Hellboy [Blu-ray]

What can be said about this movie? People complain about the gore when they wanted an R-Rating. Improvised lines happen in movies but somehow it's become a public thing to say "well that's went wrong."For starters, despite the trailers being a bit misleading, this film actually is far more comic accurate. It is far less apologetic and after making "everyone good," as characters exist who have done bad things but have done things are, well more human than actual human characters in the film. The tone of Hellboy's rejection of the world and his personal struggles is still comical, but handled in a different manner. You want that in a reboot. In my opinion it is better than the original two films in that way. Well, actually, in a lot of ways. No goofy sidekick, no trying to be about everyone in redemption/innocence. You know exactly what Hellboy is, and what others are, and nobody is going to get apologetic or try to resist unless they choose too in a far more natural way than "how they were raised" or "whom they are working for/want for the world."So it is quite early on one of many "organizations" out there basically try to kill Hellboy, and he gets 1/2 his origin. This ISN"T an origin story. Not a "lie" either like "Spider Man: Homecoming" per say where it definitely was an origin story regardless of them trying to get around it. The most similiar about this film is the shown backstory in which the wierd guy with the wind-up thing in his back only makes a cameo, same with rasputin, etc. After that we have Hellboy on a new adventure starting from scratch.Let's speak of the cast and/or characters. If it wasn't for the comic book more accurate shift for this "reboot," wouldn't have even noticed it wasn't Ron Perlman but David Harbour as Hellboy. In other words, Hellboy is played as Hellboy-not an impersonation (superman returns PTSD anyone?) or feeling wrong. "Alice" is also interesting and is still growing into her powers, and has a connection to hellboy without needing to have a love story. As things go on she goes from "helpful" to "kicking butt" and it feels natural. Daniel Dae Kim plays someone who well...hates the "dark side" but you get it all in a great package and channeling what he is comes and works by the end of the film. Milla Jovovich isn't in this film every five seconds-we have her minion pig, baba yaga-they are all pretty cool and acted well. Nimue is handled well, if not a bit too goofy at times (severed head talking) but her "reassembly" and basically what she sees in Hellboy, plans, etc, have set motives and she doesn't need to be anymore complex than she is, or else she'd be taking time away from the others, including "hellboy's father" played by Ian McShane. Although he clearly sees the good in Hellboy, he doesn't constantly preach to him to "be good," and mostly gives him crap like a father who wasn't ready to be a father, and this is well played out too.In case you haven't gotten it by now, I was a fan of the prior hellboy films. Actually liked "Golden Army" because it embraces the fantasy side of hellboy along with the more grounded elements. Hellboy is fantasy horror, so if you didn't like "Golden Army" then you probably won't this either. Not that the first did something so wrong-it just had less of these elements. I also am a Guillermo Del Toro fan. However, this reboot is as said, way more comic book accurate, and while that doesn't always translate to a good thing (see batman-the killing joke for how bad that can go), in this case it finds a better balance. Thus, I liked this film much more than the priors.With middling box office+home release success, and negative response in which actress Milla Jovovich (Nimue the blood queen) even spoke out about humorously, a sequel is very doubtful. I don't think the random magic that pulled golden army getting made is around this time, in this day and age. Speaking of the time period, I don't think I've seen a film embrace using gore and action that's wild and super fun like this for like 5 years. It is a shame people don't appreciate stuff like this. This is why studios make PG-13 watered down stuff.Hopefully the monster hunter film is not watered down either, and mentioning it since Milla Jovovich will be in it too, and the blood should be flying in 2020.

I know this movie did not have great ratings like the ones with Ron Perlman but I thought it was hilarious and good. Extra gore than the other ones.

Don't listen to all those pissy little complainers telling you this film doesn't work. They're all nuts. Unfortunately, it's the fault of all those negative reviews that I ended up waiting so long for the price to come down before renting this --- and I'm kicking myself for having waited. This film is GREAT! It's funny. It's sad. It's gross. It's hair-raising. It's creepy as hell. It's wonderful. It's well acted. Yeah, I know: the effects may not be on par with ILM, but they're at least more than adequate to the purpose. Maybe next film they can get ILM to do the visuals. But one thing's for certain: there's nothing significantly wrong with this film. In fact, I'm going to purchase it. That's how much I like it.Of course, having said all that, there is one, tiny, miniscule, petty little detail I feel obliged to point out. HELLBOY'S TAIL ! ! !. God, that thing is annoying! It draws my eye every time it's on screen. Why? Because instead of animating the damned thing, as they should have done, they just stuck on a practical tail that simply hangs there -- doing nothing, showing no personality at all, looking like a limp dick. I have no idea why they screwed up so badly on this count, but it is a sore point of contention I cannot accept. I don't know how much more it would have cost them to animate the damned thing, but without a doubt, they definitely should have made room for this in the budget.Oh, well. Can't have everything, I suppose.I recall that in the two del Toro films, Hellboy's tail seems alive somehow. It adds to his personality. And, yes, I love the two del Toro films. They are wonderful in their own right. Genuine masterpieces of cinema. But the sad fact is that they aren't really all that faithful to certain aspects of Mignola's original ideas. But this film is very faithful to Mignola's vision. It feels like the characters in the graphic novel just leapt off the pages and came to life."Oh, but there's too much gore," I might hear some say. Grow up! That's how it's SUPPOSED to be: gorey, bloody, gross, and hilarious as hell. And it delivers on all those counts. I simply have little or nothing to complain about with this film, other than the tail and the fact that it was over too quickly. A 3 or 4 hour Hellboy would have suited me just fine. Guess I'll just have to wait for the next one. And it looks like there may be a next one; they set up the sequel nicely at the end of this film.So, short version: ignore the pissy, negative critics. If you like the original Mignola graphic novels, you WILL love this film. It works, on all levels, hands down. It's not perfect; but what film is? Other than Citizen Kane. And you can watch Citizen Kane only so many times before it begins to wear thin. So, at least rent this film. Mignola fans won't be disappointed. And I'm betting that most others will enjoy this film if they just give it half a chance.