6
(a lot of supernatural and religious imagery, power in holy relics)
6
(monster violence, gruesome images)
7
(very much worth seeing more than once)
I never got into "Hellboy" the book. Say what you want about me, but I was more into the mainstream heroes - Spider-Man, X Men, Batman, etc. I think I might have liked "Hellboy," I just never gave it a chance. I didn't have any interest in the movie either until someone loaned it to me because they thought I would like it. And like it I did.
Hellboy is essentially a demon brought to Earth as a child through a dark ritual. He is found and raised by Prof. Broom, a scientist whose interest lies in occult realms. The result of Hellboy’s upbringing is a rather juvenile wild-child but someone who wants to be human even though he doesn't look the part. He likes cats, cartoons, Baby Ruth candy bars, cigars, and other such things that are a part of normal human lives. He dislikes people staring at his horns and the comic books written about his legend (he's kind of like Bigfoot to the rest of the world - an existence that is suspected but unproven).
His job is to fight monsters. His superhuman strength and durability combined with the team's knowledge of the paranormal help him put down creatures that threaten mankind - a kind of super-hero X Files in a way (in concept not style). He's joined in his quests by Abe, a merman kind of guy with some psychic abilities. Sometimes joining them is Hellboy's love interest, Liz, a troubled girl with hard-to-control fire-starting powers.
They are facing off against a group of villains bent on awakening an ancient evil lead by Rasputin, a guy who keeps finding ways to come back from the dead. The other creatures are hard to kill and even harder to keep dead which poses more than a challenge for Hellboy. He fights for his adopted father, his love, and the survival of mankind.
There's a lot in this movie that is hard to swallow. I found myself enjoying it more on my second viewing although I definitely liked it enough initially to want to see it that second time. There's a lot of focus on creatures from other dimensions, demons in a less spiritual sense than usual, and a hero that doesn’t fit the normal profile.
Like I said Hellboy is rather juvenile. He’s impulsive and hard to work with. A lot of times his decisions cause a lot of unnecessary trouble for those around him. At the same time he’s unquestionably loyal and brave. Liz, too, is not very heroic, not traditionally at least. She’s more traumatized than anything and reluctant to use her power even when it can be helpful. There are too many bad memories tied to her abilities, and she fears her lack of control.
The powers displayed are a lot different than say the X Men. Nobody can fly or control the weather. The most outrageous power is Liz’s ability to generate fire, but she doesn’t turn into fire like the Human Torch. She’s also otherwise vulnerable. Hellboy is strong enough to knock down a brick wall, but he has to pound on it a while, there’s none of this shattering stone with one punch stuff. Abe, being a merman and all, pretty much lives in the water and has some psychic abilities. Other than that he’s just smart. So while the characters are sometimes far removed from normal humans, their capabilities are relatively more down-to-earth than a lot of the flashier heroes (relatively).
The villains are sometimes more complex. Sammael, for example, is hard to kill and has a variety of strange attacks. He can resurrect, duplicate when resurrecting, and reproduce by more natural means. Sounds a lot less cut and dried on how to beat him doesn’t it? How do you beat something like that?.
That leads me into one of the trouble points of the movie. The characters and monsters are so complex, detailed, and unusual with such a big story encompassing character backstories, current plot, paranormal history, and other such details that it is very easy to get lost. This is not a movie that is all eye-candy. If you don’t pay attention you’ll find yourself wondering what’s going on before long. So it may require more immersion than some viewers are willing to commit to. It’s also not as mainstream as most of the other hero movies. There are more dealings with occult and paranormal rather than mutants. There’s necromancy and self-mutilation. The primary hero is himself essentially a monster, but he uses a combination of arcane knowledge, big guns, and super powers to get the job done.
If you can get past all the oddities and invest yourself in these characters I think you’ll like what you get. This is just as much a character-driven story as a fun action. The heroes experience great pain and have larger inner demons to fight than most mainstream characters.
I don’t get drawn into romance very easily. If you catch me in front of a romantic comedy I’m most likely there under protest not hoping for great entertainment. Yet, the ending of "Hellboy" strikes a strong romantic cord in me. I can’t explain without spoiling it, but I find it powerful. It will be decidedly less so if you’re not invested in the characters, but that can be said about any story.
The final battle does seem too overblown. I guess that’s the one negative I can say about that. It almost feels like they were trying to go so big that they threw sensibilities to the wind. It does carry a sense of fun like all the battles, but it’s still harder to swallow than the others.
The look of the film is fantastic. From sets to costumes to effects it creates a high level of suspension of disbelief. You’d never guess Ron Perlman isn’t really red. The oversized hand does sometimes look like an obvious fake (usually when he uses the normal-looking hand instead of the big one when it would be more natural to do it the other way). Abe looks amazing, and the vast majority of the creature effects are totally realistic. There's a strong H.P. Lovecraft influence to the dark dimension.
The acting is every bit as good and sometimes better than a lot of the more mainstream blockbusters. While there is a good mix of action and comedy here it isn't an explosion or laugh-a-minute, there are character moments that require solid performance if the movie is going to be able to work.
I’ve started becoming something of a Marco Beltrami fan. He has done a few compositions that I find myself listening to frequently. I like the music in "Hellboy" and think the themes are great. The rock/metal song at the end is pretty cheesy, but the scored bits are quite enjoyable.
Morality
Despite being an action movie involving monsters this is a predominately tame movie. There is no sex or nudity. The romance shown is chaste.
There is a lot of action violence but it’s largely bloodless. The worst of the violence is against monsters. It is occasionally gruesome, though, such as a mutilated character who looks creepy, a corpse, an impaling, eyes sucked out of a man's head, and stuff like that.
There's a little bit of strong language including a few inappropriate uses of Jesus.
The monsters may be too much for younger kids, but there is little that’s inappropriate for teens.
Spirituality
If you're uneasy about "Hellboy" because of your biblical views, don't worry, I was, too. When I met Mike Mignola (the creator) I got the chance to talk to him about that. He said he has seen many of his fans start out as Christians who had issues with his concepts at first. Currently the majority of the Christian superhero fans I know are "Hellboy" fans. I mean, let's be honest, Hellboy is a hero, but he's a demon. I don't like the idea of a demonic hero. I don't mind a monstrous hero, the whole “it's what's on the inside that counts” notion, but a story pushing the idea of, “hey, let's be friends with demons” is not for me. This is why I was hesitant to check out "Hellboy" initially, which I imagine are the same reasons many of Mike's current Christian fanbase had reservations as well.
Doug Jones, who plays Abe, is a devoted Christian himself who loves talking about his faith and has personally been encouraging of me in my convention ministry. So there are qualities in this story that end up winning over many Christians as fans. In fact, when I posed open questions about the movie to my circle of Christian superhero fan friends nearly all of them had nothing but high praise for "Hellboy" (the few that didn't simply hadn't been exposed to it yet).
For starters, Hellboy is not a demon in the Christian sense. He is not a fallen angel, follower of Satan, rebel against God. He is from a dimension that is separate from ours but not in a spiritual sense. He is a being that is demonic only in superficial and external qualities: he has horns, red skin, resistance to fire, and other such attributes. He also has a stone hand which is not exactly traditional demonic lore. Hellboy comes from a realm of darkness, but he is raised by a human father who teaches him the meaning of love and compassion.
In some ways he represents to me the notion that we, as fallen beings, are born capable of evil but also capable, with the right guidance, of choosing a righteous path. We may stumble or become frustrated as Hellboy does, but when the Devil stares at our faces the goodness that has taken residence in us is going to stare right back at him with the determination to see him defeated. Instead of seeing Hellboy as a representation of those that tempt us, I see him as a representation of the ones being tempted but fighting for a more righteous path in life. With the intelligence and depth of the stories to go along with a hero such as this, how can I not like him?
Beyond the immediately obvious (namely “hell” in the title and a demonic looking figure on the posters) there are many spiritual and religious elements to the world in which Hellboy lives. Many of the relics of the church are used to fight the villains. These items, blessed by the power of God, are powerful in battling the dark forces. While this is not scriptural, it is representative of the tools and the power God gives us to fight evil in reality.
The villains of the story use occult rituals to achieve their goals. This is how Hellboy is brought to Earth in the first place and part of what he must overcome if he is to defeat Rasputin. Hellboy tends to rely on holy relics for his battles rather than dark rituals with a few exceptions such as when he brings a dead man back to life. Prof. Broom mentions being Catholic along with imagery of a crucifix, but also talks about using black magic and being “other things” in addition to Christian.
The darkness they fight comes from an “ancient evil” reminiscent of Lovecraft stories (as I mentioned earlier) in place of Hell. While there is no mention of Heaven or a similar alternative the power of the holy relics Hellboy uses suggests that there is some measure of scriptural truth in this universe as well; we just don't get the details.
So, like I said before, I can understand if the imagery continues to make you shy away from seeing "Hellboy." Not everyone cares to see something with a demonic hero even if that hero is more pseudo-demonic and not at all satanic. A friend of mine, Craig, puts it well when he says that Hellboy “has a selfless desire to do good despite what he is supposed to be and do. If he weren't expected to do evil because of what he is his determination to be such a powerful force for good wouldn't be nearly as poignant.”
I do encourage you to consider checking it out for yourself, though. Maybe you won't be able to get past Hellboy being a demon, but maybe you'll find that he's not what you thought he was going to be.
Final Thoughts
I did not expect to become a Hellboy fan, but now I find myself hoping for more movies and plan to, one day, check out more of the books. I was there for the opening weekend of the sequel and will be there again if a third one is released. If you like superheroes and are ready for one outside the mainstream then you absolutely need to see "Hellboy."
Buying Guide
The first "Hellboy" movie has a number of buying options and variations.
Most recent is the Blu which appears to be available with or without a DVD copy. It's also available in a Superhero box set, but details on that one are minimal.
DVD's are plentiful including a single disc release, a 2 disc version, and a 3 disc Director's Cut which is also available in a “gift set.”
Blu:
As far as the Blu goes, based on several reviews I've read the quality of the presentation is exceptional even by HD standards. This is 1.85 widescreen at 1080p and uncompressed 5.1 surround sound. While I haven't seen any official specifics I did read that all of the extras from the 3 disc DVD are included with the exception of the cast commentary. I should also mention that this is the director's cut of the movie.
Other DVD's:
The 1 disc version is for those of you who are worried about being cheap more than you are about extended cuts or extra features. It's bare bones, but you'll get the theatrical cut of the movie with the same technical specs as the other DVD's.
The 2 disc version is the next step up. While this is more impressive than the single disc it is outdated. If you're going to spring for the better package you're better off getting the Director's Cut (which appears to actually be cheaper than this version even though it offers more). As far as I can tell all of the extras offered here are present in the 3 disc version.
The “gift set” (I hate that designation, but it's what these things are called) includes a bust of Hellboy along with the Director's Cut 3 disc DVD. It's surprisingly affordable (or was when I last checked it out). It's unfortunate that there isn't a Blu-ray version.
Final Recommendation:
The 3-disc DVD (and the releases after it) have a lot to offer. If you like "Hellboy" this ought to keep you entertained for quite a while. You do have to weigh the reportedly great quality of the HD presentation against the loss of the actors' commentary and the physical diary reproduction which are both very cool. There's always the Hellboy bust with the gift set to consider as well.
The 3 disc Director's Cut version is the kind of treatment I wish all my favorite movies would get.
Video
1.85 widescreen:
This is an impressive image; it almost looks HD compared to some DVD's. You can see its limitations in the dark scenes, though.
Audio
5.1 Dolby:
The audio is strong, rich, and clean. The surround sound is quite good.
Packaging
Packaging changes, but mine is a cardboard box that holds 3 thin plastic cases: no folders, no stacked DVD’s, none of that stuff. The box and each disc have unique artwork which really looks good. It's exceptionally nice.
The back of each case includes details about what all is on its disc.
The interface features some cool artwork with animation and sound. They look very good though with the menu being curved and on its side you may have to press the navigation buttons a few times to highlight the right selection.
It’s been so long since I’ve seen the theatrical cut of the film I don’t even remember the differences between it and the DC. The runtime difference is about 10 minutes. The runtime for this release is 2:12.
Extras
-Commentaries:
-Director: The most interesting of the commentaries is Guillermo Del Toro’s. It’s a lot like a lecture. He talks about influences, similar themes, historical references, problems and prejudices, controversies, and logic in movies and myths. It’s clear that this is a project far beyond just making a movie for Guillermo. You can pretty much always count on getting an interesting commentary out of this guy. In fact, I'd say he consistently does some of the best commentaries I've ever heard.
-Composer: Marco Beltrami talks with isolated score segments. Unfortunately he talks over the music a lot which steals part of the fun of such a feature, but it's still enticing to hear the music without the sounds of the movie.
-Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Rupert Evans: Instead of watching the movie the camera is on the actors (with the movie in a frame). It’s amusing though hard to hear sometimes. I've read that this one is missing from the Blu release.
-Storyboard Track: If you like seeing storyboards you might want to watch the movie-length feature that displays the storyboards as the movie plays. Personally I prefer the gallery-type presentations and find the magic of checking out the storyboards lessened by the images being too small to make out the notes and other little details. These are small, sparse, and of low definition.
-Intros (each disc has a video intro):
-D1 Introduction (0:25) Guillermo Del Toro talks about the contents of the disc.
-D2 Introduction (1:05) Selma Blair tells you what you can find where.
-D3 Introduction (0:26) Ron Perlman mentions a few things to look for.
-The Right Hand of Doom Set Visits: This is a feature that allows you to access some video clips as the movie plays. Personally I don't like these kinds of features. If I want to see the movie I want to see it without interruption (or with PiP). If I want to see the extras I want to go through them without watching the movie between segments. Fortunately for me the option to access the features using an index is included as well with a play all option.
-Abbey Ruins (2:55) Fight training.
-Broom's Office (2:05) Setting up and filming a scene with Broom and Hellboy.
-Machen Library Alley (2:15) Setting up and filming by the dumpster.
-Subway Station (1:58) Filming a fight with no opponent.
-Subway Tunnels (2:23) Filming Kroenen getting shot.
-Kroenen's Lair (3:10) Various shots in the lair.
-Egg Chamber (2:11) Filming in the water.
-Catacombs (1:35) Hellboy struggling.
-DVD Comics: Like the Right Hand of Doom you can turn this feature on and activate it during the movie or access them through the index.
-Ragnarok the Gate of the Dragon: A short description of the Nazi ritual.
-Abe Sapien: The history of Abe.
-The Samaritan: The gun’s creation and use.
-Pancakes: Hellboy tries them for the first time, this one is funny.
-Hellboy's Belt Talismans: A brief look at each piece in Hellboy's possession.
-Hellboy Scrapbook: A few images from places Hellboy has been.
-Rasputin A Short Biography: A look at his origins.
-Kroenen: A brief history.
-Documentary (2:22:52) The “making-of” feature is very long and split into several sections: origins, adaptation, design, stunt prep, lighting, shooting, casting, makeup, gadgets, monster costumes, sound. In other words it covers pretty much everything. Watch it in small chunks or as 1 massive feature.
-There are a few deleted scenes (with optional commentaries). These aren’t as big a deal with the extended movie since much of this content is now included, but even then they give an idea of what was restored.
-Breaking the Ice Wall (0:30) The explorers break through.
-Cab Ride (1:24) Problems with the tone.
-Russian Warehouse (2:33) A little bit of the real world.
-Filmographies & Character Biographies: 15 filmographies look at the cast and crew linked from a list of the talent and their roles. The movie list is only partial for some. The biography portion applies to 6 characters (shockingly Abe is not one of them) offering lengthy write-ups and comic strip style bios.
-Scene Progression (0:46) This shows the stages of storyboard art compared to the final video. It’s short and has its own intro.
-Animatics: 4 animatics (plus an introduction) provide a movie comparison view or full screen view. These have simple animation and sound.
-Hellboy & Sammael West Side Street (1:58) Playing in traffic.
-Hellboy & Sammael Subway (1:31) Different from the scene in the movie.
-Hellboy & Abe (Underwater Chamber (3:00) CG Abe swimming.
-Behemoth (0:34) The final battle in simple CG.
-Board-A-Matics: 5 animated storyboards (with intro) have a little simple animation and sound but no CG like the previous feature. Again the set offers full screen or comparison options. An intro describes the feature.
-BRPD Lift (0:15) The mechanics of the lift.
-Bellamie Hospital (2:12) The fate of Liz's mother.
-The Bridge (1:24) The trap in action.
-Hellboy Rooftop (1:34) Some extra dialogue.
-Supported Beam Tunnel (1:16) Climbing through rubble.
-Storyboard Comparisons: This time we get no animation other than pans, but they have the film audio and full screen or comparison options controlled by the angle button. This is much better than the movie-length storyboard feature.
-Ragnarok (3:48) Opening the portal.
-Machen Library (2:31) First battle with Sammael.
-Hellboy & Sammael Subway Platform (2:52) Subway battle.
-The Corpse (0:42) Digging up the dead.
-Maquette Video Gallery: This offers 360 degree rotation views of the models with various close-up still shots. There are 6 including baby Hellboy, the corpse, some of the creatures, and others.
-Theatrical Trailers & TV Spots: The group has a play all option.
-Trailer #1 (2:32) Give evil hell.
-Trailer #2 (1:26) Shorter with an announcer this time.
-Ancient Evil Final (1:02) A shorter version of the others.
-Team (0:32) A new team of heroes.
-Evil's Back (0:32) Dramatic action.
-Kroenen (0:32) A little more of the villain in this one.
-Bump (0:17) We are the ones who bump back.
-Origin (0:32) Where Hellboy comes from.
-Only Hope Cutdown (0:32) Prepare to meet Hellboy.
-Guillermo English (0:32) Pretty much the same as Origin.
-Guillermo Spanish (0:32) With a Spanish announcer.
-Previews: Several are offered in a menu across a couple of the discs.
-Print Campaign: These are manual slideshow galleries.
-Poster Explorations: Lots of various poster designs.
-Final Campaign: A shorter group of posters.
-Galleries: These are typically setup with thumbnails that are also viewable as slideshows.
-Conceptual Art & Production Stills: This is broken down into 4 categories which are each further divided up into still smaller groups except for Costume Design which has only 1 page of images. These include many of the creatures, props, main characters, and such.
-Mike Mignola Pre-Production Art: This one has the same slideshow options but also has an animated slideshow option with Mike's comments.
-Director's Notebook: These are scans of the pages from Guillermo's notebook including notes and sketches. It's available on the DVD-ROM portion as well. This one is slideshow only, no thumbnails.
-Comic Book Artist Pin-Ups: This one offers renderings of Hellboy in a variety of styles. No thumbnails for this one, either.
-Hellboy Merchandise: This is just a page telling us to go to the website to buy stuff.
-Make-Up & Lighting Tests (7:21) This shows various shots done for lighting with Hellboy. A commentary is provided by Del Toro.
-Visual Effects How-To's:
-Bellamie Hospital/BRPD Lift Miniatures (5:49) Setting up and blowing up.
-Computer Generated Sets/Behemoth (4:01) The how and why of tentacles and creating the surroundings.
-Liz's Fire (2:54) The challenges of this scale of digital fire.
-Q&A Archive Comic-Con 2002 (23:17) This ComicCon panel is done by Guillermo, Mike, and Ron and comments on a variety of topics. It’s humorous and fun.
-A Quick Guide to Understanding Comics (12:19) This is a more educational video. It looks at roots in ancient history, genres, styles and such.
Easter Eggs:
-Apology (0:46) Guillermo shows off his bad cue cards. D1: on the main menu highlight the introduction then move up to reveal a graphic of eggs.
-The Official Overheard at the Monitor Quotes from Guillermo Del Toro: This is a manual slideshow of amusing quotes with cartoony graphics. Content warning: some strong language. D1: Special features menu, press down until you reveal the hidden graphic.
-DVD Credits: Just pages of names, but it does have some illustrations. D1: Special features menu, select the crown by pressing down until it is highlighted.
-Alternate Intro Animatic (2:08) Broom tells a slightly different backstory. D2: On the animatics menu press down until you reveal a graphic (under the word “back.”)
-Hell on Earth Animatic (0:36) Monster in city ruins. D2: On the Board-A-Matics menu press down until you reveal a graphic (under the word “Hellboy.”)
-Great Awakening Storyboard (0:41) The elder god awakens presented in the same way as the other storyboard comparisons. D2: Storyboard comparisons menu, move down until you reveal the graphic.
-Poster Concepts: This is a third poster gallery that looks like concept drawings leading to the final designs. D2: Print Campaign menu, move down until you reveal the hidden eggs.
-Image Files: Some of the DVD-ROM content can be accessed as image files by navigating to the proper folder in a DVD drive. These include the director's notebook pages and the script supervisor's notebook.
-RTF Files: The script pages are accessible as text files in the file folders.
DVD-ROM:
-Original Screenplay: This feature allows the screenplay, the script supervisor's book, and the movie to be displayed within an interface while the movie is playing. It also offers a print option. It tends to not like newer versions of Windows.
-Script Supervisor's Notebook: This is listed as a separate feature but is just the same as the screenplay functionality.
-Excerpts from Guillermo Del Toro's Director Notebook: While basically the same thing as the DVD feature it does allow some zooming for a better view and offers a print option.
-Web Links: Visit the websites with a quick click.
Physical:
-An Excerpt from the Diary of Grigori Rasputin: If there is a reason to think about getting this DVD version instead of the Blu it is because of the book that comes with it. Maybe you can get this elsewhere, but I certainly haven't see it. It’s a partial recreation of Rasputin’s own book and shows off the creativity of Mike Mignola, the creator and artist behind “Hellboy.” If you haven’t seen the movie yet you might look at this and scratch your head wondering what all this is about. Once one sees these pages in the movie, though, it’s pretty fun to be able to thumb through an actual book of them. I like it so much when I had the chance to meet Mike I had him sign mine.