HELLBOY

It is apparent from the films marketing material that ‘Hellboy’s' super-violent edge was its main selling point; a common complaint of del Toro’s films was their sanitised violence geared towards bringing in bigger audiences. The violence is here in spades - blood flows as freely as the alcohol through Hellboy’s veins. People and otherworldly creatures alike are treated like rag dolls, limbs and heads detaching from bodies as if they’re Christmas crackers made from jelly. It also helps that director Neil Marshall (the ‘Descent’ series) has a background in horror, being in tune with how to make the incredible violence at hand as horrific as possible. However, the light-hearted tone the film wants to take is muted completely by the multitudes of serious violence. From the tone of the trailers - and hell, the film itself - it’s shocking to see a film so devoid of any bloodthirsty glee. The tone of the film and its violence are so mismatched, and it is incredibly disappointing to see a film fail so spectacularly at the one thing it obviously prides itself on.

What shocks me is just how joyless the entire project feels. It wants to be a fun romp for young adults but the jokes are half baked, the music choices feel uninspired, the supporting cast feels wooden. There is the feeling that the entire cast and crew are unwilling employees covering a shift. There is no passion, except maybe from the visual effects team who try their best, but with the film's obviously smaller budget (no such figure could be found at the time of writing, possibly to protect the studio’s losses when this bombs at the box office) ends up producing creatures and backdrops one would expect from a video game cutscene.

The film’s saving grace is its final five minutes, and its mid-credit scene; one is a gleeful, pretty well shot and actually funny fight scene, the other a small skit justifying Thomas Haden Church’s fleeting but criminally underutilised presence in the film. Unfortunately, by this point it's too little, too late. The choice to also tease the audience with the return of a fan favourite character in an obviously planned sequel (that, if this film performs as deserved, will never happen) feels criminal. Both scenes taunt the audience with the existence of a better film, the film that this new ‘Hellboy’ should have been for its entire run time.

While in no way perfect films, the reason myself and others keep going back to del Toro’s ‘Hellboy’ series is there is a level of sweetness to be found beneath their cheese. This new ‘Hellboy’ adds literally nothing new to the character’s cinematic canon. The film’s existence feels barely justified beyond trying to make money and provide audiences with something - anything - to put a Band-Aid over the news that del Toro’s 'Hellboy III' was never going to happen. The character should have just been sent back to hell instead.