हेलबॉय: द क्रुकेड मेन

I'm not one of those movie experts, but let me say this: it is NOT a real movie. Everything from the story and special effects till the dubbing (I watched in PT) feels plastic to me. Everything that happens is out of coincidence or luck, which gives you that cheap taste. I liked some characters and scenes, but my liking for it can only go so far. I'm not gonna say it's a waste of time because it didn't feel like that to me. Just go to the theaters expecting to see a fan made movie, that's all.

Now I'm just saying words to complete the minimum requirement of six hundred characters which I think is too much.

You'd expect Hellboy to be a wild ride full of intense action, epic battles, and the kind of adrenaline-pumping scenes that keep you on the edge of your seat. Instead, what we got was a movie bogged down by endless, mind-numbing dialogue.

And the worst part? Most of that talking wasn't even from Hellboy himself! He felt more like a background character in his own movie.

It was mostly the other characters driving the narrative, leaving Hellboy sidelined and underused. The film dragged on, with far too many unnecessary conversations and not enough of the action we came to see.

Honestly, it was baffling. You sit down expecting a badass, fiery adventure with a legendary comic book hero, and instead, you get a tedious mess where Hellboy barely even shines.

The pacing was slow, the character development weak, and it felt like the filmmakers completely missed the essence of what makes Hellboy so beloved.

It wasn't just bad-it was so, so, so bad. The disappointment was overwhelming. It's hard to believe they dropped the ball this much on such a promising character.

I have just watched this movie and it was OK. I have never seen hellboy's movies but I have read comics and I can say that this adaptation is decent. Jack Kesy's performance as Hellboy was good and the moments with crooked man were very scary.

However, the special effects are mediocre, especially the 3D. The action is a bit borring and I would have liked more if it had been more violent. The photograpfy is very lazy and poor. I understand that the budget of this movie was not big but it looks like a B-Class movie sometimes.

In summary, if you like the comics, you will like this adaptation; however, don't expect to be surprised because this movie is just OK.

Our introduction to Hellboy and possibly most of the general public was the 2004 movie directed by Guillermo Del Toro, which offered the comic book franchise it's push to mainstream. Hellboy felt at home in the hands of Del Toro who went on to spawn a second film 'The Golden Army' in 2008. While both being generally well received and are modest box office successes, a third Hellboy film with both Ron Pearlman (as Hellboy) and Del Toro never came into fruition - instead rebooting in 2019 starring David Harbour as the titular half-demon hero.

To be fair, despite a good performance by Harbour, we were no fans of the action packed and gratuitously violent reboot, - mostly due to the comparative superiority of the first two Del Toro versions that also beautifully handled Hellboy and his peers' themes of othering and self-acceptance, which proved more appealing than doubling the action and blood. The reboot eventually bombed in the box office and was met with generally negative reviews leaving the franchise dormant.

Now 5 years later, on its fourth live action iteration, this Hellboy movie is firstly, the only one with Mike Mignola, the creator himself, with direct writing credits for the screenplay. It is also the most faithful adaptation of it's chosen source material 'The Crooked Man'. It also has the lowest budget out of all the live action films and the shortest run-time clocking at 1 hour and 36 minutes only.

As a fan of Hellboy, this was a very enjoyable watch, especially it's stripped down and claustrophobic feel that stands out against a plethora of explosive and bright blockbusters - these included the three prior Hellboy films. But, with an understandably lower budget, the creature special effects could use a little more polish. We do appreciate the rest of the film prioritizing the use of practical effects.

Jack Kesy who portrays Hellboy, at least for this variant and theme, actually dons the character well. The rest are portrayed as they are in the comics, and it mostly leans on how people like the source material - which is great for us, but may leave much to be desired for the general viewer.

Perhaps if this was the first Hellboy film, then maybe there's some leeway for more praise and less negative comparisons to, ultimately still, the better Del Toro films. We would argue however that it is above the overall experience of the 2019 reboot, and it uniquely stands out as a slow burning horror piece where-in you may seem less frightened knowing you have 'Anung Un Rama, Son of the Fallen one' on your side.

People are addicted to soulless, mass produced, green screen, fast-edited blockbusters with ridiculous budgets that treat the viewers like 8 year olds with ADD. Well this ain't one of them.

The story is smaller in scale, which is what the superhero genre needs after it's been marvelized beyond recognition during the last 20 years. The cast is doing a good job, the pace is fine, the 90 minute running time is ideal, the cinematography is great. Could've used a better soundtrack and some more light in certain sequences.

Of course if it's not your cup of tea, you can always rewatch the abysmal 2019 Hellboy.