Hellboy **** (2004, Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor) – Classic Movie Review 1068

‘It all began in 1944, a classified mission off the coast of Scotland. The Nazis were desperate. Combining science and black magic they intended to upset the balance of the war. I could never have suspected that what would transpire that night would not only effect the course of history but change my life forever.’ – Trevor ‘Broom’ Bruttenholm (John Hurt).

Writer-director Guillermo del Toro’s 2004 scalding supernatural superhero horror thriller Hellboy is a clear labour of love. It stars a perfect Ron Perlman as the demonic beast known as Hellboy, who is raised from infancy by a kindly professor after being summoned up by the Nazis and rescued from them by the Allies in 1944. Happily, he grows up to become mankind’s defender against the forces of darkness and secretly works to keep the world safe from paranormal threats.

In the final days of World War II, the Nazis, in a desperate attempt to change the course of the war, attempt to use black magic to aid their dying cause. The Nazi occultists build a dimensional portal off the coast of Scotland and conduct a ritual to bring forth an infant demon from hell that will bring about the end of the world and a new Eden.

But the Allies raid the camp, interrupt the ceremony and snatch the infant. Hellboy grows to adulthood brought up under the care of professor of the paranormal Trevor ‘Broom’ Bruttenholm (John Hurt), joining the Allied forces and serving the cause of good rather than evil as a monster fighter.

Hellboy grows to be a large, red-skinned man with a tail, horns (which he files off, leaving behind circular stumps on his forehead), cloven hooves for feet, and an oversized right hand made of stone. He’s an unusual superhero, alright. But now, 60 years later, those who gave birth to Hellboy are back looking for him and plotting the end of the world.

It may all be incredibly hard work, obviously it must be, but Perlman makes it an infectious delight that he looks as though he’s having a lot of gleeful fun as he chomps his cigar, twitches his tail and battles neo-Nazis and demons. This is a richly enjoyable, constantly surprising, oddball movie, extremely entertaining and satisfying, and packed full with quirky ideas, excitement and danger.

Hurt, Jeffrey Tambor as FBI Director Tom Manning and Selma Blair as the volatile pyrokinetic Liz Sherman are excellent in support, but the triumph belongs to Perlman and Del Toro, equally shared between them. Doug Jones plays Abe Sapien, Rupert Evans is John Myers, Karel Roden is Grigori Rasputin, Brian Steele is Sammael, and Ladislav Beran is Karl Ruprecht Kroenen.

Del Toro’s loving screenplay and screen story are based on the Dark Horse Comics graphic novel Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola, who said he is ‘very happy’ with the Hellboy movies.

Released in the spring of 2004 (2 April 2004 in the US, though not till 2 September 2004 in the UK), it cost $66 million budget and was not an enormous hit, grossing $59 million in the US and $99 million worldwide. But nevertheless a sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, was released in 2008, with Del Toro and Perlman returning.

It runs 122 minutes, and 132 minutes in the director’s cut.

Del Toro also employed Perlman on Cronos in 1993 and Blade II in 2002.

Hellboy was rebooted in 2019, without Del Toro or Perlman, but with director Neil Marshall and actor David Harbour.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1068

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