Hellboy

MFC Review

Hellboy (2019) returns to the screen with a reboot of the franchise. This new film, directed by Neil Marshall (Lost in Space, 2018), adapts several arcs of the original comic, created by Mike Mignola in 1994.

The movie introduces us to Hellboy, played by David Harbor (Stranger Things, 2016-present), a demon and paranormal investigator who will find himself in trouble with the resurgence of Nimue, played by Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, 2017), an old witch seeking revenge.

Originally, the project began as a sequel to the two previous films, Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), but Guillermo del Toro was not offered to write and direct the new installment of the saga that he built. This made Ron Perlman, who had played Hellboy in the previous films, refuse to return for the role. That’s how, with the addition of Neil Marshall as director and David Harbor for the lead role, the film became an R-rated reboot of the franchise.

Although the film promised to refresh the saga with a more adult take on the character, Hellboy ended up being a disappointment for a lot of people. The eagerness to cover diverse arcs of the comics at the same time caused the script to lose focus, and the desire to go too deep into the universe of the character made it a film that is full of exposition and useless information for the plot.

The R-rating of Hellboy is not used to tell a more mature story, or even one more attached to the narrative of comics, but serves as an excuse for scenes full of unnecessary violence dancing to the rhythm of an unfortunate soundtrack. The performance of David Harbor is one of the upsides of the film, but is often affected by the dialogues and the structure of a script that seems to have gone through too many adjustments during production.

Although there are some quality scenes, the terrible CGI is one of the worst parts of this movie. Hellboy is already labelled as one of the worst films of this year, a perfect opportunity to enjoy the previous films by Guillermo del Toro and wonder what would have happened if we’ve had a third installment of his original saga instead of this unfortunate reboot.