Hellboy - Call of Darkness

First the bad and they aren't that bad. 1) While David Harbour does a pretty good job as Hellboy. But he lacks the natural charm that Ron Perlman had in the title role. Not to say that there aren't times that he comes off prefect for the part. 2) It is a well made film. But it doesn't have the spit and polish that Guillermo del Toro put into his film duo. One the good side Neil Marshall and the writers stayed true to the story Hellboy. The role of the big bad was beautifully played by Milla Jovovich (fair warning on this part I have been nursing a 20 + year crush on her). Daniel Dae Kim and Sasha Lane were great in their roles of Domino and Alice. They add a little more depth to help flesh on the new world created for the film. And the adding of Church as Lobster Johnson was great. On a whole it was a solid film. If you like modern fantasy, and want to move away from the Marvel/DC fight of which is the better superheroes. You could do worse than Hellboy.

Never liked the previous hellboy movies. Found them incredibly boring!!!!! Really enjoyed this version. Lots of action and gore!! I was surprised there were so many young kids in the theatre. Definately not for youngsters!!!!!

I really like the character of Hellboy with his little John McClane side, i.e. « I did not ask to be here, but as I am stuck here, please let me smash them all, one by one, just to have a little fun », and the dark atmosphere. The soundtrack is punchy and punk rock. At last, the Computer Generated Imagery is globally successful. For now: that's heavy! Nevertheless, the story is so predictable and terribly far-fetched. In short: desperately annoying. It's really an uninterrupted series of dismemberments, decapitation and eye-gouging delights during manifold battles against apocalyptic monsters. These scenes are strung together at a blistering pace for one disappointing purpose: make you forget an incoherent script full of moronic plot twists. Well, well, well, ... another film without much interest than we will quickly forget.

517 A.D.: King Arthur defeats the Blood Queen (Milla Jovovich) with the help of his trusty magical sword Excalibur, chopping her into pieces and burying her still-living body parts in the far reaches of the land. 1500 years later, changeling Gruagach (voiced by Stephen Graham) pieces the queen back together so that she can destroy mankind and rule the Earth with monsters as her loyal subjects. Hellboy (David Harbour) is given the job of preventing this from happening.

The majority of fans and critics gave this film hell on its release. So what did it do to deserve such damnation?

For many, the simple fact that it wasn't directed by Guillermo Del Toro and didn't star Ron Perlman was enough to demonise the movie, but even overlooking the change of director and leading man, there is still plenty to dislike: the creature-filled action scenes are over-reliant on unrealistic CGI; the comedy frequently mis-fires; Daniel Dae Kim and Sasha Lane are lousy as Hellboy's sidekicks; and the plot is rather scattershot. Oh, and there's a REALLY bad ectoplasmic Ian McShane.

Having said that, there is also quite a lot to enjoy: the R-Rating allows for plenty of graphic gore (although, sadly, much of it is also digital); there are some delightfully absurd moments (Hellboy's encounter with hideous witch Baba Yaga, who lives in a house on giant chicken legs, is excellent, and Eastenders fans will enjoy seeing Mo Harris brandishing a machine gun); the links to Arthurian legend are fun, and apparently make the film more faithful to the comics than Del Toro's movies; and director Neil Marshall occasionally shows us what he is really capable of (the single-shot fight scene in a Siberian complex at the end of the film is wonderful).

All in all, a very mixed bag of a movie: not the completely hellish experience that I had heard it was, but far from great.

Although the effort of the director and the talent of the actors, the movie lacks the charm of the Guillermo del Toro duology. The movie is way more faithful to the comics but it also tries to be faithful to the previous movies (which every reboot should try to be) but it just becomes a mess of attempts. The CGI is overused- WHEN WILL STUDIOS LEARN!- and although the creatures design is very interesting, pretty much every character lacks the dept the old duology provided. At the end of the day Hellboy(2019) is just another failed reboot that tries to be it's own thing while respecting the previous movies. My rating? 5 out of 10, but I do agree with the 61% rating on rotten tomatoes because the movie isn't all crap, there's a charm to it but it's not enough to make you overlook it's flaws. Just watch the Guillermo del Toro duology, it's a far superior franchise, and I would of loved to see the third movie if the studios didn't cancelled it. If you are interested in the director Neill Marshall (which despite the failed attempt of rebooting Hellboy is a damn good director) go watch Dog Soldiers which is criminally underrated. See you next time at the movies, Ruben the Critic