Hellboy

[Johann]

Hellboy directed by G. del Toro, is another great comic book film.

Ron Perlman manages to embody the character flawlessly. He seems to wring out an emotion from every line, giving it authority (hard to do when you look like a red gargoyle-Schwartzenegger- devil/man).
The real thrill is not the humour and feline-loving antics of the crimson hero but the enemies he faces.

I was incredibly impressed with how the disfigured/amputee Nazi corpse/assassin was rendered. His costume was one of the most visually appealing I've ever seen in a comic book movie. And he wielded those handblade/knife/swords with some serious skill.
He made chop-suey out of everyone he faced. Slicin' & dicin', he was one wicked character-that helmet/mask!!! Awesome. Just plain awesome.

I agree with Richard Roeper for once: the first hour absolutely kicked ass. The rest of the movie was dreadlock-monster overload. I loved the visuals, but I got a little antsy when all we were getting was non-stop CGI. You can only look at slimy, ugly resurrection hounds for so long...

Overall, though this was one great action flick. The special effects were outstanding- especially the Abraham fish-guy. He destroys the likes of C-3PO or Data. He's an information sidekick who looks so cool I'm buying the action figure.

I'll be seeing this escapist masterwork again before it's run is over.

[cinemabon]

The comic book fans must be delighted with this movie. As a film buff/historian/phile, etc. I was not. While I am a great fan of Ron Perlman's work, and here he was quite delightful as the cigar chewing, wise-cracking hero, the plot left much to be desired. How many times must we see the villan who cannot die until he slaughters a sufficient number of innocent bystanders to satisfy the director? It's becoming old hat. The plot was all too predictable. They even gave away the ending when Hellboy all too quickly said he was "impervious to fire". Let us decide that, we don't have to be told.

While the special effects were up to the current standard and in some instances quite beautiful to look at, the plot fell right in line with so many cornball plots about hero versus villan. I was astonished to see Roger Eberts review, who gave the film 3 1/2 out of 4 stars, rather liberal in his generosity. While I agreed with parts of his review, his reference to its humor; I can't abide with the fact that the rest of the movie is just a wiz bang load of crash bang boom and little substance. You can quote me on that!

[HorseradishTree]

I really hope Ron Perlman gets recognized for this film. The films under his belt are for the most part astounding. I recommend The Name of the Rose for a fantastic performance by Perlman.

As for this film, I was blown away. Guillermo del Toro worked very closely with Mike Mignola (the comic's creator) to accurately translate the book to film.

I found it to be fantastic for my tastes, and I love these types of movies that exist solely in their moments. This is the first film in a long time where I wasn't constantly annoyed by recurring one-liners.

[Johann]

Yeah man, Hellboy is a wicked comic book movie. It'll make my top ten for the year, just like Hulk did last year.

The critics are calling these times "the comic book age in cinema" and I won't disagree. Comics are a wellspring for the movies. It's just that Hollywood has had a hard time in getting the balance between translation and fan support right. It's taken years to realize that you will have backlashes from hell from fans of particular characters if you only go for basic appeal.

We only really care about 2 things: true to the comics and the costumes must work. You ignore these things and you draw the wrath of very passionate people who take these things seriously.