Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Get 2 for 1 cinema tickets with Orange Click Here

Search cinema listings

Browse cinemas A-Z

Search 20,000 reviews

 

Hellboy (2004)

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Fun. It’s a crucial but often overlooked element in a summer blockbuster comic-book adaptation and it’s in ‘Hellboy’ by the spadeload. How could it not be when the central figure is a grouchy 60-year-old adolescent seven-foot half-human devil with a giant right arm and woman problems? Heartfelt horror is del Toro’s stock-in-trade, and ‘Hellboy’ resounds with the director’s glee at being handed the keys and told to cut loose on Mike Mignola’s cult comic-book creation. But for all Mignola’s vision and del Toro’s panache, this is Ron Perlman’s film: all in red and larger than life (clever photography beating CGI to buggery), he burns up the screen as the eponymous hero. This wisecracking, gun-toting, cigar-chomping, trenchcoat-wearing cross between Humphrey Bogart, Hannibal Smith from ‘The A-Team’ and Clint Eastwood is a long way from Peter Parker. No navel-gazing identity crisis here; the only concession Hellboy makes to the human world is filing his horns ‘to fit in’.

As del Toro rips through the opening half-hour exposition, we learn that Hellboy crawled into this world from another dimension during World War II. He now works for the US military alongside scientist and father figure Professor Bruttenholm (John Hurt, a ringer for Hergé’s Professor Calculus), battling an eternal evil that currently manifests itself in the form of Rasputin, some Nazis and a chilling sand-veined cyborg in a gimp suit. Relishing these absurdities and with no tedious old aunties to accommodate, del Toro gets on with the business of furious entertainment, racking up a sequence of coruscating set-pieces against elaborate, urban-occult backdrops while giving Perlman space to cast a baleful eye over a burgeoning romance between his dream girl (and twisted firestarter) Liz (Selma Blair) and military apparatchik Agent Myers (Rupert Evans). Del Toro, in love with his source but never overawed by it, keeps things moving; Perlman ties it together with some of the driest witticisms this side of Indiana Jones. Like we said: fun.

Author: PW 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out London Issue 1776: September 1-8, 2004


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend
Get 2 for 1 cinema tickets with Orange Click Here

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Top Stories

Hippies who work for The Man

Hippies who work for The Man

To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within

Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies

Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies

Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe

Grant Heslov: interview

Grant Heslov: interview

Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'

The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'

The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'

Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’

Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?

Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?

Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer

Michael Jackson's This Is It: review

Michael Jackson's This Is It: review

Kenny Ortega's posthumous concert film is a rousing eulogy for one of pop's great enigmas

Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace

Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace

From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'

Lone Scherfig talks 'An Education'

Lone Scherfig talks 'An Education'

Danish director Lone Scherfig was an unlikely choice for a very English affair like 'An Education'. Cath Clarke meets her

How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life

How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life

Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations