Monday, February 03, 2020

Hellboy (2019)

Hellboy has to confront an ancient witch at the same time having to face various unexpected obstacles and secrets that concern him.

Just 11 years after the last installation of an adventure featuring Hellboy under the guide of Guillermo del Toro, the current Hellboy wants to be a fresh approach for the new generation of fans (a generation that eats Stranger Things for breakfast ...). Trying to follow a recipe that should work currently, the makers are borrowing David Harbor from the aforementioned ST to take over from Ron Perlman, they use Ian McShane as a ... lucky coin (Deadwood, American Gods, Jon Wick, GoT), they task Neil Marshall (a master of horror: The Descent, Dog Soldiers) with the direction and they throw in an overfilled mixture of mythological figures to only half succeed in their goal. The horror elements are well done, the special effects too, the proportion of gore and fantasy versus humor are reversed compared to the film's predecessors, but the story suffers from overloading, probably to overcompensate the main narrative's slowness and lack of engagement.
Better than it's being given credit for in most of the box office ranks, Hellboy tried to do too much.

Director: Neill Marshall
Featuring: David Harbor, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sophie Okonedo, Thomas Haden Church, Daniel Dae Kim

P.S.: Lost fans will be pleased to see Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) amongst the cast.

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