Hellboy by Guillermo del Toro (2004)
Since I finished Mike Mignola’s Hellboy series earlier this year (read my review), now seemed like a fine time to rewatch Guillermo del Toro’s 2004 live-action adaptation. When I first watched Hellboy 20 years ago, I recall being both impressed and underwhelmed — a bizarre sensation that I still experienced during this most recent viewing. It’s obvious that Hellboy was a labor of love for del Toro, who brings his trademark visual panache to the film. There’s so much that’s right here, e.g., Ron Perlman’s casting as the titular anti-hero, the Lovecraftian beasties, and the way del Toro brings Mignola’s complex mythology to life. At the same time, however, Hellboy feels meandering and unfocused, as if del Toro’s love for the source material caused him to cram too much into the film even as he made some curious adjustments, like an underwhelming romantic subplot and several unnecessary secondary characters.
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