Hellboy (2019) Review (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Story

• I’m upset, because this movie had a lot of potential.
• It had themes it wanted to explore, and I could tell that some effort was made in order to explore them considering how Hellboy was used to explore them, but its only done at a surface level because it put too much focus on the spectacle.
• I’ve read The Wild Hunt. This story is awesome. It did such a great job at exploring Hellboy’s struggle between his two natures, King Arthur shit aside which was cool in its own right. It was such a great blueprint for this movie, and I’m angry that it didn’t take advantage of it. 

Characters

• David Harbour made a convincing Hellboy, though there really wasn’t any doubt in my mind that he wouldn’t. He got the look and the attitude down, and he was fun to watch on camera
• Alice was my favorite character, and I wish there was more of her. Her portrayal was done in a way that reminded me of the Rock in the WWE; her presence often caused more interest in other characters that interacted with her
• Ben was one of those character. I didn’t necessarily start to care about him until Alice forced me to care about him. They also had some pretty good chemistry in a scene where it’s just the two of them; didn’t feel forced at all

Likes

• The creature design was pretty impressive, specifically the makeup and prosthetics
• Hellboy looked good, the giants looked good, Baba Yaga, Jesus Christ, Baba Yaga

Dislikes

• I hated the editing. It was so choppy 80% of the time and it never gave me a chance to calm down. The only time it was somewhat consistent and the “style” was warranted was in action scenes. Considering that the Neil Marshall is more known for the more battle-centric episodes of Game of Thrones he directed, that tells me A LOT
• Also, the spectacle I was referring to earlier was the movies use of its R rating. Any portion of the movie it had to show us unnecessary gore, it did. Nothing was left to the imagination, and its overall use of it was a hindrance to the story as opposed to actually helping it.
• Same could be said for the swearing, but not as much as the gore. Honestly, the swearing between the characters felt more organic, because depending on who spoke, it happened naturally. I would’ve preferred a ratio closer to 70/30 for swearing and gore respectively, personally

Overall

• Hellboy had the potential to be a very good movie considering the arcs that it used for its inspiration
• Even the actors and the characters they portrayed factored in to there being a decent amount of enjoyment
• But at the end of the day, despite what the cast brought to the table, the story’s potential suffered from putting too much focus on violence and gore instead of trying to find a balance between savagery and substance
• If you’re a fan of the violence and gore the reboot is offering, then you’ll probably enjoy this more than I did
• For everyone else: Catch a matinee if you just need to go to the movies and there’s nothing else to watch if you have the ability to turn your brain off
• I am slowly yet surely accepting the fact that I am NOT one of those people with said ability, and I officially hate everyone who can.