Hellboy (2019)

Starring: David Harbour, Ian McShane, Milla Jovovich, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim, Thomas Haden Church, Sophie Okonedo, Brain Gleeson, Penelope Mitchell
Directed by: Neil Marshall
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Hellboy (David Harbour) is enlisted to stop an ancient sorceress (Milla Jovovich) from resurrecting and destroying the world.

Review:

Tim: I know that the idea of this reboot was initially met with criticism, especially of big fans of the Guillermo del Toro/Ron Pearlman films. I was not in the camp. I was never a big fan of those movies (they're decent, but not more than that). Also, I'm a huge fan of the work David Harbour has been doing on "Stranger Things". So, I was fairly excited about the idea of rebooting this fringe character and perhaps doing it right. You can imagine my distaste when I found that not only is this movie not good, it's actually worse than the original Hellboy. That's quite infuriating, to have squandered this opportunity.

It's always hard for films like this to fully appeal to people unfamiliar with the source material (hard but doable). The original movies did a decent job of this- I was certainly not versed in all the characters or the mythology of that world, but I was able to follow and join it. This movie is even less accessible than the others. The film does show some of Hellboy's backstory and we do get introduced to a wide array of characters. It never really grabs hold of you and pulls you in. I felt a distance between the characters, the story, and myself. I never really cared about what happened. I wanted Hellboy to succeed because he was a good guy and I wanted the evil witch thing to lose because she was bad. Far too much of the film is surface-level. We move from scene to scene and the visual effects are impressive, but the movie was surprisingly shallow underneath. There just wasn't enough heart, enough reason for us to care. I think we've all gotten a little spoiled by the Marvel Cinematic Universe with movies that have figured out the balance between heroics and character development. It was a bit jarring to see a movie that was so focused on style and had so little substance. We're thrown a bunch of things, and it's all loud and maybe a little exciting, but it feels like the total is less than the sum of its parts.

It's hard for me to pin down what I thought about Harbour in the titular role. He gave a really good performance- you can tell he embraced this character and worked hard to match his physical state to that of his demonic character's. Harbour's comedic timing, his ability to yell effectively, these are all things that supported his performance as Hellboy. And yet, I never quite loved him in this role. I wouldn't call myself a huge Ron Pearlman fan, but I think he did something subtle with the character that doesn't happen here. In the end, Harbour does some good things, but I wished I enjoyed him performance more.

The supporting cast was a little disappointing. I love Ian McShane and he was the best of the supporting characters. His character wasn't always enjoyable, but he gives a strong performance. Milla Jovovich was okay as the villain, but I don't think anyone has claimed she's an especially good actress. I thought Sasha Lane was totally in over her head. I enjoyed her performance in The Miseducation of Cameron Post, but she was completely forgettable here. Selma Blair was vastly superior as Alice. It was really an odd casting choice, I thought. Daniel Dae Kim was good. The rest of the supporting cast was mostly forgettable.

I'm not suggesting Hellboy was completely unenjoyable, but it was obviously deeply flawed. I finished watching the movie because I started it, not because I was given any compelling reason to see the film through. It wasn't very enjoyable and I actually have no desire to get another movie in this franchise. The film was a box office bomb, so there's no danger of that happening. I suppose the franchise will go dormant for another decade before someone blows the dust off and tries again. Who knows, maybe the next time we'll get a legitimately good movie?

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Hellboy (2004), Hellboy II: The Golden Army