Anyone seeing Hellboy today?

[LightPhoenix]

I just got back from it. OK movie, bit too long and the last 45 minutes or so are pretty predictable, but a nice effort. Avoid paying full price if possible.

Pretty much my feelings too. It did everything okay, but nothing really phenomenal. I definitely would have been a little upset if I had paid full price... definitely glad I went matinee.

Overall, I think the movie had a lot of the same problems that Daredevil had - the transitions just didn't flow well together at all. Parts seemed rushed through, others dragged. The end wasn't pretty predictable, it was entirely predictable. Even so, I enjoyed the story, and found that the 132 minutes passed by pretty quickly. I would have liked to see a little bit more... cohesion... from the movie. I think a lot of the off hand comments fell a bit flat and were a bit forced. On the positive side, it left me really wanting more, and I wouldn't have minded an extra 15 minutes to fill out some of the blank spots. The CGI was fairly integrated and not very obvious. Unlike say, The Hulk, which was a total CGI fest, here the CGI felt like just another tool. That is a good thing, in my opinion.

Oh, and to address Barendd's comment, I'm almost certain that it's intentional that the CGI is somewhat blocky. From what I understand, there was a very distinct effort to keep it faithful to the comic, including Del Toro and others actively fighting against changes suggested by the studio.

 

[TracerBullet42]

Depends on what the new girlfriend wants to go see; it's gonna be a choice between Hellboy and "Walking Tall", both of which we wanna see.

I highly recommend "Walking Tall". It was a LOT of fun. Johnny Knoxville is my new temporary hero...

As for "Hellboy", I'll probably eventually see it, but I'm so sick of seeing ads for it that I need to wait a while, or I'll just be angry when I see it...(they run those freakin' commercials non-stop!)

But "Walking Tall"...FUN flick!

 

[The_lurkeR]

I just got back from seeing it, and actually really enjoyed it.

I had read a few of the original Hellboy comics when they first came out, but from what I remember it captures their mood and look quite well.

I thought it was a good quirky movie. Some occult, some nasty villains, some character development, some comedy, and alot of action.

The only faults I saw in it was the predictability of the ending as others have stated, and I would have liked to have seen more variety in monsters.

Overall a thumbs up, and would definately recommend it to any roleplayer. (Has great visualizations of alot of RPG gaming type imagery.)

 

[RangerWickett]

There are not nearly enough tentacle monsters in modern cinema, but Hellboy is combatting this trend. Lots of fun stuff in this movie, and though I agree with others that the end was what I expected, I don't see that as a bad thing. Part of the cool appeal of this movie is that the hero is rather laid back, and . . . well, the end is more about Hellboy being cool than about surprising the audience.

Spoilers.

Spoiler

So, the dude's line at the end was kinda weak, and the 'death' of Rasputin was rather anticlimactic, but c'mon, he told off an elder god, and got his girlfriend back. The man is a bad ass. The most bad ass hunter of the paranormal I've ever seen. *grin*

This movie had great visuals. For the relatively low budget it was built on, it looked phenomenal.

The fights were, like, D&D fights. Either you spend twenty rounds wailing on some bizarre critter trying to figure out how to kill it, or you kill it in three rounds. Very matter of fact. Very humorous.

'Oh, yeah, that's the Lance of Longinus, it killed Jesus. Moving on. . . .' Some of the things they were so casual about made this movie hilarious.

Cthulhu-esque references are always highly appreciated. I love modern fantasy like this, and this wasn't forcing the 'summer blockbuster' feel like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen tried to do.

Rasputin was slick, man. Close the door, the shadow falls, and he just walks out. No CG, just pure cool.

Oh yeah, and the movie had just enough punching. The Matrix Revolutions didn't have enough punching, and it left me seriously disappointed. There was enough punching in this one for me.

So I liked the movie. I went originally to a 2pm showing, and the previews were shown twice before the movie started, and even then, half the screen was black. We got out money back, and headed off to start our D&D game early.

The D&D game just sorta went no where, because we realized we'd done all we'd wanted to do in the last adventure, so this game just consisted of seeing which PC would win in a deathmatch. Fun, but kinda disappointing. We quit the game early, and went to catch a 10:45 showing.

Outside the theater, I, a chump, bought a ticket from a guy who said he wasn't going to be able to see the show. I got it for less than the normal price, and though he actually wasn't trying to scam me, when I actually got to the theater, I saw that one of my friends had bought tickets for all of us. *sigh*

So, basically, at the end of a long day, it would take something great to cheer me up. And this movie was great.

 

[Chain Lightning]

I give it a 5.5 out of 10.

Del Toro's faults sometimes bring down the quality of the film for me. He seems to come up with ideas for how to do a scene that are good, but he executes them rather poorly. Directing could be A LOT tighter.

Another complaint, some what minor, is the soundtrack didn't seem to help. Actually, when it needed to be dramatic, it seemed flat ....in the background. Like in the end climatic battle.

Worth checking it out because of the genre and the material...and all that. If you're a fan of that stuff, you should check it out. I think its better than Daredevil. But not by much.

 

[RangerWickett]

Another complaint, some what minor, is the soundtrack didn't seem to help. Actually, when it needed to be dramatic, it seemed flat ....in the background. Like in the end climatic battle.

Well, I don't think the final battle was supposed to be climactic. Which I found funny. I think it did need a bit more of a

Spoiler

fight with Rasputin, or at least Rasputin being less of a push-over, but I think it's great that, after saving the world, Hellboy just sighs, walks back in, and kicks 'Cthulhu's' butt. Maybe it's just me. All my friends loved it, though.

 

[Iron_Chef]

The movie was fun and beautiful to look at, but was either a little too dark or else not dark enough. It was also perhaps too long at 2 hours, 12 minutes. Hellboy is just not as good as Blade II IMO, as far as rewatchability goes.

 

[Kai Lord]

I've never read the comic, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The ending was a bit anticlimactic, but it still had enough of an emotional heart to work dramatically.

The acting was fantastic for this type of movie, Perlman's performance in particular. I loved how he approached saving the world from evil with the attitude of a television repairman.

I thought the casting was pretty much a stroke of genius all around. I liked the look of the film, the pacing, most of the humor, and surprisingly just all the little character touches.

For a movie with such healthy doses of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Ghostbusters, a lot of the best parts were the "in between" scenes;

Spoiler

Hellboy on the roof with the 9 year old kid watching Liz go out on a date, him and the agent discussing hair implants, how to properly light a cigar, etc.

Abe Sapien really worked as a character, and I love how his eyes refocused every time he blinked.

Even the "sappy" scenes between Perlman and the fantastic Selma Blair played remarkably well given such a crazy context. Kroenen was cool.

Damn, I could go on. Just really liked the movie.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

I agree Kai Lord. Great movie. My friends and I spent about an hour talking about it and, aside from the anti-climactic ending and the awkwardness of Hellboys intro to the young doctor - c'mon Baby Ruths?, we loved it. Clockwork assassins, great tentacled monstrosities threatening the earth and a hero who saves kittens - awesome stuff.

Easily an 8 out of 10. Can't wait for the DVD extended version.

 

[Mistwell]

I'm really looking forward to seeing it. I have one Hellboy TPB and liked it a lot.

All this compairson to Daredevil is, in my opinion, a good thing. I loved Daredevil, and despite the naysayers here, Daredevil did VERY well at the box office and in opinion polls...enough to spawn two more movies at least after it. Of course, YMMV, but saying it's about as good, or better, than Daredevil is saying to me that this is a fine film indeed.