Hellboy will keep you wondering... when will it end?
The original duo of films to feature the horned-devil avenger with a heart of gold were top-shelf tear-’em-ups. What we have here is a two-bit, one-note, zero-idea reboot of the Hellboy franchise.
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Ugh. What we have here is a two-bit, one-note, zero-idea reboot of the Hellboy franchise.
The original duo of films to feature the horned-devil avenger with a heart of gold were top-shelf tear-’em-ups (largely courtesy of series creator and overseer Guillermo del Toro, later to become an Oscar-winning director with The Shape of Water).
Knowing where to start with assessing the size and weight of this turkey is impossible, mainly because it always has you wondering when it will end.
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David Harbour (a star of the Netflix series Stranger Things) takes the reins of the title character from Ron Perlman, and he does a fair job of hitting the comic beats that endear us to Hellboy when we should be repulsed.
However, the on-song performance is wasted on a tuneless drone of a movie that woefully welds Hellboy’s adventures as a tough, gruff paranormal vigilante to a campy remix of the King Arthur legend.
It was only a few months ago that The Kid Who Would Be King gave the ancient Arthurian tropes a modern makeover.
That movie didn’t really do it well, but Hellboy’s hacky attempt (propelled by Milla Jovovich’s hammy performance as a killer queen from yesteryear) makes The Kid look like a stone-cold classic.
Adding more toxic icing to Hellboy’s already poisoned cake are an ear-melting metal soundtrack, and levels of gore that would turn the stomach of a veteran abattoir worker.
HELLBOY (R18+)
Rating: One star (1 out of 5)
Director: Neil Marshall (The Descent)
Starring: David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim.
Better the devil you don’t know
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