Review of Hellboy (2004) by Amanda B — 17 Dec 2012

Fighting, monsters and humour. Somehow, though, the only humorous character seemed to be Hellboy. The bad guy of the movie, Rasputin, was contacted by supernatural entities and was attempting to release the giant squid-like creatures "The Ogdru Jahad" from their prison in space and bring on the end of the world.. Hellboy is going to stop that, of course.

This is an imaginative, if a bit silly film. Not at all bad as fantasy-action, but I just didn't find it as innovative or as genius as its sequel, 'The Golden Army'. The fantasy stories behind Hellboy have been influenced by H.P.Lovecraft's 'Cthulhu' novels. Of the actors, David Hyde Pierce, who starred the radio-psychiatrist Frasier Crane's brother Niles Crane in the popular television series 'Frasier', acting as Abe Sapiens' voice in this first film, was great - somehow, however, the Abe Sapiens in this movie seemed different to me from the Abe Sapiens of the 'Golden Army'. It was just that since I'm such an avid fan of the 'Frasier' tv-series, I just keep thinking of Niles Crane whenever I hear Abe Sapiens speak in this first Hellboy-film. I think the film was fun and had lots of action, but it got a bit repetitive around midway, with Hellboy kicking the froglike creature Samaels' butt most of the movie. Some of the stuff got a bit too crazy for my taste. Had it been a bit shorter and had a bit more complex plot I would have rated it higher. I liked all the ruckus though! Fun.