Neil Marshall’s fifth movie, Hellboy, is not so much a reboot of the franchise popularised by Guillermo Del Toro’s two movies, as it is a more faithful adaptation of Mike Mignola’s popular comic series.Hellboy (David Harbour), reluctant steward of Armageddon, plies his trade working for his father Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (Ian McShane) at the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence (B.P.R.D.), protecting the world from monstrous and ancient threats. While out on a routine mission to hunt some giants, the B.P.R.D. learns that ancient witch Nimue a.k.a. The Blood Queen (Milla Jovovitch) has risen from the grave, intent on bringing about a deadly plague to wipe out humanity and bring forth the apocalypse. After which the ancient monsters of the Earth will rise to reclaim it under her rule. Hellboy must team up with telekinetic Alice Monaghan (Saha Lane) and the secretive, Captain Daimio (Daniel Dae Kim) to stop her.
By now it’s unlikely you will not be aware of the critical lambasting Hellboy has taken over the past week or so since its release. It has copped flack from all sides and while some of the criticisms are valid (particularly in regard to the quality of the CGI), the fact of the matter is that it’s just not that bad. Mike Mignola’s stories have always been dark, and Neil Marshall’s movies have always violent. Basing the film on a story that involves a nasty medieval plague and a lot of swordplay suits Marshall’s sensibilities down to the ground. So what we get is a dark, violent, very weird take on a dark, violent and very weird character. Yes it has flaws, but not enough to mark it as the disaster it’s been heralded as.
Read the full review at Screen Realm:
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