The film opens with a prologue of how King Arthur defeats the evil witch Nimue AKA The Blood Queen (Mila Jovovich) by hacking her into bits, placing the pieces in boxes and scattering them across Britain. You know that this is not your typical prologue, with the dropping of F-bombs here and there. You can tell the film is already trying to be edgy, unfortunately it tries too hard for the rest of the movie.
Intended as an R18 reboot of the 2004 “Hellboy” film series (directed by none other than Guillermo del Toro, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which came out in 20018 was the sequel). This time the David Harbour led and Neil Marshall directed 2019 version brings in the action, gore and humor amidst an overwhelming plot, with so many things going on, and origin stories upon origin stories being told. A lot of times, the movie felt like a sequel and the audiences did not get to see the first one.
When we first see Hellboy, he is in Tijuana to search for his friend and associate from work, Ruiz. Now, I will have to admit that I am not really familiar with Mike Mignola’s comics and only saw bits and pieces of the del Toro Hellboy films (shame, shame) so I don’t exactly know what to expect. Turns out, He works for the B.P.R.D or the Bureau for Paranormal Research & Defense and is even identified as the world’s greatest Paranormal Investigator. Which is why he carries a rosary and different objects to battle the occult in pockets. This is not really explained in the film.
See, I would have rather this first film tackle on a simpler plot, a straightforward paranormal assignment that did not need globetrotting and dimension traveling nor a look into the Apocalypse and the role that Hellboy would play in it but more on that later.
So, Hellboy is in Tijuana to search for his friend who was on assignment and investigating vampires. He returns to the B.P.R.D empty handed and with an ominous prophecy.
Hellboy hasn’t even warmed his seat yet when he is whisked away to Britain to help the Osiris club battle giants, it is here where the club’s seer Lady Hatton tells of Hellboy’s origins of how he was summoned from Hell by the Nazis in World War II with the help of Rasputin (yes, see overwhelming) although his origin story does fall on the same lines, the way it was presented was just a little tad bit much in one quick flashback.
Side note. Hellboy is rescued by the Allies and is raised by Trevor Bruttenholm (Ian McShane).
One scene in particular that I enjoyed was Hellboy taking on three giants as they zigzag across the English countryside, it was created in such an immersive way that you feel as though you are playing a game (think “God of War”). And well, after that things just get weird and fast.
While this is all happening, Baba Yaga, tells Gruagach, a demon pig about Nimue’s scattered body and how by putting her back together (like Humpty Dumpty) will bring back Nimue who will be able to destroy Hellboy. Turns out, Gruagach and Baba Yaga have a score to settle with Hellboy.
The CGI and prosthetics were impressive, creating monsters that would give you nightmares. Baba Yaga is the stuff of nightmares. Although, I was not a fan of how the mediums would “project the spirits” -it was really grotesque.
With Nimue becoming an imminent threat, Hellboy is teamed up with an M11 agent Ben Damio (Daniel Dae Kim) -who narrates his own origin story. They are joined by Alice Monaghan (Sasha Lane) who as a baby was rescued by Hellboy and grew up to become a medium. Hellboy tells her story (see, with all these stories). From there, they take on Nimue and encounter some reference to King Arthur (again) and discover someone’s parentage and take a peep into the Apocalypse.
One of the movies (many) conflicts is Hellboy’s role in the Apocalypse and how he deals with it. The Audience does not really get to feel his humanity, which from what I read is, what is really unique about his character. That despite what he is and how people see him, he really is just a nice guy despite his circumstances. In the film, we get to see what the Apocalypse would be like and this is one of my biggest issues about the movie, its too violent for an R13 rating, well at least in my country, that’s how it was rated. Huge demons come out from Hell and it is just a gore fest, and while gore hounds may appreciate it. I thought it was Mortal Kombat and Attack On Titan times ten. Now something that I learned from my Uncle, (Palanca Award Winner – David Hontiveros) is that, you can take away that scene and it does not do anything for the story at all. Remove that very violent scene and the movie can still stand on its own. If you went to see the violence and gore, well you won’t be disappointed. For me, I kind of like my violence with plot and purpose.
On top of that, the dialogue was a bit off and did not seem natural, as if there was no pause, making its delivery a bit cringey.
David Harbour was a delight as Hellboy, Although the film does not really give you room to sympathize with the character. If his co-stars were off beat, Harbour was right on cue. It would have been better if the story gave him more to work with and tackled a less complex plot. It felt as though the film wanted to include as much of the comics as they could.
5/10 -If you’re looking for an action packed film with monsters, a hint of comedy and a bunch of gore and if you don’t mind a convoluted plot then 2019’s Hellboy is for you.