Hellboy Review

Hellboy
Director: Neil Marshall
Cast Headliners: David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim, misc
Original Release Date: April 12th, 2019

We thought Hellboy was gone. After Guillermo Del Toro's incredible, unique special first two films signs of a third film seemed to fade to nothing. The news of a reboot with new cast, directors, and a hard R, comic accurate darkness brutal take was a bit of a dream. However there was always going to be a high bar to meet. Sadly while this Hellboy film, simply called that, does not live up to its predecessors it has some slight fun buried deep within.
An attempted epic lore exposition of an opening explains how the Blood Queen witch Nimue(Milla Jovovich) and her monstrous armies were defeated long ago by the forces of King Arthur, Merlin, and mankind. She's been sealed away for thousands of years but like all ancient things in the Hellboy universe this may not last. These stylistic colors are broken up by the swears and sarcasm of a voiceover by the professor Bruttenholm(Ian McShane). This snarky attitude is apparent strongly through and may paint one's experience with it one way or another.
In the present day Bruttenholm leads Hellboy(David Harbour) his demonic, but kindly good, son on various missions throughout the world. It's almost a bit too much for a first film but Hellboy finds himself on various creepy misadventures facing such creepy foes as vampire, giants, Baba Yaga(Emma Tate), enemy human agents, and the pig “changeling” demon Gruagach(Stephen Graham) as well as more. He soon finds himself joining up with the sidekick equivalents of this timeline(as Del Toro's are not present) of telepath Alice Monaghan(Sasha Lane) and were-panther Ben Daimio(Daniel Dae Kim). Alot of cheese, blood, swears, sassy remarks, and action happen on the way...that's about it.
The least of the flaws of the film is actually probably Harbour himself. While his “red” has a high bar to meet with Ron Perlman before him he gives it his best. His makeup/costume has a bit more of a cheese to it and some muffling on the voice but his grimace, attitude, and comebacks are as one would want with some effectiveness in combat too.   He also makes a great pair with McShane's Bruttenholm being an even more strained father / son relationship than has been previously seen. These two are enjoyable in any scene together or seperate.
Everyone else... not so much. Monaghan's Alice has some of her own quips and fierceness but with tons of the meh-kind-of hammy schlock that carries through most of this film. Dae Kim's Ben goes for generic tough guy with a dark secret which is only effective when that dark secret gets to fight in the action. However by the very end things become more of a cohesive crew for a sequel we may never get (With an extremely silly and frustrating cliffhanger).
The villainous front is perhaps even worse. Jovovich's Nimue is as generic as generic sorceress can be with the exception of some powerful spells and menace but bores otherwise. Luckily Baba Yaga is far more creepier but a bit part that, like many things, is too grossly sudden and fast. One possible exception is Graham's boar beast who, with a thick Scottish brogue, has some personality and swagger although it's nothing that hasn't been seen before.
What perhaps it gets best (while of course souring with cheesy metal / pop music whether Benjamin Wallfisch's score or misc others.... Del Toro didn't take that approach for a reason) is the bloody, dark action. Director Neil Marshall makes action scenes pop with visceral amounts of gore , blood, and clanging blades and fists. Some very cheesy CGI can be apparent however usually what's going on is alright enough to hide that. There's also some incredibly spooky demon and monster designs that add to that hellish gore...particularly in visions and a climatic montage. However like many things these are only touched upon or not addressed otherwise. Attempted but not far enough.
As a whole this is a movie riddled with cheesy hollow supporting characters, villians, set-pieces, script, and filmcraft. However if one is seeking more of the Hellboy guy himself and the world he lives in it scratches that itch even if failing to be as great as what came before. That doesn't mean it doesn't have some silly creature-hunting fun but one must keep what it is in mind. 6.6 out of 10