Hellboy (2004)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Guillermo del Toro

Writers (WGA):

Guillermo del Toro (screenplay)
Guillermo del Toro (screen story) ...

Release Date:

2 April 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline:

From the Dark Side to Our Side

Plot:

A demon, raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness.

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Demon | Superhero | Love Triangle | Occult

Awards:

2 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Ron Perlman	...	Hellboy
John Hurt	...	Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm
Selma Blair	...	Liz Sherman
Rupert Evans	...	John Myers
Karel Roden	...	Grigori Rasputin
Jeffrey Tambor	...	Tom Manning
Doug Jones	...	Abe Sapien
Brian Steele	...	Sammael
Ladislav Beran	...	Karl Ruprecht Kroenen
Biddy Hodson	...	Ilsa Haupstein (as Bridget Hodson)
Corey Johnson	...	Agent Clay
Kevin Trainor	...	Young "Broom"
Brian Caspe	...	Agent Lime
James Babson	...	Agent Moss
Stephen Fisher	...	Agent Quarry

Also Known As:

Super Sapiens (Malaysia: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and frightening images.

Runtime:

122 min | 132 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:18PL | Iceland:14 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40117) | Germany:12 (also director's cut) | France:U | South Korea:15 | South Africa:10V | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Chile:TE | Czech Republic:U | Denmark:11 | Finland:K-11 | Finland:K-15 (director's cut) | Netherlands:16 | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A

Filming Locations:

Barrandov Studios, Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

Revolution Studios

Trivia:

Hellboy has a poster of "Ghost" on the wall of his lair/room. This is another Dark Horse comic that deals primarily with the supernatural.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the picture of the WWII Army unit at the beginning of the movie, there are 2 black soldiers present. However, American Armed Forces units were not integrated until 1948, three years after WWII.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Professor Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm: What is it that makes a man a man? Is it his origins, the way things start. Or is it something else, something harder to describe? For me it all began in 1944, classified mission off the coast of Scotland. The Nazis were desperate. Combining science and black magic they intended to upset the balance of the war...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Samurai Songs (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Breathe In

Entertaining comic book movie

When you are watching a comic book movie you have to take certain things for granted. The superpowers, strange villains, things like that. They are there in a non-existing world; saying they are implausible is true but not relevant. What a comic book movie needs is a nice story that is set in its own world (although real existing places can be there too), an entertaining superhero played by an actor who is able to really create the character, spectacular visual effects that fit the action but most of all it needs to breath the right mood. 'Spider-Man 2' did a perfect job, 'X2', 'Blade II' and now 'Hellboy' come very close. The difference is that 'Hellboy' is the first from what will probably become a series.

The superhero in 'Hellboy' is, of course, Hellboy (Ron Perlman). How he arrives on earth has something to do with Nazis, around 1944, which we see in the first ten minutes of the movie. Let us say he is just here, present day, on the good side, with a professor named Bruttenholm (John Hurt) as his father figure; he was there when Hellboy came from hell. The villains are the same Nazis, you learn why they are still alive, and a lot of monsters they have created. We also meet a love interest for Hellboy named Liz (Selma Blair) and his new partner, Agent Myers (Rupert Evans).

So Hellboy will fight the Nazis and the monsters, but there is more. His father figure is close to death and the love interest, who sets on fire when she is excited, is not really interested. What makes this movie entertaining, besides the right mood we constantly feel, is the dry humor Ron Perlman brings to the character. Hellboy is supposed to be a secret for the outer world although rumors of his existence are there. When Agent Myers goes for a walk wit Liz Hellboy gets jealous and follows them over rooftops where he encounters a nine year old boy. The boy recognizes Hellboy and the scenes that follow the encounter are close to brilliant.

There are other very fine moments. At one point a character asks why photographs of UFO's, aliens or Hellboy are always blurry, not very sharp. We see the truth in this question although ironically in a comic book world the question is very out of place; Hellboy does exist. May be this is not the best comic book movie, but entertaining it is. Compare it to another 2004 movie like 'Spider-Man 2' this one seems flawed although we can see the same amount of fun the characters have. Compare it to the dark and brutal 2004 comic book movie 'The Punisher' and this one is terrific, feels like a comic book the entire time, has an interesting hero with humor. That everything around it is pretty silly we just have to take for granted.