Rate Hellboy

[Kid Charlemagne]

Overall I was disappointed. The black-out scene I could understand, but there were a lot of bits that made no sense. First, Hellboy won't open the lock to save Liz's soul, so the bad takes her soul, so then Hellboy WILL open the lock to recover her soul, but then he doesn't, and she gets her soul back anyway? Huh?

The villains were rather non-memorable. The wind-up Nazi (as Barsoomcore puts it) was very cool, but he ended up not doing all that much. Rasputin and Ilsa were imminently forgettable.

And the FBI/Bureau for Paranormal Research agents? Where was their training? They ran against the bad guys faster than the $8 an hour museum security guards!

 

[Taelorn76]

I enjoyed the movie alot. The only drawback was that

Spoiler

the fight with Rasputin and the God inside him were a little anti-climatic. He spent more time and had a harder time fighting the hell pups. I felt it ended a little to quickly

Other than that I pretty much enjoyed the entire movie.

 

[barsoomcore]

They all blacked out and got captured by the bad guys. Was it really that hard to figure out?

Not so much hard to figure out as, "Geez, couldn't you come up with a better way for them to end up in this situation?"

See my other remark about the plot in the latter part of the film being just a bunch of obvious machinations to produce the desired confrontation. This is one example of that.

 

[barsoomcore]

Just to play the numbers game, Hellboy's first day is slightly better than Scooby-Doo's was last week, which indicates a $30-million-ish weekend. However, Scooby-Doo pulled off a 50% increase on Saturday, so Hellboy will have to hit that sort of behaviour to make that sort of money. We saw a noon showing today and it was about a third full, which seems pretty good. But if Hellboy drops the way Dawn of the Dead did, it will probably have to settle for a $20-million (or even $15-million) opener.

Not a disaster, even in the worst case. Looks like del Toro's rep is going to strengthen on this one. I'm glad for that. We need more movies in which oddball heroes punch the snot out of ugly monsters and rescue kittens.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Just to play the numbers game, Hellboy's first day is slightly better than Scooby-Doo's was last week, which indicates a $30-million-ish weekend. However, Scooby-Doo pulled off a 50% increase on Saturday, so Hellboy will have to hit that sort of behaviour to make that sort of money. We saw a noon showing today and it was about a third full, which seems pretty good. But if Hellboy drops the way Dawn of the Dead did, it will probably have to settle for a $20-million (or even $15-million) opener.

Not a disaster, even in the worst case. Looks like del Toro's rep is going to strengthen on this one. I'm glad for that. We need more movies in which oddball heroes punch the snot out of ugly monsters and rescue kittens.

Have yet to see Hellboy but did see Walking Tall at 1 Saturday and was surprised at the crowd, threater was a little over half full, on a beautiful 70 degree Saturday. I wonder if they will be see Hellboy today.

Walking Tall was a 6.5 BUT could have been a TV Movie, standard stuff. The other people in the theater seemed to get into the movie more than I, clapping and oching at the fighting.

 

[DMScott]

I pretty much agree with barsoomcore. I too would have actually liked the movie to be a bit longer, a sentiment which I'm not sure is shared.

The last 45 minutes were very predictable, I don't really see what adding more could do to help. I thought it was an OK movie, competently executed, but there was basically no tension at the end. So thumbs up for the acting, thumbs up for the effects, thumbs in the middle for the action, and thumbs down for the writing/plot.

 

[John Crichton]

SPOILERS ABOUT THE ENDING AHEAD!!

There were a few little plot holes. Those didn't bother me. The movie was about 15 minutes too long near the end. I thought 2 hours 12 minutes was bit long for what we were shown. Oddly enough, I have similar issues with Hulk (a movie I really liked but for a few parts). The 2 both have a really strong beginning, middle and build-up to the end. But the big payoff at the end (the big fight) was a little bit of a letdown. Hellboy's final fight was better because it was stylish, fit the character and at least made sense.

My last and biggest problem (cost it a point, would have been a 9 or a 3.5 with the 4 star ratings) with Hellboy was the whole 'love brings her back' thing. Maybe I missed something in the exposition (wouldn't be the first time) but I always think it is a sloppy device that is used when something creative or lasting should have been used. He chose not to save her, she should have died. If she was to live and the world was to be saved, another method should have been used. Either John, Hellboy or even the FBI dude should have played a part in figuring a way around the situation they were in. Now, had it all played out the way it did and she died it would have been fine. Turns out that Hellboy's big choice at the end end didn't mean too much. He could have gotten her back but he should have had to fight for it.

Okay, maybe her soul was released when Rasputin died or something like that but I didn't see anything visually that indicated it. So points off.

But honestly, I had so much fun watching this movie that I can ignore the ending and give it a high score. I will certainly watch it again and it should get a sequel. The makeup and FX were awesome. The action was well done, if a tad choppy here and there. The characters had soul and style which was great because I actually cared about them. My favorite character aside from Hellboy was easily Doctor Broom - young and old.

Also, I can't say enough good things about the creepy-cool opening scene with Rasputin and the Nazis. The Lovecraftian monsters were awesome as well. I know I wrote more negative than positive but the positive far outweighs the negative in this case.

Bottom line: Fun movie. I gave it an 8, which would translate into a 3 on the following scale.

4 = Classic. Blew me away from start to finish.
3 = Very good. Entertaining and a worthwhile experience.
2 = Average. Watchable but flawed.
1 = Terrible. Unwatchable dreck with minor entertainment value at best.
0 = I wish I had that time back. So bad that I almost walked out of the theater.

 

[Atridis]

They all blacked out and got captured by the bad guys. Was it really that hard to figure out?

They did? Why did HB black out?

I gave the movie a 6, which appears to have turned into a 7 when the scale was corrected. However, I still think it was 6 (I know, I know, splitting hairs).

I thought the action scenes were really frustrating, as Barsoomcore mentioned. I also recall the fights in Blade II being well-done, even the cgi ones, such as the climactic throw-down btw Blade and Nomak.

I never read the comic, but I liked the characters and the actors who played them (although the German woman was superfluous - made me wonder if she had an important scene that got cut).

Ron Perlman rules, but I suppose we knew that already...

 

[Wolfspirit]

Spoilers Galore

I gave it a 9. Not the best superhero flick I've seen (X-Men 2 probably has that one), but it was still a pretty good movie that I'd probably have to see again. I haven't read the entire series (will probably have to go out and get the Trade book), but from what I saw they stayed pretty true to character. I loved the nod to The Corpse near the end.

As to why the girl came back, I think they explained it pretty well. He whispered to her (and whoever was holding her soul), that "for her [he]'d cross over" and beat the snot out of whoever it was (I can't remember the rest of the quote, but it was pretty cool). I think it's appropriate considering he'd just blown up a god.

Which brings me to the part I liked the least, the last fight. The using a statue's sword as a weapon was cool, but the rest was just too short and easy. If they'd had a real explosive (er, no pun there) final fight, then it probably would have been a lot better.

So, overall, I'd say there were a few problems, but I it was a rather solid, memorable movie. YMMV

 

[Dimwhit]

I'd give it an 8. I thought it was a great, entertaining movie. Ron Perlman was perfect in the role. I'm not too worried about the holes in the story. I don't expect rock-solid stories in movies like these. But it was very entertaining and worth watching.