“Hey. Hey. Hey. They’re playing our song.”
2004 is arguably one of the best years’ for pop culture, especially for movies. Films like “Spider-Man 2”, “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story”, and “The Passion Of The Christ” released, but one film that had been under people’s radar started to get talked about more after the last two rebooted attempts is “Hellboy”.
Released in 2004, based off of the comic book created by Mike Mignola, and directed by future Academy Award winner, Guillermo Del Toro, “Hellboy” follows the titular character working the Bureau Of Paranormal Research & Defense (BPRD) to stop the supernatural as a resurrected supernatural sorcerer from getting to Hellboy and have the demon fulfill his destiny to cause the apocalypse. Whilst very generic, the story does this concept in such a fantastic way, especially since the story of this film heavily drew inspiration from the first volume of Hellboy; “Seed Of Destruction.”
Following the story is first, a fantastic director. You can tell Guillermo Del Toro was really passionate about making the film look like the comic, as the direction, set designs, and cinematography are superb. Speaking of what’s superb is that this film has arguably the best cast film for a comic-boom film.
The main villain is Grigori Rasputin, played by Karel Roden, who always knows how to be a fantastic villain, especially as he has played the villain role. However, the protagonists were perfectly cast. Selma Blair brought the perfect spark (no pun intended) to playing the emotionally unstable and powerful Liz Sherman, while not looking like the comic. Abe Sapien was perfectly cast with Doug Jones as the body, and David Hyde-Pierce voicing him, which he does a fantastic job voicing him as Jones did in the sequel.
John Hurt as Professor Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm was perfect and to the T, just a perfect comic book character came to life. However, Ron Perlman as Hellboy is easily one of, if not the best comic book character cast with his perfect blend of grit and emotion. When people talk about the best casting in a comic book movie, this one should be the best one.
The action in this film is spectacular, and while now the visuals are kind of outdated, the visuals can really be seen as spectacular as well. Del Toro really leans into exploring the supernatural in this film, as can be told about the monsters Hellboy fights and the mythos surrounding the character.
The soundtrack of the film is fantastic as Del Toro collaborating, Marco Beltrami, really composes a supernatural esc orchestra, as well as the dramatic esc scenes too, such as the theme between Hellboy and Liz and the orchestra when Broom dies, which is perfect for the dramatic elements of the film.
“Hellboy,” in my opinion, is my favorite Guillermo Del Toro’s film. It’s not “The Shape Of Water” or “Frankenstein”, but the film is beautifully acted with a spectacular world filled with beautiful drama, fantastic action and visuals, amazing soundtrack, and a fantastic, but basic story that makes me “sore in the morning” after watching the film.