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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 1461868" data-attributes="member: 812">Predictably, I'm the grouchy one here. I gave it a 4. That was too low, really. It's a 6. Sorry for throwing off the stats. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/nervous.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":heh:" title="Nervous Laugh    :heh:" data-shortname=":heh:" />What I loved about Hellboy:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ron Perlman. Don't think I need to say anything more. Except, "Mm, nachos."</li> </ul>What I liked about Hellboy:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hellboy. Great character. I will most definitely see a sequel, though I won't see this one again.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cinematography. There were some beautiful moments and the tone of Hellboy's skin was always breath-taking. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Effects. They just keep getting better at this stuff, don't they?</li> </ul>What I didn't like so much:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cinematography. All praise above, but del Toro needs to watch more Leone -- that was my wife's comment -- he needs to learn the value of the long shot. Not enough long shots. Can't explain it much better than that. I just think the last shot of the funeral procession should have been a long shot of the bureau office with Hellboy standing there atop the breezeway. I remember seeing the stills from this production and they were so amazing -- I thought I was going to get a film of these spectacular images but in the end... not very many came through.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Incoherent, overcut action sequences. del Toro did much better work in Blade II -- but then he had Wesley Snipes (who can actually fight) to work with. Consider the sequence in that film where Snipes busts into the vampire holding center where they have Whistler and gets into a four-way knife fight. Compare that with the sequence in this film where Wind-Up Nazi (you know Nazis have been overused when they're reduced to this) takes out the security guards in the museum. Tell me which one makes you go "Baaaaaddd -- A$$$$$$$$$"? Part of the reason is that the museum scene is so quickly cut you don't get to see the guy doing something impressive -- just a bunch of quick images that could be anybody doing anything, really.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The pacing. The film was way too fast. I would have watched another twenty minutes easily. Especially missing was any sense of creepiness or suspense. We were just yanked along from one set-piece to the next with such speed there was never time to be worried about anything. I mean, compare the Nazi occult ritual in Raiders with the one in this movie. Spielberg scared us by making us wait. It feels like del Toro's so afraid we're going to lose interest that he has to throw new stuff at us in a constant frenzy of activity. Slow down. Let me savour the beauty of your shots, the creepiness of your bad guys (well, such as they possess) and the heroism of your hero.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I wish del Toro hadn't stolen the "One-Guy-Punching-The-Other-While-Both-Are-Plunging-To-Their-Apparent-Doom" gag from his own movie to put it (less funnily, in the dark so you couldn't see it) in this one.</li> </ul>What I really felt hurt the movie:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The story. This didn't make a lot of sense. One second, they're in a cave and Liz is burning things up, and then suddenly they're all tied up. What happened in there? There were a lot of elements that were just machinations in order to bring about the final confrontation.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The lack of action from the main characters. The story wasn't about Hellboy trying to do anything, it was about Hellboy reacting to what the bad guys were doing. The story was driven by the actions of Rasputin and his lame minions, which put everything we were watching into a bit of a "So what?" sort of category.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Little things. Occasional incredibly lame dialog. "Us freaks have to stick together." Sigh. Or the clonky, intelligence-insulting setup used to introduce FishMan -- how does he get his pages turned when fresh-faced FBI agents AREN'T walking wide-eyed into the room? If he's so smart he can read four books at once, isn't he smart enough to figure out some way of turning pages himself? It was just a way to pretend that this unnecessary exposition is actually a moment of suspense and action.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The bad guys. Okay, lame. Her name is Ilsa? A wind-up Nazi? And Rasputin? Um. Whatever.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The final third of the film was nonsensical and devoid of tension. Gee, is Hellboy going to chose to destroy the world or not? The movie completely failed to earn that moment where Disposable Pretty Boy yells at Our Hero that he has the ability to CHOOSE his fate. Unfortunate.</li> </ul>All that said, I recommend the film to anyone with enough interest in matters pulp and goof and monster-related to be on this board. It moves fast and has some great dialogue and GREAT set-pieces (the flipping suburban ranks very high) and Ron Perlman is reason alone to see this movie. I expect it will be easily atop the box-office this weekend and possibly the next few. I'll be awaiting the DVD (which del Toro has promised will be longer) eagerly and hope that a sequel, in which the director relaxes a little and can let his story unfold at the pace it deserves, is in the works.I'm glad I saw it.</blockquote>

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