Hellboy (2019) - Movie Review

Hellboy gets a 2019 reboot. Not that it needed one. At least not another mediocre Hellboy film. The one starring Ron Perlman was "meh." The reboot may have been worse. Both installations are forgettable. The differences a matter of degrees.

Hellboy (David Harbour) is a conflicted demon-spawn. His surrogate father (Ian McShane) raised him to hunt monsters. Hellboy learns that his father was sent to kill him when a Nazi experiment raised him from the underworld near the end of World War II. He is a bit conflicted. He is a demon with a moral compass. He is also heir to an extinct bloodline, making him uniquely powerful. Faced with a destiny that conflicts with his own worldview, Hellboy must decide how to wield his new-found power. When the Blood Queen (Milla Jovovich) is resurrected, Hellboy must battle his own...well, inner demons, while fighting his most powerful foe.

Andrew Cosby adapted this screenplay from the graphic novels created by Mike Mignola. This is Mignola's first screenplay. It shows. The characters are a bit flat, with dialogue that is hackneyed, at best. The film is over-the-top, which can be okay. But this film doesn't make much sense at times. It feels like a cobbled together mess with a bit of heavy metal action attempting to hold things together. As much as I wanted to like this film, I couldn't get into it. I was watching it, not engaged with it. I felt completely disconnected. The characters were particularly bad. Not one mattered to me. It was a splatter-fest with little coherence.

It is hard to discuss the acting in a film that lacks substance. You can't always blame the actors for flat characters. I like Ian McShane as well as Milla Jovovich. This film didn't do much to propel their careers. Harbour was an interesting choice as Hellboy. He looked good in the role. More edgy than Perlman. But I just didn't enjoy it. I don't think it was Harbour. I think it was the writing. So I am not going to take points away from the actors. They did their best with what they had to work with.

Hellboy is rated R. The rating is well deserved. The film earned the rating because of the gore factor. There is plenty of blood and guts in this film. Graphic blood and guts. The film depicts bodies being decapitated or ripped apart with sinewy detail. The film includes strong language and alcohol consumption. This is definitely the type of film that will induce nightmares in children. I would advise against younger children watching this film. Run time is an even two hours.

Hellboy is, simply, forgettable. It was a graphically violent film that lacked substance. The production was choppy, the writing was frenetic, the characters flat. The casting was okay, but the actors had little to work with. The film relied on special effects and gore to tie together a weak story that lacked cohesion. I was bored watching this film, in spite of the action sequences. It was tedious. 4/10.

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