Here's my own spoiler-free review of the film, if anyone is interested.
Here's my own spoiler-free review of the film, if anyone is interested.
Check out my blog, Because Everyone Else Has One, for my regularly updated movie reviews.
Check out my blog, Because Everyone Else Has One, for my regularly updated movie reviews.
Just came back from seeing it. As a Hellboy fan my expectations were pretty low. It was pretty average and ruined my 2 favorite characters (Daimio and Lobster) but I still had some fun. What blew my mind were the monster designs. Wow! Incredible! The demons at the end felt like they came out of Guy Davis's mind! Incredible. And any scene with Baba Yaga is so good.
I'm torn. Its an awful Hellboy movie but I loved the monsters. :P
Wrote up my thoughts on another forum after seeing it today:
Saw it today... it's really bad. Not a good movie on its own merits, but as an adaptation it's truly awful. None of the wit and charm and epic nature of the series is here. Hellboy as a character is whiny and unrecognizable, Daimio's tragic transformation is reduced to a power-up, and Lobster Johnson doesn't talk much like The Lobster at all beyond one "Beware my claw". I have a lot more complaints but suffice to say, it was not at all what I wanted out of a Hellboy movie.
spoilers:end of spoilers
I really do not want to watch the sequel teased in the post-credits scene - Kohschei's story deserves far better treatment than this.
@lobster20000 on Instagram
looks like its not even going to place second at the box office to Shazam. Little will beat it out too.
I was weened on low budget VHS horror and late night B-movie monster mash-ups; this was just plain old bloody fun. I can't go back to Del Toro; this just hit so many of the right buttons with me. I missed the Visitor Easter egg; but there was plenty of awesome funnbook related stuff there to chew on for longtime (horn heads?) Hellboy fans.
I was thinking about them adapting the conqueror worm for a potential sequel. I thought it would be an interesting way to reintroduce the Nazi cabal and their goals but through a different lens. The main issue would be introducing Roger cause he's from a seperate story so maybe you would canon-weld him to Von Klempt?
I would challenge the filmmakers to come up with a completely original story and not borrow any plots from the comics.
I liked the idea of some small, self contained spook stories. That way they could come up with their own cinematic lore without treading over the comic narrative.
I think I'm against the flow here.
I went into this glancing at reviews here, elsewhere and a general feeling from people coming back from it of frustration and dislike. I've been reading HB for 13 or so years, read all the comics, love it all. But I didn't go in expecting a lot. I knew there would be beats where it follows the comics and beats where it walked totally away, films do.
I was extremely worried going in about the swearing and gore - HB doesn't have much swearing (if any) in the comics. There is gore of course, HB are after all horror comics, but not on a scale movies often do.
So, first off - the gore and swearing didn't bother me. When you have a dismembered witch in the comics who is put back together, I guess anything goes in a film that adapts that story. It was over the top at times, but I never felt overwhelmed by it. Broom is the opposite of Broom in the comics - I can see that grate on people. He's harder, more mean-spirited - but I have Broom in the comics if I want the original.
I think I approach the film as a version of HB that has it's own life - it's definitely not the comics, I mean can you imagine them trying to convince the general public of MM's vision of Hell where we see HB wandering around? I don't.
I enjoyed that they really dip into the comics for scenes and story points. I decided early on I wasn't going to get frustrated with things that were changed - Daimio and Alice for example. Alice pretty much took over the role of Johann in this. The timeline in the film is completely different to the comics. I'm not fussed.
I picked up the art of book the other day, I'll dip into that now. I also got delivery of the HB Board Game Kickstarter too (ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC job done on the figures for that game!!!) - so all round, this is my HB week.
I am actually happy to see a sequel to this.
However, I am still trying to process the Gruagach with a scouse accent lol. I expected Irish, but that'll do pig
“Don't mess with me, lady. I've been drinking with skeletons.” -- Hellboy.
“Dude, you’re embarrassing me in front of the Wizards.” -- Tony Stark.
I feel the same. I never really expected the comic and movie to resonate tonally and expecting a repeat of the Del Toro movies was asking for disappointment. Hellboy is it's own weird little thing; I think what they showed it had enough of a unique voice to stand apart from the crowded super hero genre in theaters. You really have to take it as it's own thing, separate from the funnybook world.
I think the reviews were a bit harsh and movie def had its issues, but I do not think it was the train wreck the reviews made it out to be. The professor was horrible all around as soon as the narrative began with the cursing I knew they completely missed on the character and it really hurt the movie as so much was focused on Hellboy and Broom relationship. Sadly Hellboy adaptions are probably all done for a long time, maybe we can get lucky and get a BPRD show. I would give the movie a 5/10 rating the flow just felt off like it jumped from scene to scene, but it is bombing hard.
yeah its dropping like a rock now. Its only hope is foreign box office at this point its dead in the states.