My Review of "Hellboy (2004)"

Hellboy (2004) was state of the art almost 20 years ago and it still looks great today. It's a prime example of how really good practical effects and makeup can pass the test of time. There's so much to like about this movie and a few things that kind of knock it back a few pegs. I'm glad I was able to revisit this film for my new impressions of it.

The movie starts off back during the second world war. It seems as though the Nazi's are creating some interdimensional portal. What we realize is that they aren't really Nazi's. These evil doers are from the last Russian regime before they were ousted by the communists. It gets into murky details from there but these are basically the big bad guys.

They want to create this portal so that their evil god can come over to Earth and cause some sort of apocalypse. That again doesn't really get explained either. Why the heck would you want to destroy Earth for no apparent reason? Religious fanaticism I guess?

This portal creation gets created for a few minutes until the Axis were able to come in and destroy the machine. Unfortunately for them it was just enough time for some special beings to be transported to our world. Here's where Broom discovers the baby Hellboy.

From there he raises this little demon for decades. They create an undercover unit that fights supernatural situations. This includes a character named Abe who is a lovable underwater monster, and Liz who is a woman that can't control her powers to spontaneously combust.

With decades behind him Broom has finally realized his own mortality. He hires on this new FBI agent to replace himself named Myers. Myers is basically our eyes and ears because he's totally green to the situation.

Little did they know this evil Russian group are still at it again in their present time. They're attempting to create another portal and it's up to our heroes to figure a way to stop them.

First of all the art direction of this movie is utterly amazing. There's so much attention to detail. You can see a lot of work done to each of the artifacts and the demon creatures that we meet along our journey. It's such a fun time to just witness the imagination of this movie.

Much of the practical effects translated really well even to today's standards. Unfortunately the same can't be said with the CGI work. It's still quite passable but you can tell when things are CGI'd into the movie. It's pretty obvious now with ultra high definition televisions now. Although it doesn't totally distract you from the movie it is pretty noticeable.

There were a shocking number of horror elements to this movie as well. Every once in a while there will be some jump scares and they really nailed it with the creepy ambiance of the settings. Very well done and this atmosphere is very on brand with the themes of the movie as well.

The only thing is that you have to kind of shut off your brain a little when watching this movie. There are some unanswered questions and some logical situations that make you scratch your head. It's a blockbuster popcorn movie so that's not too far fetched. I was a little disappointed by the ending as well as they kind of cleaned it all up a little too conveniently.

Despite all that this movie focused more on the family and friends aspect of the characters more than the basic plot of the movie. This kind of gave me more of a vested interest in each of the characters. All of the characters are quite amicable. Hellboy in particular oozes charisma throughout the movie and you just want to see more of him.

I thought some of the characters could have had a little more shine especially Abe. They really make you love each of the characters and I can see why they created a sequel after this movie.

Overall, I had a fantastic time watching this movie. I was in a constant state of awe while watching the make-up, costumes, settings and creatures. They made me really interested in the characters and I had a few jump scares that startled me throughout the early portions of the movie. I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. It is a fantastic ride that you should definitely check out if you want to see something different in the comic book genre.