Movie Reviews

This might seem like a strange comparison, but it's one that kept popping out at me all through the film: Hellboy is a lot like a longer, higher-budgeted version of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode. The core group of good-guys spends their time reluctantly fighting Evil Dark Forces (generally in the form of bizarre monsters and super-villains) by researching them and then kicking their butts in physical combat. When they're not 'working', a lot of them are slightly awkward social misfits -- but they're always quick to spout off a sarcastic one-liner whenever appropriate.

That's not really a bad thing I guess. I mean, Buffy has such a large fan base because it's a really good TV show. The problem is that sometimes a good TV show doesn't translate into a good movie. My biggest problem with Hellboy was the story wasn't very interesting. There's some stuff at the beginning involving Nazis and Rasputin (yeah, that Rasputin) opening some kind of portal to hell, but they don't really play much of an important role; it might as well have just been a regular old mad scientist.

I can't deny the appeal of some of the characters though, especially Hellboy himself (played by Ron Perlman). He is pretty cool, and I'd love to see more of him (hopefully involved in a more interesting plot). Hellboy's makeup is great, making him appear totally weird, yet allowing Perlman's expressiveness to shine through.

Hopefully the sequel (which is in production) will be better.