At first I didn’t want to write a review at all, but I think I’m ready to spend a few minutes of my time so that those who read it don’t waste an hour and a half of their lives watching this film.
Plot
Hellboy is the son of a demon and a witch, working for the Bureau of Paranormal Investigations. He fights the forces of evil all over the world. During the transportation of a dangerous monster on a train, Hellboy and a new agent of the Bureau as a result of an accident find themselves in a remote village, where strange things happen. Local residents suffer from an ominous creature – a rich man hanged many years ago. Returning from the other world, the oligarch subjugates people to his will and receives a coin for each soul cast into hell. He turns out to be a difficult opponent for the guy from the underworld, because the monster knows the secret of Hellboy’s origin.
Impressions
The charismatic smoking comic book character, cheerfully kicking demons, is familiar to viewers from three incarnations (counting the new film adaptation). Guillermo del Toro’s version was a charming mix of comic book cinema and the director’s signature magical realism. Neil Marshall relied on powerful visuals and off-the-charts brutality of the film; in his version, viewers were treated to a cheerful, bloody massacre and a plot so primitive that even an orangutan caught in the forest would understand it. What has Brian Taylor prepared for viewers?
You can be wary already at the interview stage with the director. A reboot of the character was promised with a complete change of concept towards darker and bloodier stories (which seems good). But a promise of a simple plot was also made. Like, guys, this is just a fairy tale, why complicate everything, we made the most simple and understandable plot. And, as if, nothing terrible, no one expects from a comic book movie, you know, intricate allusions and complex moral questions (unless these are postmodern comics in the spirit of “Watchmen” or “Sandman”). But primitivism is very often used to cover up a banal unwillingness or inability to do well. In my opinion, this is exactly the case.
The film is shot in a deliberately “dirty style”, dark colors, frequent camera out of focus, in a word – the illegitimate child of “The Blair Witch Project” and “Evil Dead”. I never saw the declared “bloodthirstiness”, the previous version of Hellboy beats this one in a couple of frames (there were heads flying, and fountains of blood spurting in all directions). In fairness, I will say that the film has at least two successful and truly creepy episodes: the sickening transfer of the witch from some badger back to her body, and the one in which the same witch is wrapped around and strangled by a snake.
Lead actor Jack Kesey is beyond reproach, he looks quite impressive in the role of a half-demon. His character jokes less often than in previous incarnations, but if jokes like “how to find out the age of a witch? saw off her leg and count the rings!” make your eyelid twitch, it is better to pass by this masterpiece.
To sum it up, I can say that the film has some flashes that can hold your attention for an hour and a half, but in the end it is still melancholy and despondency.
