I’ll be Damned, A Hellboy Reboot?
April 30, 2019
NICK PEOTTER
The Mirror
If you want to watch a heavy metal themed gore movie about an angsty demon who plays a hero and has some of the best one-liners in the comic book industry, then you should watch this movie. If that’s not your cup of tea then you should absolutely not watch this movie. If you enjoyed the first two Hellboy movies then you shouldn’t watch this movie. If that’s not enough, the Rotten Tomatoes rating might also be a reason to not see it as it got a whopping 14 percent.
This movie is not for the faint of heart, either. There is quite a bit of CGI to enhance the amount of blood which fits the theme of what Hellboy is. But that causes the world to become glorified with gratuitous gore. In our world, we don’t see a lot of that so we can’t relate to that much death and violence. The director, Neil Marshall, did his best to bring the movie back down to earth by making Hellboy overly existential about his existence and emotional about his father which is all fine and dandy until he doesn’t think twice about killing everything he sees in sight. A lot of the fight scenes didn’t have much to do with the plot but they were extremely action packed and over the top. I found myself wincing at some of the more horrific scenes while all the comic neckbeards got excited. The soundtrack did go along with the theme of the movie and all its hormonal rage.
The producer of this movie, Dark Horse Entertainment is based on Dark Horse Comics, with Hellboy being their most popular comic. They made the first Hellboy movie with director Guillermo Del Toro back in 2004 which was rated a much lighter-hearted PG-13 and received much higher ratings across the board with an 81 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It was much more family-friendly and actually cared about giving the slightest bit of entertaining backstory to its viewers. The CGI also looks like it wasn’t made by a monkey on a typewriter. Overall the world was more grounded in reality and all the characters were more developed and relatable.
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army was a fantastic continuation of the first one with more funding, a stronger fan base and committed director to a solid plot. It had the mysticism that everyone wanted minus a lot of blood and guts. If you can get past an actor change, some regarded this movie as the best superhero sequel ever. Unfortunately, a reboot to the story means a third and final installment to the Guillermo trilogy will likely never happen.
Despite having the lowest ratings and budget of all the Hellboy movies, it did its job in making a good plot about demons, witches, and other paranormal oddities. If you ride the comic junkie vibe, go ahead and give this movie a watch, you’ll fit right in with the other edge lords. It was worth the $5 Tuesday movie discount. I would give the 2019 Hellboy movie an official rating of 3/5 hell yeahs.
Liam Glennon • May 1, 2019 at 2:29 PM
This sounds like the kind of movie i’d go to the theater with a group of friends at a time when the it would be empty, and make fun of the movie. I really like your use of the phrases ‘edge lord’ and ‘hell yeah’.
Tigist Ficken • May 1, 2019 at 2:26 PM
I have not seen this movie and I don’t believe I would be interested in this movie. I dislike scary movies but the information you provided was great for those who want to know more about the movie. Great job at writing this article. Enjoyed reading more about the movie.
Ariana Sotelo • May 1, 2019 at 2:25 PM
I love comic books so I might end up liking this movie! The only thing that makes me nervous is that you said if I liked the first two I wouldn’t like the new one and I did like the older two. Nice job letting me know about the gore in the movie!
Naomi Clendenning • May 1, 2019 at 2:19 PM
I don’t think I would enjoy this movie much, but your review was informative enough to allow me to come to that conclusion. I liked the comparison between the old movies and the new movie. This was well done.