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I was first
alerted to this movie by a work colleague back in 2004. He had taken
his young son to see it and had actually enjoyed it. I thought the
entire concept of a movie with the name "Hellboy" was absurd! It might
as well have been called "Batgirl". It seemed stupid and I couldn't
imagine anything with such a dumb name being worth watching. Straight
to video! However, I was intrigued by my colleague's description
because he was a gentleman I admire greatly and I know him to be a
serious guy who wouldn't be impressed by any nonsense. If it was crap,
he would have said so.
Skip forward to
the DVD release a year later sees me in Central Asia. I am standing in
a TV store whilst my wife gets a mobile phone card. The TV's in the
store are playing the end of Hellboy over and over - in Russian! It
was the first time I had seen any of it. I was more intrigued. A few
weeks later, back at home, it finally arrived on Cable. So I finally
made myself watch this movie.
What a
revelation. What entertainment. I watched it again and again until I
could stand it no more. My good wife buys me the DVD for Christmas to
put me out of my misery. Even now it gets regular reruns on Cable and,
if there is nothing else on, I will tune in.
So what is so
great about this film? Who knows? It works a kind of magic on the
audience. It completely creates the universe of the FBI's Center for
Paranormal Research and Defence in a very convincing fashion. You are
drawn in by the characters of Myers (Rupert Evans) and Liz (Selma
Blair). Then there is Ron Perlman who I last remember as the space
captain in one of the many Aliens movies. This role was made for him.
He has the stature to pull it off. To think the studio wanted Vin
Diesel to play Hellboy! Even side characters just fit right in: Doug
Jones (Men in Black II) plays a painfully thin Abe Sapien,
Jeffrey Tamboor (There's Something About Mary) as Tom Manning
and Corey Johnson (The Mummy, Saving Private Ryan) as Agent
Clay.
John Hurt is
certainly the star we have come to expect and lends the movie all the
gravitas in his repertoire. Maybe you should always watch any movie
that has John Hurt and Ron Perlman in it! A winning combination.
What keeps you
coming back to this story again and again are all those very human
moments that pass between characters who, probably, aren't quite
human. There is a moment when Professor Broom appears before Hellboy
at the Library. Hellboy whisks his cigar behind his back like a
naughty schoolboy. Watch and be damned! |
