DRACOS'S BLOG
Dracos Reveiws: Hellboy
Sunday, April 4, 2004 5:15 PM
I went and saw Hellboy with a friend yesterday and I decided to tell you folks about it since it's just another excuse to blog.The movie is, in short, extremely extremely cool. It was quite simply the best comic-book movie since X2 which I still hold is superior to Spider-man in every way.
The special effects and acting are great, the characters are all well cast, and the dialogue is extremely witty (theres actually a joke about demons and cats that will strike any fan of Buffy as extremely ironic). The plot , while somewhat cliched, was interesting enough to keep you watching the screen, and yes, even the half hour of preveiws was good (except for The Punisher which I just dont get).
As far as the downside goes there are a few problems but thankfully, none of them are terribly large. The plot, as I said, was slightly cliched, the romance element (while well acted and written) seemed kind of goofy, it was fairly obvious that the film was designed as an origins peice for the group and as a setup for a potential franchise (not something Ill complain about), and some characters (like the fishman, Abraham Sapien) were underused.
Another problem with the film is that it dosent include the audience as much as some other films do. This is a double edged sword whenever it's used and I think it will definately hurt Hellboy in the box-office. The problem is that while having the characters move along as they would if they were all experienced monster hunters and generaly adding to the realism and entertainment value of the film, there is no explanation of whats going on and whats going to happen next at the major plot points in case you went to the bathroom or answered your cell-phone and had a little chat with Bill from the office because youre the kind of jackass who does that kind of thing and wont leave the theater or turn your gorramn phone off (sorry, pet-peeve).
The preceeding was a very long and nonsensical paragraph and I apologize.
So. In conclusion, I dont like giving films a ratingbut if I had to I'd give Hellboy three and a half stars or two thumbs up or nine out of ten happy faces or or the little drawing of the guy thats so happy he looks like hes going completely bat-shit or... or... you get the picture.
-Dracos
Note: the author of the preceeding reveiw has never before had a conversation with a person familiar with Hellboy nor has he ever so much as read or even touched a Hellboy comic. This reveiw was written as the film was watched: objectively and as its own entity. Please keep this in mind when you consider flaming me becasue I wrote a shining reveiw of the film that destroyed your favorite comic book ever.
Remember to come back next time when Dracos reveiws The Ladykillers or something!
COMMENTS: 13