Hellboy (2004)
I've always found this film to be a tad underappreciated, in the sense that I don't see it being discussed online as often as some of its contemporaries...
I'll go on record as saying I love this movie. In fact, this,
The Crow, and
Batman Returns were my favourite comic book movies as a kid growing up.
Hellboy addresses Guillermo del Toro's usual thematic obsessions - funhouse distorted religious imagery, antihero redemption arcs, sons striving for reunions with absent fathers - but what separates the film from lesser entries in this genre is its empathy. Peter Parker may be able to cling to walls, Ororo Munroe may be able to control the weather, Kitty Pryde may be able to phase through solid objects, but all three can easily hide their 'otherness' and pass as completely human should the situation require it. But what if you couldn't hide your 'otherness' quite so easily? And what if you fell in love but your 'otherness' created a chasm between you and your beloved too wide to bridge?
Thematic pontification aside, it's enough to say that
Hellboy remains a rousing experience. The set designs, make-up, and VFX are all impeccable, and special shout-out to Ron Perlman who brings a warmth and humanity to the character, barely concealing his loneliness and isolation underneath carefully calibrated smartass humour. Guillermo famously fought for the actor, and the wisdom of this casting choice is best articulated through the quality of Perlman's performance itself.
At the end of the day,
Hellboy is about a creature born of Hell who is trying to walk the path of the angels. The character is constantly warring between his birth base nature and the path charted for him by a kindly adoptive father figure - and aren't we all. The film didn't exactly set the box office on fire upon original release - it grossed roughly $100 million worldwide on a reported $65 million production budget - but it performed well enough on home media to justify a much-loved sequel.
I'll cover that one next
deadline.com
