Hellboy

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.

Currently being slammed by critics and sitting a very low score on rotten tomatoes, Hell Boy is a film I went into with zero expectations. I just wanted something silly, entertaining and over the top, and the exactly what I got, and I must say, I enjoyed the..erm..hell out of it. Directed by Neil Marshal, who has worked on Game of thrones and West World, this is not the Neil Marshall who gave us the horror masterpiece that is The Decent. This is the Neil Marshal who gave us Dog Soldiers and Doomsday. Silly, gory, surprising and does not give a **** about embracing it absurd concept to the full. David Harbor knocks it out of the park as Hellboy, and one thing he has over Ron Perlman's performance is a sense of threat; that he really could be evil of pushed too far. The whole film moves at a fast pace and has a feel of a video game, but here it works, with a mix of Devil May Cry and God of War, especially in the combat and design of some creatures. Maybe I was in a forgiving mood but the Bebop like villain Gruagach had me in stiches with his sweary mouth and English northern accent. Go see it if you want some outrageous fantasy violence and a few laughs.

Although the trailer & even poster had more spoilers than you could possibly believe, & the casting switch takes a bit to get used to, this new 'soft' reboot IS Hellboy in EVERY WAY, SHAPE & FORM! Even without Del Toros creature shop, the digital characters & translations from the Hellboy comic were on point, interesting & terrifying. The R rating, is probably the movies biggest flaw- excess swearing & SUPER graphic violence seem unnecessary & is probably a box office mistake for a paranormal action movie that kids would absolutely love. Except for the origin briefly retold, it seems like JUST another great Hellboy adventure more than a reboot, being so close to the first two movies that Del Toro & Pearlman could EASILY come back with a sequel in a years' time & it not hurt whatsoever. While skeptical to begin with I completely warmed up to it in very short time- fun, gross, crazy & very likable.

Had to write this review seeing how so many others give it a 10, seriously? There's almost nothing to like or admire about this compared to the great 2 previous hell-boy movies directed by the great Guillermo del Toro. So disappointing and so forgettable, it's a tragedy and sin to moviegoers they opted to make this ramshackle ruinous flick instead of ending the initial hellboy trilogy by making hellboy 3. The horde (audience) wins over the others who appreciate really good things I guess!!!

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.