RATING:

Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans and John Hurt. Written by Guillermo Del Toro. The screen story is by Guillermo Del Toro and Peter Briggs, based upon the Dark Horse Comic created Mike Mignola.

Rated PG-13 for Sci-Fi Action Violence and Frightening Images.

I was recently invited to a special screening for HELLBOY in NYC. Director Guillermo Del Toro and creator Mike Mignola were both in attendance.

It started off with a little reception where we all had some champagne, red frosted cupcakes [Get it? RED frosted] and lots of RED BULL drinks. Then I got a chance to talk to Del Toro about a few things here and there.

On the Daredevil 2 rumors?

“I was never offered that, I was offered other superhero scripts. I was offered FANTASTIC FOUR, which is a fantastic script but I just finished making a superhero movie and I don’t want to do another one right now. The other script was IRON MAN with Tom Cruise attached, which I also had to turn down.”

On the upcoming DEVILS BACKBONE DVD

"It's coming out real soon."

Before the film started Guillermo did do his little speech about Hellboy and the journey he went through to get it done. It ended with, “This is what you happens when you give 60 Million Dollars to a Mexican”

I really didn’t know anything about Hellboy. I’ve never read any of the comic books, but after seeing this movie I can tell you that fans and non-fans alike will enjoy this kick ass film. The summer of 2004 starts with Hellboy!

Guillermo takes comic book movies to a whole new level. Hellboy ( played by Ron Perlman), based on the comic by Mike Mignola for the acclaimed Dark Horse Comics series of the same name, is the story of a hellfire demon conjured into the world by occult Nazi scientists during the dying days of World War II in Scotland. Hellboy is brought to Earth by an evil madman, Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden), to perpetrate evil. Rasputin tries to open a gateway in order for him to unleash hell on earth. That is until a young Professor Broom (Kevin Trainor) and some Allied forces foil Rasputin’s plans.

Rescued from Hitler's evil clutches by Professor Broom, Hellboy is shipped to the US and raised to fight evil as an investigator for a government agency known as B.P.R.D. (Bureau For Paranormal Research And Defense). Professor Broom (John Hurt) raises Hellboy like a son and helps him develop his extraordinary paranormal gifts, despite his dark origin. In comes a young FBI recruit John Myers (Rupert Evans), who was hand picked by Broom to be Hellboy’s companion. Myers now meets the rest of the family that Hellboy grew up with, including: The telepathic “Fish-Man” Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) who is pyro-kinetic (she can create fire out of nothing). Once Myers meets the clan, that’s when all HELL breaks loose. Rasputin comes back to reclaim the all grown up Hellboy to the dark side and use his powers to bring about Armageddon. Hellboy is the key to his apocalyptic plans.

From here on the movie is non stop pure-action.

During my favorite sequence, Hellboy goes up against the hound of the resurrection, “SAMMAEL”. Every time you kill him, two new Sammaels are born. Then there is Kroenen (Gas Face Man), the Nazi ass kicking, sword-fighting, assassin. While the movie is loaded excellent Eye-Popping CGI/Special effects, it’s not the only reason I liked it. Here is a movie about monsters that go out to investigate other monsters that are menacing humanity.

The acting was solid all around, from the supporting players to the amazing Ron Perlman in the title role. It took Del Toro six years to get this film made, mainly because the studio insisted that a star play the lead (Vin Diesel and the Rock were once rumored). I'm glad Guillermo stuck to his guns, because Perlman IS Hell Boy!

I also really liked the character development. We get to know all these great characters in a short period of time. The fact that it’s somewhat a father and son movie was also cool. The film shows you that Hellboy pays a price for his existence and it’s a heavy price. And finally the love story between Hellboy and Liz, which brings a lot of humor to the film. Guillermo Del Toro is able to add humor and a human touch to this movie.

Hellboy delivers and its all due to the excellent direction of Guillermo Del Toro, who insisted on remaining true to the comic and in doing so, took six years to make Hellboy a cinematic reality. It pays off. You will have a HELL of a ride. It's dark, gritty, and a little different from the comic book movies I’ve seen, terrific entertainment.

Comment on this in our User Forums