Hellboy
A parody-like fantasy with some interesting messages. - 4.5/10
by Francesco Bakhos - 365 Movies Lebanon
Longest two hours of my life.
From the pages of Mike Mignola's seminal work, this action packed story sees the half demon superhero called to the English countryside to battle a trio of rampaging giants. There he discovers the blood Queen, Nimue, a resurrected ancient sorceress thirsting to avenge a past betrayal.
Well,well,well I sure in hell wasn't expecting this. Hellboy is a great example on a reboot that shouldn't have been made.
To be totally honest only 2 things managed to grab my attention throughout the Longg screening of this movie : the visuals and the message.
-visually speaking, this movie did a great job. The special effects, CGI, the costumes and makeup did a help a little in creating something worth looking at. This might have been recognized more if this movie was properly executed.
-Regarding its message, HellBoy had a very inspiring one and it goes something like this : we all deserve some kind of saving in this life. Every single one of us is fighting some demons but we should always see the good in us and others. You see no matter how dark things become, always have faith that eventually the power of good will win. In addition, HellBoy contained an even equally inspiring submessage about how we all crave to belong Somewhere and the decisions we take in order to fulfill these cravings.
But unfortunately, all other aspects of which make this movie, were flawed and underwhelming.
First things, HELLBOY's storyline, it was all over the place with zero sense of direction. And if this wasn't bad enough, the Insertion of comedy only made things worse. I didnt know if it was trying to be serious or funny.
Secondly, HellBoy is one Excruciatingly slow movie. As i mentioned at the beginning of my review these were the longest two hours of my life.
But the thing i want to talk about is the acting. C'mon with names such as Milla Jovovich and David harbor, i was expecting some hell-ish performances. But on the contrary, everything felt really forced and on the verge of being/looking like a parody. I believe having so little backstory and character development didn't help either.
Personally, I found the main Antagonist "Nimue" and one of the protagonists "Alice" to really interesting but sadly they weren't explored deeply. They only scratched the surface of what could be two successful and potentially fan-favorite characters. Just imagine if director Neil Marshall fully knew how to properly bring these 2 characters to right with just the right amount of depth and mystery, what could've happened with this movie.
Eventually, HellBoy turned out to be a Truly Hell-ish adventure that unfortunately no one should endure.
Connect with Francesco Bakhos - 365 Movies Lebanon
InstagramView other reviews by Francesco Bakhos - 365 Movies Lebanon