Release Date: April 2, 2004
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and frightening images
Written and Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, John Hurt, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Doug Jones, Rupert Evans, Biddy Hodson, David Hyde Pierce (voice)

Plot:
When a Nazi mystical experiment goes awry in 1944, the target of a wizard's spell, the child of Satan, Hellboy, is wrenched from his home, and adopted by the U.S. agents who intercept his arrival. Raised as a force of good, Hellboy grows up to be a full-fledged demon in the form of a man, complete with fierce red skin, a tail, a giant armored glove, and two large circles where his horns should be (if they ever grow back, Hellboy is quick to break them off). Now, the adult Hellboy, an investigator of the paranormal, is sent on a mission that brings him back in touch with the evil genius that started it all... that Nazi wizard (and just who is *he* anyway?). Accompanying him along the way are other agents, including Liz, a pyrokinetic woman Hellboy has feelings for, and Abe Sapien, a mysterious amphibian hominid...

Review:
The first of this years set of superhero films is quite an odd one. His name is Hellboy. Hellboy is not as popular a superhero as Batman, Spiderman, Superman, X-Men, Hulk, but just like for every superhero, Hellboy has his set of fanatics. Hellboy plays it smart by being released two weeks before The Punisher which many people seem to be thinking twice about.

Hellboy is an extremely odd and different character for that matter. For one thing Hellboy is a superhero that was born during World War II. He is completely red and has horns on each side of his forehead like a devil would have. With those type of descriptions one would think that Hellboy is an extremely evil and menacing looking character. Infact, that is quite the opposite because Hellboy is a comedic and innocent looking superhero.

Like any regular superhero, Hellboy fights the evil in the world. The difference with his character is the fact that there aren't exactly any villains. His enemies are creatures of different sorts and monster that are walking the area. To add to that, the love interest storyline is present in the film as well when Hellboy meets with Liz Sherman who is played by Selma Blair. So this film can be considered just like any other superhero film.

Not exactly though, as a whole Hellboy is nice to the eyes and features interesting action sequences, but what separates Hellboy from other superheroes is the fact for him to be extremely comedic. This can be an advantage to the superhero if the comedy impacts the audience. The problem with that is it doesn't and the lines given to Ron Perlman falls flat, sometimes clever, but it indeed falls flat.

Ron Perlman plays the role of Hellboy and from quick glances of comic books in Hellboy, he seems to look and fit the character well. He looks like the leader in the film, but doesn't act like it. I suppose that's how Hellboy works though, so there is nothing to blame there. However, what there is to blame is the fact of a dull screenplay that features lackluster dialogue.

Director Guillermo Del Toro is half to blame for the disappoints in the film because he wrote the screenplay and directed it. It strikes as odd, but he needed more time in developing a screenplay, but his direction is right on the money. We the audience intend to see Hellboy in more of a mission. Instead, the film has Hellboy sitting around and not valuing himself as a strong contender. He acts foolish which is acceptable because of his character, but it doesn't advance the process while doing so and instead its turning the audience away a bit from entertainment.

The screenplay is rather disappointing but you can't say negative things about the direction in the film. Guillermo who directed Blade 2 brings Hellboy to life with his vision. Now, while many enjoyed Blade 2 I felt the film was a disappointment, but the direction was quite incredible actually. Once again, Guillermo doesn't disappoint with a rather strong direction in Hellboy. He keeps the visuals very pleasant to the eye while the massacre in the city occurs.

Besides the beautiful look and interesting character there is not much that Hellboy offers. One of Hellboy's biggest problems is the constant joking from Hellboy himself. The jokes were terribly delivered and unfunny and that hurts the film. When the comedy in a film doesn't open your mouth and doesn't have you slapping your thigh then that humor ends up as stupidity rather than hilarious.

There is fun to have with Hellboy, but it ultimately falls short because its lack of a solid screenplay. For the many reasons I have discussed, Hellboy is ultimately a disappoint and doesn't match up to likes of other superhero films in the past years. With that said, the film has many signs of a good movie, but it doesn't earn a recommendation. Bottom line is Hellboy is most likely for Hellboy fans only.