check the video below.
Hellboy is back, and he’s on fire. From the pages of Mike Mignola’s seminal work, this action-packed story sees the legendary half-demon superhero (David Harbour, “Stranger Things”) called to the English countryside to battle a trio of rampaging giants. There he discovers The Blood Queen, Nimue (Milla Jovovich, Resident Evil series), a resurrected ancient sorceress thirsting to avenge a past betrayal. Suddenly caught in a clash between the supernatural and the human, Hellboy is now hell-bent on stopping Nimue without triggering the end of the world.
‘Hellboy’ also stars Thomas Haden Church as Lobster Johnson, Penelope Mitchell as Ganeida, Sophie Okonedo as Lady Hatton, Brian Gleeson as Merlin, Alistair Petrie as Lord Adam Glaren, and Stephen Graham as the voice of Gruagach. The film was directed by Neil Marshall.
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