I saw it, and thought it was an enjoyable time. I didn't read the comic, and hadn't heard of Hellboy before the movie, but it was entertaining IMO.
Well I just saw it and it wasn't that great. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give it a 4. It reminds me of The Hulk last year. Some parts were fair and other parts not so good. Alot of "holes" in the movie but the main theme held up through the entire movie. It was slow in parts , especially with the girl and John, to bad they just didn't let "Hell Boy" have his way with her, it would have been a little bit better but not a whole lot. Not bad special effects but nothing new. If you want a mantinee or better yet wait until the video comes out.
I liked it better than the Hulk. Hulk was a true disappointment. Doesnt do much in the way of anything but I'm hoping the sequel (there always is one) will be better. The ending is rubbish by the way.
The "monsters" in Hell Boy were a close relative of those that were in Tremors. They looked similar and sounded like those of tremors. Rent this one, although it isn't that good , it isn't really a stinker either. Not as bad as The Hulk, but almost.
The Nazis in Hellboy were similar to the Nazis in Raiders and that whole storyline is right out of Raiders and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The fire girl and other freaks were similar to those in X-men. The top secret undercover agenecy to prevent and act upon activity propogated by supernatural or paranormal phenomena was similar to Men in Black (and the X-files, and perhaps even Ghostbusters). Hellboy was similar to the Hulk and The Thing. Personality-wise, maybe a little Dirty Harry. The hellhound creatures were also similar to some of the aliens in MiB. The scene where he gets swallowed by the big baddy and explodes the grenades inside was right out of MiB. The plot was never fully developed. There were huge holes in the action. Characters were never fully developed, even for a comic book movie. I think this is a fine example of what a so-so director can do with a good idea. This movie had lots of potential. Ron Perlman was excellent. He was the perfect choice for Hellboy. If there were a more compelling story and more interesting supporting characters, this could have been one hell of a movie (no pun intended). I wonder what a Steven Spielberg or Barry Sonnenfeld or Ridley Scott could have done with this story. Perhaps fewer jump cuts from one scene to the next? Perhaps a complete exposition to let us know where we are and where we could possibly go? Perhaps a satisfying ending? (I'm curious if the very last scene with Jeffery Tambor during the credits was shot at a later date and put in because someone watched it and said, "Hey! What happened to that guy? HB and Liz are there kissing and everything's fine, but dude is still stuck in the cave!" and the director and the editor both expostulated a collective "D'oh!") In an odd way, I'm glad this so-so movie is doing well at the box office. I would like to see a sequel done by a better director who can really do something with what seems to be a good story with lots of potential. Or, perhaps, Guillermo del Torro could learn from his mistakes and do himself one better in the next one. There is a way to be derivative without being blatantly so.
Dialogue/Acting was lame. There were a few good camera shots in there, and I thought the special effects were incredible. It was nice to see some of Lovecraft's ideas come to life (the giant space squid, for example). The hounds got boring after awhile, there should have been more variety with the evil creatures, and they were also total velociraptor ripoffs. All in all, it could have been done way better. There was virtually nothing interesting about any of the characters, they were all walking, talking cliches, over and over again. To me, the dudes with the facemasks seemed like ripoffs from the guys in Jedi Knight 2, and the beginning WAS a huge ripoff of Wolfenstein (the architecture of the building, the overall lighting, nazis, as well as the strange similarity between the electric arm thing and the tesla gun).
