Review: 'Hellboy' Sparked By Originality, Humor

'Hellboy' (PG-13)

As a big fan of big screen comic book adaptations, few times have I gone into any of them steeped in the material that made the characters icons to begin with. In fact, I barely even knew of such stalwarts as the "X-Men" and "Daredevil" as comic books -- yet came out of each film adaptation as a faithful devotee of the characters with a burning desire to find out more about them.

Needless to say, I've been sparked once again, and the character appropriately fanning those flames is "Hellboy," a fascinating creation of Darkhorse Comics Mike Mignola.

Adapted for the screen and directed by Guillermo del Toro ("Mimic," "Blade 2"), the film starts in WWII, where through a Nazi occultist ritual a red-skinned, stone-fisted baby demon is brought to earth by Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden) to be a harbinger of the Apocalypse.

The Allied Forces, however, thwart Rasputin's evil plans and rescue the demon, who they dub "Hellboy." Raised as a son by Professor Broom (John Hurt) over the next 60 years, the adult Hellboy's (Ron Perlman) paranormal powers are developed as a secret weapon of the United States government's Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense to battle evil forces in the world.

Leading an urban legendary Bigfoot-like existence (the way tongue-in-cheek way del Toro unfolds the "legend" is one of the most entertaining sequences of the film), Hellboy becomes much more visible when Rasputin resurfaces in the present day to unleash the nasty creature Sammael as part of a plan to make the demon fulfill his destiny. Further complicating matters is Kroenen, a masked sword-wielding Nazi assassin who appears virtually unstoppable.

Despite an insistence to work alone, Hellboy has some allies in his battle: the mind-reading, fish-like "mer-man" Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and John Meyers (Rupert Evans) -- a bright-up-and-coming FBI agent who's trying to convince the pyro-kinetic Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) to return to BPRD after a self-imposed exile from the organization.

Thanks to its clever premise, "Hellboy" comes screaming out of the gate, well, like hellfire. After a spectacular opening sequence that recalls the thrilling climax of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," Del Toro's proceeds to lighten the tone with some inspired bits of comedy.

In a brilliant performance, Perlman totally gets what del Toro is trying to accomplish with the tone of the movie. Often chomping on a cigar, Perlman brings Hellboy to life with a fine dose of self-deprecating humor. Whether he's sanding down the horns on his head, fawning over his pet cats or simply enjoying cookies and milk, he's an absolute scream to watch. He also shows a nice bit of sensitivity in the film's romantic sub-plot.

While "Hellboy" originality going for it, it's not a perfect movie. Specifically, it's too heavy on the crash-boom-bang element, which makes the middle action sequences in the film -- where Hellboy battles Sammael -- much more conventional by superhero movie standards. That's not to say the film isn't spectacular from a visual standpoint, as the computer-generated effects and make-up effects are as good as it gets.

In the end, "Hellboy," is, for the lack of better words, one hell of a movie.