"Hellboy" Movie Review: Nothing But A Mess Summoned Right From The Depths Of Hell!

Hellboy

Director: Neil Marshall
Cast: David Harbour, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Milla Jovovich

During his captivity, Saddam Hussein was forced to repeatedly watch South Park, which seemed to be a funny yet torturous punishment from the US Marines. That was somehow a brilliant idea. If we finally nab any terrorist at one particular moment in the future, let's try doing the same but with another movie. In that case, I will vote for Neil Marshall’s Hellboy!

Neil Marshall’s relaunch of the Hellboy franchise is such a damned mess. Endlessly watching its banalities could qualify as the tenth circle of Dante’s Inferno. If you have to watch it, you will certainly feel like you are being eaten alive by a diseased giant. Luckily I still had my patience, or else I would have walked out of the theatre right after an hour watching this unbearable movie.

Right at the beginning, Hellboy already provided you several meaningless plot lines. They just tended to appear out of nowhere, and none of them can give us a proper explanation. Moreover, do not expect much from Hellboy's action aspect also. There are at least three action scenes that are incredibly undistinguishable, leaving us all confused and angry.

Stranger Thing star David Harbour plays as the new Hellboy. He took over the reins from the fan-favorite Ron Perlman who has played this iconic character twice. Harbour himself said that he did not want to imitate Perlman's extraordinary performance, but it seemed like he was still living in Perlman's shadow in this relaunch. At some point, people could not help but wish that Perlman could be back with this Hellboy version. Perlman was offered to return for the third time, but he decided to stay behind, supporting writer-director Guillermo del Toro instead.

If you are really into monsters and hell, Hellboy would have been much easier to endure. Nevertheless, the movie is still a flop under the hand of the talented director Neil Marshall. It is loud and ugly at the same time, turning out to be a total waste of popular source material. You should be prepared well as you might find it difficult to understand its plot. Harbour as the Hellboy had many vague lines, and the fact that he always yelled his words could not help at all. After this 2-hour-hell-of-ride, I still have no idea of what everyone was talking and fighting about.

Director Neil Marshall is in cloud nine due to his success with the two latest episodes of Game of Thrones, but he was nowhere to be found during the promotional activities of Hellboy. There is something fishy about this matter, one might wonder. Moreover, it seemed like no one wanted to be involved or mentioned in this project. Nothing stings like truth, and Hellboy is a movie that shouldn’t have been released.

It is not that Hellboy is forgettable, but it is not a pleasant movie at all. This movie could have been a chance for the darkest of comic book heroes to rise again, but then it suddenly makes you ask yourself: "Where are we going with this?" In conclusion, Hellboy is an unremitting disaster.