Hellboy

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In this reboot of the Hellboy franchise, the titular protagonist (played by David Harbour) battles against the villainous witch Nimue (played by Milla Jovovich) when she is resurrected and intends to plunge the world in darkness. I was actually pulling for this movie (even knowing that it meant that Hellboy III wasn’t likely to happen). This feels like a movie that really doesn’t know what it wants to be, and is constantly clashing with itself. The film seems to jump from action to horror to comedy without so much as a second thought. The problem is the constant tone jumping doesn’t work nearly as well as it should. Storylines feel like they are constantly introduced, only to be dropped. My guess is that they were being saved for the sequel that’s not going to happen. The visual effects are pretty hit and miss. The computer generated effects are pretty bad. But, the film’s practical effects are legitimately good, especially when it comes to the film’s creature makeup effects. Props should also go to the acting. David Harbour as Hellboy actually feels like he’s kind of the perfect choice to replace Ron Perlman. I also want to give some props to Sasha Lane as the character Alice. To my knowledge, this character is not from the comics, but I kind of liked her. And yet, for all of this movie’s problems, I still kind of dug it. Don’t get me wrong, this movie is clearly a mess. I apologize if it seems like my review for this film seems like it’s all over the place. But, that’s kind of the best way to sum up 2019’s Hellboy in a nutshell: all over the place. It’s strange because I did enjoy the film for what it was, and yet I don’t think I can bring myself to recommend this film.

6 / 10