1 week Ago
By Directed byBrian Taylor and based on the 2008 comic story of the samename, follows the titularHellboy (Jack Kesy) as he is thrust into the AppalachianMountains with his B.P.R.
D. colleague Jo (AdelineRudolph). There they discover a coven of witches areterrorising the nearby locals at the behest of asupernatural entity known as The Crooked Man.
I'vealways been a big fan of Hellboy from the Guillermo del Toromovies that came out when I was a kid. The lore and look ofthe character always appealed to me a lot so when I heardthere was going to be a new Hellboy (following a ), I was cautiously excited. And I'mhappy to say I had a lot of fun with this! It's got a muchdifferent feel to the del Toro films and the 2019 film,which felt more big picture and dealing with the end of theworld.
This feels like a random little Hellboy storyin an ongoing comic run. You get thrown right in the middleof an adventure and are drip-fed info. And it's veryself-contained.
By the end, you feel like a sequel would belike another episode in a TV show, with Hellboy fightinganother monster of the week. Kesy as the titular demonis pretty good. He has a nice gruffness to him, aninteresting physicality and stands out from the previousiterations enough.
I really liked how he has these littlesayings and a vocabulary that's fun and playful. It showsheaps of personality for the character and is probablyindicative of the fact Hellboy creator Mike Mignola had ahand in writing the script. Adeline Rudolph as Jo, anoriginal character not from the comics, is a good addition.
Again, you get drip-fed background info about her whichinforms her arc across the movie which was satisfying if atiny bit predictable. Jefferson White plays Tom, oneof the locals who has a history with the Crooked Man. He'san interesting character with an intensity that is playedwell by White and stands out against the othercharacters.
This core trio guides the story and was areally fun group. They feel like a Dungeons and Dragonsparty investigating a mystery in a spooky little town. Tomis the ranger/warlock, Jo is a wizard and Hellboy is abarbarian.
It definitely leans more spooky and scarythan previous Hellboy adaptations so it may not be foreveryone. But I enjoyed the macabre, almost Lovecraftiantake. The jump scares got old for me personally; they'rejust a bit cheap.
On a budget of US$20 million, Ireckon they did pretty well. It feels pulpy and scrappy.Like a raggedy paperback comic that's been loved andworn.
And everything feels tangible. Don't get mewrong, there's definitely some ropey CGI but the locationsand sets feel tactile. Maybe it's just because of a lot ofexposure to greenscreen-heavy films, but the human eyeknows.
It feels like there's lots of texture onscreen. Though it was a bit hard to find a screeningsince it only got a limited release and is already onstreaming overseas, if you get a chance to see it on a bigscreen I recommend you do for sure. Absolutely worth theprice ofadmission.
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