If ever there was a film that probably shouldn't work, it was one about a reformed demon, born during World War II and designed to help the Nazis take over the world, but now spends his time slaying monsters and saving the world instead. 'Hellboy' was a film made in 2004 and came just before the massive resurgence in comic book adaptations which, to this day, still dominates the Box Office with superhero movies. It's a strange kind of film that, although popular enough to generate (and equally good, in my opinion) sequel, it never got the third part to send off the character and give him the trilogy of films that us die-hard fans felt that he deserved. The reason I say it's 'strange' is because (like many, I guess) I never knew much about the film before watching it at the cinema. I didn't know it was based on a comic and merely saw the posters advertising the movie prior to its release. I knew that (the ever brilliant) Ron Perlman was in it and that was enough for me. The fact that much marketing material centred on a giant demon silhouette sporting a huge firearm was merely a bonus for an action/horror fan like myself.

I watched it, really enjoyed it, and didn't think that much more of it. However, now I can see in these days of 'mega-franchises' why it didn't quite set the Box Office alight like it should. By its initial marketing, it looks like an outright horror film. However, it's actually a superhero film that borrows horror tropes, plus it was made before the superhero/MCU really took off. Nowadays, we're well used to rooting for our heroes after they've been granted some sort of special power enabling them to fight the forces of darkness, but most of them look like Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth, rather than a giant, ugly, red, semi-horned monster. I guess what I'm saying is that 'Hellboy' was destined to have a real 'niche audience.'

However, if what I've already said intrigues you, I do recommend giving it a watch. First of all, it stars Ron Perlman as the titular anti-hero. Now, he's normally good in whatever he's in, but it's fair to say that he carries this film completely on his broad (red) shoulders. The other cast members, including John Hurt and Selma Blair, are good too, but it's Ron's show (although I should probably give a nod to Jeffrey Tambor as the long-suffering head of Hellboy's secret Government unit).

There's not an awful lot to say about the plot. If you've seen one superhero movie (regardless of when it was released) then you can probably predict what will happen - evil megalomaniac wants to take over the world, hero has to put the brakes on that one. However, Hellboy does it slightly differently simply because of its general 'horror' look and feel. But - don't worry - it's not all Gothic darkness - there's plenty of top-notch action scenes, cheeky one-liners from our cigar-chomping, cat-petting red hero and special effects that look more on the 'practical' side, rather than an excessive use of CGI. It's worth mentioning the effects because Hellboy's make-up is particularly simple, yet flawless in bringing the character to life. He's pretty scary at the best of times and the only things more ugly are the beasties he's sent to despatch before they destroy the world (that clockwork assassin-Nazi still gives me the creeps!).

Even though I stand by my belief that 'Hellboy' stands up today as it did when it was released, I know there's a reboot in the pipeline. I'll watch that too, simply because I like the way the film is done. However, I have my doubts that anyone can fill Ron's big red boots and whatever we'll get next (instead of the much desired third part in this franchise) will be nothing more than a studio trying to cash in on the superhero craze and going for an easy cash-grab.

Great comic series, good times on screen. Del Toro doesn't capture the shadowiness and the Gothic art of the books, but does the get the heart of the material, and plays it well between lighthearted comedy, lighthearted action, and as much weirdness(talking corpses, psychic merman, pyroknesis, Rasputin, clockwork Nazi assassins, and Cthulu, to name a few of the flourishes), as the story can handle.

It is a super-hero movie, but one that mixes in occult myths, weird tales, and conspiracy theories, into a fine entertainment brew. Can't wait to see the next installment in the "The Golden Army". One of the best comic to film adaptations, not for style, but for heart and for fun's sake.

Hellboy is self-conscious, perhaps, but in the best ways possible. Actually, it's more due to writer/director Toro being very aware of what makes up the conventional bits to every sense character-wise to the world of a comic-book, but also what can be entertaining as well, than it is just to having it being a Hellboy movie where the comic-book Hellboy already exists IN this world (guy sees the Hellboy comic, looks up, it's Hellboy!). We get the tough-as-nails, dryly witty, and possibly ticking-time-bomb hero in Hellboy, a deadly serious villain in Rasputin (yes, Rasputin, with a blonde Nazi as his evil side-kick no less), the young apprentice to the hero (Ruper Evans as John Meyers), the hero's love interest (Liz Sherman played by Selma Blair), the father figure (John Hurt's Professor), and the reluctant 'boss' (Jeffrey Tambor), not to mention the plucky side mutant in Abraham (Doug Jones) AND a magnificent creature in that hard-ass slug. They're all there, bright as day (or dark, depending on point of view), and it all works wonderfully due to Toro running with it all head on. It's not done in a way that's meant to pander to the audience, either, but just to have fun with the conventions, to see what makes them all crackle and pop under big-time special effects. It's not quite a guilty pleasure because Toro is also a smart craftsman.

And craftsman just as much as director, he crafts this world where the creatures (which were and still are Toro's forte) are fierce and radically charged, whether they're crucial to the picture like Rasputin's rabid, rapidly hatching slug-monsters that can only be killed one or two ways, or if it's just a minor creature like the zombie Russian corpse that leads a little of the way when Hellboy and his crew are in the main hideout of the villains ("I was better off dead!"). Toro is sensitive to the characters alongside this, and makes them all pretty believable- and I say pretty cause it's all a little simple, yet effective, in the main thrust of Hellboy's emotional core being about Liz and if she may or may not go for John over him- and doesn't dumb it down too much or contrive the relationships for the audience. It's a good balance, because there is A LOT of action in Hellboy, in fact probably at least a 60% allotment to either Hellboy fighting the monsters after him (usually in the subway, or in the Russian castle), or with the possibly un-dead assassin in the mask and leather who marks as one of the fiercest forces in comic book movies.

So, fan-boys rejoice, because Hellboy should, and hopefully will, have everything one looks for in a brawny, high-octane entertainment where humor isn't confused with cheesiness (Perlman is too well focused as a possible anti-hero to get into any of that, as he makes that hugely built red lug a very real being), and the action isn't over-done with a tongue-in-cheek. Not that Toro doesn't flirt with having goofy things in his picture, like a moment where Hellboy has to save a box of kittens from the grasp of the slug-monster. But they're earned moments among a very tightly constructed story where human evils in history and the bizarre in what is in the facts (Hitler into the occult, Rasputin's very long death) into a comfortably understood framework of comic-book clichés that never get too old when done right. Bottom line, can't wait for number 2!