Hellboy: The Crooked Man
I went into this with extremely low expectations. I was expecting a definite lesser (and maybe even a really bad) movie version of Hellboy, compared to the Del Toro offerinngs (I honestly don't remember much from the David Harbour version, except that he was ok in the role). I haven't read the particular comic, but the first thing that hit me at the beginning of this was that it actually felt like a typical Hellboy story. And if you take out Hellboy from the premise it could've been a southern gothic horror story.
This is apparantly a low budget flick, which is quite blatant here. It really feels like an indie low budget horror flick. It's quite effective though considering the budget. It's of course very different from the Del Toro films in terms of spectacles and effects, but that was expected. And of course we miss Ron Perlman's iconic performance as Hellboy. This actor isn't bad but this Hellboy still feels a bit toned down in terms of personality (and why is he smoking cigarettes here and not cigars, omg??!!I!I).
I expected way worse from this. It did feel kinda slow in pacing sometimes, which would be my greatest nitpick. And it's not a great flick, especially in terms of a Hellboy movie offering which I personally feel maybe need more cinematic spectacle. I still feel this was quite decent in the end though, especially considering the budget. And as mentioneded before, it felt like a Hellboy story. Over all the actors did well, I especially enjoyed Leah McNamara as the witch Effie Colb - she was loads of fun.