Hellboy (film)

Hellboy is a 2004 supernatural action-thriller film directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film is based on the Dark Horse Comics work Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola. It was produced by Revolution Studios for Columbia Pictures.

Released in 2004, it grossed $60 million at the U.S. box office, and $100 million worldwide^[1] and was favorably received by critics. A sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, was released on July 11 2008.^[2]

Plot

In 1944, the German Nazis work with Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin on an isolated island off the coast of Scotland to build a dimensional portal. They intend to use it, with Rasputin's help, to awaken the Ogdru Jahad (the Seven Gods of Chaos), monstrous entities that have been imprisoned and asleep since an undisclosed time, to destroy their enemies. But Rasputin secretly intends to use the entities to bring about the destruction of the entire Earth. He is aided by his servant and lover, Ilsa von Haupstein, to whom he has granted eternal life, and Nazi Lieutenant Colonel (Obersturmbannführer) Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, a notorious killer, Hitler's chief assassin and leader of the Thule Society. The United States sends a small Army team to destroy the portal, guided by a young doctor, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, who is well-versed in terms of magic and sorcery. In the ensuing battle, the German scientists and soldiers are killed and the portal is destroyed, killing Rasputin. Ilsa and Kroenen escape capture. As the Army team surveys the ruins for anything that may have sneaked into their dimension through the portal, they discover a bright red infant demon with a right hand seemingly made from stone. Bruttenholm coaxes it into his arms with a Baby Ruth candy bar. They name the little demon "Hellboy."

Sixty years later, a young FBI agent named John Myers is transferred to the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense, run by Professor Bruttenholm. He is introduced to Hellboy, now an adult. Also employed with the BPRD is a fish-like person named Abe Sapien who has advanced psychic abilities, and Liz Sherman, a pyrokinetic who has yet to learn to control her firestarting abilities. Liz has recently left the bureau (for the thirteenth time) and checked herself into a mental hospital in an effort to protect others from her talent. Despite regular visits and coaxing from Hellboy, who appears infatuated with her, she is determined not to return.

Meanwhile, Kroenen and Ilsa resurrect Rasputin. Rasputin and his companions travel to New York and the Machen Library of Paranormal Artifacts. There, they open a display and, through magic, release a demon known as Sammael, a hell-hound with a distinct Lovecraftian appearance. Rasputin imbues Sammael with the power to reincarnate and split his essence, causing two of the creature's "eggs" to hatch and mature in seconds each time one dies. Rasputin then visits Liz as she sleeps, reactivating her powers and causing the near-total destruction of the hospital. Afterwards, Myers talks to her, and convinces her to return to the bureau, at least for the short term.

The multiplying Sammael quickly becomes a major problem, as Hellboy repeatedly kills it, creating dozens. Abe is injured during an attempt to retrieve some of their eggs, and Kroenen kills one of the FBI agents sent with Hellboy, and Sammael kills the other 2 agents. Kroenen, whose ancient body is now run by mechanisms, then shuts himself down and pretends to be defeated just before Hellboy arrives. Kroenen's 'corpse' is brought to the bureau for examination. FBI Director Tom Manning is angered by Hellboy's recklessness, which he feels is indirectly responsible for his agents' deaths. Hellboy gets mad and threatens Manning just as Liz returns, almost causing her to leave again just as quickly. Myers, in an effort to help her overcome her difficulties with Hellboy, takes her out for coffee and to talk. Hellboy, jealous, covertly follows them.

While they are away, Rasputin appears at the bureau, reanimating Kroenen before they confront Professor Bruttenholm. Out of twisted respect for Bruttenholm's protection and nurturing of Hellboy, Rasputin promises him a quick death, but first offers him a vision of the future, showing Hellboy is the agent that has destroyed the world. Rejecting Rasputin's vision of Hellboy's destiny, Bruttenholm is stabbed in the neck and, clutching a rosary, collapses and dies.

Manning takes over the BPRD and, with the help of Hellboy and the others, manages to find Rasputin's physical body located in a mausoleum in an old cemetery outside Moscow, Russia. An enraged Hellboy, with Manning's help, destroys Kroenen once and for all, to avenge the death of his "father", Professor Bruttenholm. Telling Manning to stay back, Hellboy reunites with Liz and Myers at Sammael's nest to defend them, but the hellhounds overwhelm him. In an effort to help, Liz, with some encouragement from Myers, ignores the fear that has prevented her from unleashing her full potential and uses her pyrokinetic powers to encase herself in blue fire, which she uses to incinerate the army of Sammaels and all the eggs. Unfortunately, this effect renders Hellboy, Liz, and Myers unconscious and they are captured by Rasputin.

To force Hellboy to release the Ogdru Jahad, Rasputin sucks Liz's soul out of her body, telling Hellboy that Liz will come back to life only if he complies. Hellboy, not wanting to lose Liz, awakens his true power as Anung un Rama (the Beast of the Apocalypse), causing his horns to regrow. He nearly releases the Ogdru Jahad, but the injured Myers reminds him of who he is and that he has the right to choose his own path. He snaps off his horns, returning to his former self and resealing the Ogdru Jahad. As Rasputin screams his frustration and disappointment at Hellboy, Hellboy stabs him in the heart with one of his broken horns.

However, Rasputin has one last trick up his sleeve: he is possessed by a demon from the Ogdru Jahad. The tentacled Behemoth bursts out of Rasputin's body, grows to immense size, and destroys Rasputin and Ilsa. Hellboy grabs a stone sword from a nearby statue and attacks the Behemoth's tentacles, then allows himself to be swallowed while detonating a belt of live hand grenades. The subsequent explosion tears the Behemoth apart from inside, killing it. Liz's vital signs are gone when Hellboy returns from the fight, but he whispers into her ear, and suddenly her life is restored. When she asks how her soul was returned, Hellboy replies that he simply told the creatures from the other side the cost of taking her: "Hey, you on the other side. Let her go. Because for her I'll cross over, and then you'll be sorry." She and Hellboy kiss as she surrounds them in blue flame, and the narrator, Myers, says that what truly makes a man is "Not how he starts things, but how he decides to end them."

Finally, the film ends with a humorous mid-credits scene, where a forgotten and frightened Manning is lost several levels down in the dank and dim halls of the mausoleum, listening to (maybe) the rustle of footsteps, and looking to see if there's anyone/anything around.

Cast

Production

Development

Guillermo del Toro considered creating this film as a dream project for many years with casting Ron Perlman as the lead role, but could never secure a budget or studio approval. After the massive success of Blade II (2002), del Toro was offered to direct Blade: Trinity (2004) or a film adaptation of Hellboy. Though he briefly considered trying to fit both films into his schedule, he chose Hellboy.

Release

Hellboy had its world premiere at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, California on March 30, 2004.^[3] The film opened in wide release on April 2, 2004 where it grossed USD $23.1 million in 3,028 theaters on its opening weekend. It went on to make $59.6 million in North America and $39.6 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $99.3 million, well above its $66 million budget.^[4]

Critical reception

The film was well received by most critics with an average review score of 80% based on 186 reviews, which earned it a "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[5] It also has a 72 metascore on Metacritic. Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" rating and wrote, "Pop pretensions can't undo a basic contradiction: that our hero is fighting metaphysical evil with pure, meaty brawn. Hellboy is engaging, but it's got a lot more boy in it than hell".^[6] In his review for the New York Times, Elvis Mitchell wrote, "Mr. del Toro avidly lavishes this texture on Hellboy . . . giving it a kiss of distinction. It's an elegant haunted house of a picture with dread and yearning part of the eeriness".^[7] Roger Ebert gave the film three and half stars out of four and praised Ron Perlman's performance: "And in Ron Perlman, it has found an actor who is not just playing a superhero, but enjoying it . . . he chomps his cigar, twitches his tail and battles his demons with something approaching glee. You can see an actor in the process of making an impossible character really work".^[8] However, USA Today wrote, "Hellboy's special effects don't offer much of anything new, its far-fetched plot leaves a bit to be desired, and there is plenty that flat-out doesn't make sense. Those unfamiliar with the comic book may leave the theater bedeviled and scratching their heads".^[9] The film also received good reviews in the British press - for example, Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian commented amusedly on the unhistoricity of the Nazis invading Britain in the initial sequence but overall called the film "bizarre and loopy, romantic and dynamic".^[10]

Hellboy was also ranked number 13 out of 94 in Rotten Tomatoes' "Comix Worst to Best" countdown (where 1 was best and 94 was worst).^[11]

Awards

Hellboy was nominated for four Saturn Awards in 2005, including Best Fantasy Film, Best Special Edition DVD Release, and Best Make-Up, which it won.^[12] Empire magazine ranked Hellboy 11th in their "The 20th Greatest Comic Book Movies" list.^[13]

DVD

Hellboy was released on DVD in a two-disc special edition DVD on July 27, 2004, less than 16 weeks after it opened in theaters. Included, were video introductions by Del Toro and Selma Blair, plus a feature that allowed viewers to click during selected parts of the movie to comics drawn by Mike Mignola. Other bonus features include audio commentaries by Del Toro, Blair, Mignola, Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Tambor and Rupert Evans, as well as visits to the "Right Hand of Doom" set and a two-hour documentary.^[14] This DVD topped the Nielsen VideoScan's First Alert DVD sales chart and the Video Store magazine's list of top rentals for the week ending August 1, 2004, registering a total of more than a half-million units in sales.^[15]

A three-disc unrated director's cut DVD set was released on October 19, 2004. In addition to all of the features of the original two-disc set, with the exception of a new director's commentary replacing the old one, new features included Del Toro introducing 20 minutes of additional and extended scenes, a composer commentary with isolated score replacing the cast commentary, a Cast Video Commentary with Perlman, Blair, Tambor and Rupert Evans, multiple production workshop featurettes, a Comic Con 2002 Panel Discussion with Del Toro, Perlman and Mignola, and a A Quick Guide to Understanding Comics with Scott McCloud. ^[16]

Two versions of High Definition Blu-ray Discs were releases: The Directors cut and the Theatrical Release cut.

References

External links

• Hellboy at the Internet Movie Database
• Hellboy at Allmovie
• Hellboy at Rotten Tomatoes
• Hellboy at Metacritic

• Hellboy at Box Office Mojo
• Hellboy film official site
• Hellboy Movies hype at Superhero Hype!
• Hellboy official site
• The Doug Jones Experience Hellboy film page
• Hellboy at FLAREgamer
• Detailed Comparison between Theatrical release (PG-13) and Director's Cut

Trailers

• First Trailer
• Second trailer