{"id":47443,"date":"2004-04-02T17:30:50","date_gmt":"2004-04-02T22:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=47443"},"modified":"2020-04-25T17:37:03","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T21:37:03","slug":"review-hellboy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2004\/04\/02\/review-hellboy\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: HELLBOY"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>For years, the term \u201ccomic book movie\u201d has been used in a derogatory manner, as an excuse for flat characters, giant plot holes and overblown action sequences. However, over the last thirty years, comic books have \u201cgrown up\u201d, as it were, with an increasing emphasis on characterization and themes more aimed at older readers than the strictly escapist fare of the field\u2019s past. But it\u2019s only been the past few years with the release of such films as Bryan Singer\u2019s two X-Men<\/strong> films and Ang Lee\u2019s The Hulk<\/strong> (2003) have attempted (with various degrees of success) to bring the comic book film adaptation more in step with its four-color progenitors. Hellboy<\/strong> is yet another step in that direction.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a secret government agency that handles any threats that seem to lie outside the realm of conventional science- the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. \u201cThere are things that go bump in the night,\u201d explains its founder Professor Bruttenholm (John Hurt) to newly arrived agent John Myers (Rupert Evans). \u201cWe\u2019re what bumps back.\u201d The BPRD\u2019s main agent is Hellboy (Ron Pearlman), a demon raised from infancy by Professor B, after being rescued from a Nazi experiment in 1943. Unfortunately, it seems that the perpetrators of that experiment have returned, looking to complete the arcane ritual that would set loose Lovecraftian demons on the world. It\u2019s up to Hellboy and a small group of misfit BPRD agents to try and stop them from completing their apocalyptic plans.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Skillfully combining strong characters, emotional moments and rollercoaster action sequences, Hellboy<\/strong> is a great warm up for the summer blockbuster season. Pearlman does a great job as Hellboy. To most, Hellboy seems to be always ready with a wry quip, a world-weary guy who just happens to be a demon who works for the government fighting monsters. But underneath is a lonely outsider unable to confess his love to fellow PBRD Agent Liz Sherman (Selma Blair). This is familiar territory to Pearlman, having starred in the Beauty and the Beast television series in the late 80s, and he makes the material work.<\/p>\n

Director Guillermo del Toro respects the material he\u2019s working with and it shows on the screen. The action sequences are as exciting as the ones he shot for another comic book property Blade II<\/strong> (2002). The film\u2019s quieter, more character driven scenes are handled with equal delicacy. With just the right dash of comic relief, del Toro has blended all the elements for a satisfying film that doesn\u2019t make the term \u201ccomic book movie\u201d an insult. The set pieces may not be as grand as some more recent comic book inspired films (Hellboy<\/strong> had about half the budget of Spider-Man<\/strong> (2002) and The Hulk<\/strong> (2003)), it certainly holds its own and in some cases increases the progress this sub-genre has been making in gaining some over due respect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For years, the term \u201ccomic book movie\u201d has been used in a derogatory manner, as an excuse for flat characters, giant plot holes and overblown action sequences. However, over the last thirty years, comic books [click for more]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[1035,1820,5418],"series":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-47443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-review","7":"tag-guillermo-del-toro","8":"tag-hellboy","9":"tag-ron-perlman"},"aioseo_notices":[],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47443"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=47443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}