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Directed by: Guillermo del Toro Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, John Hurt I had high hopes for Hellboy because of the respect the comic seemed to receive on the forums and among friends. The movie didn't disappoint, and in the context of recent comic-to-movie failures like Hulk and LXG, Hellboy is pretty drat good. Hellboy's interesting history is explained from the beginning, and the filmmakers do well to keep the introduction from dragging on too long. Hellboy is one of the few comic movies which have been able to find the perfect balance between too much back story and not enough. The movie is filled with interesting characters (enemies and allies) -- especially the mechanical Nazi-dude. Unfortunately Hellboy spends most of the movie fighting the same CGI-dog-thing, so we don't get to see a lot of variety. Still, the story is well told, I liked nearly all the characters, and Ron Pearlman is perfect in his role. I eagerly await a sequel. RATING: 4.0 PROS: Characters, action, story, visuals CONS: Minimal variety in enemies, some one-liners are groan-worthy ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167190/ Bloated Pussy fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Jul 3, 2004 |
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Jul 3, 2004 18:46
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Great on the scenery, great character development, and Ron Perlman was loving PERFECT for the role of Hellboy. The downside was lovely CGI, a boring plot, and run-of-the-mill action sequences that were far too short.
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Jul 4, 2004 09:49
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Ron Perlman fits the role of Hellboy perfectly and, as far as I could tell, was quite faithful to the comic book as far as cinematic adaptations go. 4.5/5
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Jul 4, 2004 21:23
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They turned my beloved hellboy into an action movie with a tacked on romance subplot. WHAT THE HELL? Hellboy isn't angsty, hellboy isn't hidden away in some room in new jersey.  The elements they did keep from seed of destruction, chained coffin (the ghoul on his back couldn't have been any better) and art style itself were drat good, but why change something so drastically when you have mignola on board? I really wanted to like it, but it came off as a double edged sword. At least it wasn't in the same league (ho ho ho) as LXG, only a couple steps up the crappo ladder. 2.5/5 You broke my heart del toro
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Jul 5, 2004 05:04
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The first 51% of this movie weas funny, well acted, and well scripted; the action was pretty good, too. The last 49% turned into a generic action flick without much point, but what the hell. 3/5
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Jul 7, 2004 06:14
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I didn't really care for the movie. Somehow it managed to screw up a clockwork nazi assassin, a centuries-old prophet sucked through a worm hole into space, and a demon hellspawn with a 20mm handcannon pistol. The action scenes were either too short or inept at provoking any excitement (everything that was good was in the trailer) and the script itself was hammier than any pork product. The editing was sloppy, continuity severely lacking, and character development nearly nonexistent. The only bright spot of this was Selma Blaire and some impressive pyrophoric abilities, but that's it. 1.5/5
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Jul 7, 2004 06:40
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Okay ... I'm no comic book buff, or a movie connoisseur, but that movie came off as kinda stale to me. I've never seen LXG, and aome aspects of The Hulk I may not have enjoyed, but overall it seemed much more cohesive than this. The beginning of Hellboy was developed brilliantly, and the movie was enjoyable up until their second run-in with the demon dog. From then on it degraded into a pointless (and short) action sequences that seemed to accomplish nothing. The few characters in the movie worth mentioning often either lacked a proper backstory or the story came too late. The last glimmer of hope was the reanimated skeleton, however it proved to be short lived. Frankly, the ending isn't worth talking about. It sucked. A lot. I'm not even very picky about my movies, but it managed to leave a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm gonna go brush my teeth. bbiaf kthx. First half or two thirds of the movie: 4/5 Final half or two thirds of the movie: 1/5 Overall: 1.5/5 (yeah, it really ruined everything it lead up to) Got KarmA? fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Jul 8, 2004 |
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Jul 8, 2004 04:01
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I had to give it a 2.5 The characterization was excellent, they managed to get the right skin tone for Hellboy, and Abe feels very real. Ron Perlman is superb in being able to act the character even though he's buried under tons of make-up, masks, and props. In what concerns to the "transportation" of the characters, all is well. But it simply doesn't work as a movie. For starters, they spend WAY too much time with Sammael (is he replacing the frogmen?), a very uncharismatic and uninteresting foe. The guy they chose for the role of Rasputin was a terrible choice. Too young, and didn't manage to convey that feeling of a badass from another world he was supposed to. He just seemed like a russian drunk on a power trip. Also, i disliked the choice to garb him in modern clothes. Anyway, i suppose it's because it is the first movie. As an introduction to all the characters, it may work. But it's certainly a boring film after you get over all they did with the characters.
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Jul 8, 2004 19:48
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Ok, I saw this movie last night. I give it a 2.0/2.5 I went in expecting a fictional movie, and I didnt have high expectations. I wanted to see this movie in theatres but missed it so I was decently excited. However this movie did not deliver on much any level. The characters weren't developed well, the plot was mediocre, the places they went to were horribly outlandish, and everything was very predictable. I thought this would be a cool movie but I wouldn't waste the $5 to rent it. Might wanna wait for it on FREE HBO.
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Jul 9, 2004 04:36
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Didn't really care too much for this movie either, another romance plot worked into a fairly meager action movie. The comic relief was also just a bit over the top in my mind. Good connection with Hellboy and his "father" and decent enemies. 2/5
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Jul 9, 2004 09:14
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Loved it. I'm no fanboy though.
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Jul 9, 2004 19:20
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I hadn't read any of the comics before hearing about this movie, so I did myself a favor and got ahold of all the trade paperbacks. While the comics get a 5, the film only gets a 3.5 The introduction was well done, and Hellboy and Abe's relationship remains faithful to the comics. Perlman was a perfect choice for Hellboy. Unfortunately, the plot was a more-or-less generic action story, with Mignola's comic added on merely for spice. If Hellboy spent less time explaining itself (and dropped the lame love story) it would have been a lot more fun. 3.5/5
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Jul 11, 2004 18:41
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I loved it, but there were a few things that bothered me. I'll forgive Abe developing psychic powers, cause he has kooky visions and weird poo poo like that in the comic book. What bugs me is the fact that they made Liz (well and darkly played by the lovely Selma Blair) Hellboy's love interest when the chemistry in the comics has always been between her and Abe (who was voiced by the guy who played Niles on Frasier, while the body work was done by the guy who wore the old "Mac the Night" moonhead costume from the late 80's McDonald's commercials). Also, they made Liz's hair black and fire blue, despite both are brilliant red in the comics. I've read that it was because they wanted HB to be the only red thing in a given shot, but I would have preferred they kept the colors the way they were. 3.5/5
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Jul 12, 2004 09:19
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The film's story seemed to be in all places at once, and was sort of circling the drain around the end. There was good interaction between actors, but that is about the only strong point in this movie--for me, at least. 2.5/5.
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Jul 12, 2004 21:33
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Boring rear end movie more interested in making sure every scene was loaded with eye candy poo poo than about characters or plot or coherence or interesting-ness. The story is overblown and laughable--a story about Nazi doctors and an undead Rasputin birthing a wise-cracking demon from a magic hell vortex should not be treated Bible serious. The characters are all stock, Selma Blair is mopey and uninteresting and the whole thing just seemed to rely too much on the kitsch value of a big demon guy acting human. Two.
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Jul 29, 2004 06:56
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I thoroughly enjoyed it. Enough action, cool cinematography, good acting and classic one-liners to make it one of the most enjoyable movies of the year. four
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Jul 29, 2004 08:17
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I never thought I'd see this movie. I sat down at my monther-in-law's house and started jamming buttons on her broken remote and somewhow turned on the DVD player. Hellboy was in and I thought "what the hell, I have two hours to kill". I've never been a fan of comic book movies, and when I saw the trailers for this I thought "ahh, another lovely comic movie". I was suprised that the movie grabbed my attention, made me laugh, and kept me watching. I was suitably impressed, enough that I'll probably buy it to have it on my shelf. Four.
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Aug 4, 2004 18:31
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What a terrible film, the pacs was soooo slow, dialogue cute but lacking humor and the story, ugh, how very dull. Then came the action, which of course was terrible, talk about dull. Effects were occationally nice but i want some drive to the whole thing, this film just languished about in its own little world, occationally making me smile, but never get excited with its crappy action. Cute but dull 2.5/5
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Aug 6, 2004 04:47
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Nazi ninja assassins, Ancient lovecraftian godthings and hot spontaneously combusting chicks. While the movie wasn't an academy award winner I did enjoy it thouroughly and as mentioned before Perlman is perfect for the role. 4.0
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Aug 22, 2004 09:04
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Didn't really find this movie satisfied my taste for mutant superheroes. First half of the movie attracted interest, but to be honest it was downhill from the starting credits. 2.0
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Aug 23, 2004 06:58
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1.5/5 Script was crap. Acting was crap. Plot was crap. Special effects was crap. Just kidding - it was pretty good. Anyways, everything about this movie was crap except for the special effects. Actually, the script was worse than crap. Also, acting was actually good on Ron Perlman's part. AFK fucked around with this message at 08:21 on Aug 23, 2004 |
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Aug 23, 2004 08:18
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I thought it was a fun watch but the fact that hellboy pretty much fought that one monster the whole time was pretty annoying. And is it just me or was there an abundance of tentacle monsters? I liked it when the boy hit the girl. 3.5/5
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Aug 23, 2004 11:45
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seemed kind of good at first then turned into a generic action movie. 3
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Nov 9, 2005 21:28
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I've got to say I'm surprised at the folks flaming the movie. This was one of the better recent action movies in my opinion. Never read the comics, incidentally. Pros: + The Hellboy character is well done, looks great, has fun dialogue and is perfectly exectued by Perlman. + The action scenes are, for the most part, excellent. + The villians are well done. You've got Rasputin, a self-mutilating clockwork Nazi, a hot Nazi vixen bitch, demonic dog-things... what's not to like? + There is just an gross visual coolness to this movie (much like Blade 2). Guess that's director Del Toro at work. Props for the Cthulhu-flavored goodness.  Oh, and the DVDs have lots of goodies. The commentary tracks from Del Toro/Mignola and the cast are both good listens. "The Hellboy groupies were disappointed to discover that there was an old Jew under all the makeup."  Cons: - Weak supporting characters. None of the actors playing the characters *around* Hellboy could deliver the goods. His love interest is particularly bland. A few had good lines here and there, but mostly they were just... um... there. Exception: The FBI administrator dude who is a dick to Hellboy most of the movie. -Related to the above, Hellboy's love triangle thing doesn't work, because you don't give a poo poo about anybody but Hellboy in the movie. -The ending is kind of weak. There are some tentacles, some true love, some poo poo like that. I've watched it a couple times on DVD, I'd give it a solid 3.5/5.
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Nov 9, 2005 22:39
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