Hellboy (2019)
This found its way into my digital collection recently, though I'd be a liar if I claimed it was wholly by accident. On one hand, even though I've never read a Hellboy comic in my life, I do love the Guillermo del Toro films; on the other, I'm something of a Neil Marshall fan.
Dog Soldiers was the right way to do a zero-budget werewolf splatter flick, and I thought
The Descent deserved every accolade it received. And perhaps I'm in a forgiving mood because it's Spooky Season and this is a superhero/horror mashup, but I didn't find the film as bad as its reputation suggests. Unfortunately, it's not that great, either...
Critically eviscerated upon release, the movie faced an uphill struggle as soon as it was reported that Ron Perlman was being replaced as the lead. While David Harbour did receive some praise for his interpretation of the titular character, a quick gander at social media reveals that many fans (anecdotally speaking of course) were unable to accept a substitute after Perlman's indelible performance as Hellboy.
As for the film itself, I found it serviceable if unspectacular, a classic example of a movie that hits the notes but can't hear the melody. Guillermo del Toro found the poetry between the lines of this IP dealing with outsiders, freaks, and monsters, striving to create a form of family for themselves, all the while warring between their base natures and the course that was set for them without their consent. On the other hand, the reboot is the first Neil Marshall helmed project where I questioned the sincerity of his direction and commitment. Marshall has been vocal in the past about his efforts to reconcile his auteur instincts with the commercial demands of studio filmmaking, his refusal to sexualize his characters in
The Descent being one famous example. While all the requisite elements are in place for
Hellboy '19 - gratuitous gore, gruesome monster effects, bone-crushing action, perfunctory efforts to chronicle the struggle of being an 'other' in an unforgiving society - the film feels strangely flat and listless, as though Marshall's heart really wasn't into the material. del Toro turned pulp into poetry; Marshall approaches the project as a typical gun-for-hire, and the result is one big shrug. When your baddie's swan song money shot is cribbed straight from
Scary Movie of all places, Houston we have a problem...
Anyway,
Hellboy '19 isn't a total write-off (I'd argue that no film directed by Neil Marshall and starring David Harbour ever could be), but I honestly don't see myself revisiting this again anytime soon, if ever. Not unless del Toro's films spontaneously combust, that is...
www.metacritic.com
