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By
WAYNE KLEIN
It must be hell to have
horns and a stone hand.
Rasputin, the mad monk who manipulated the Russian
royalty just prior to the Communist Revolution,
never died. He not only survived being stabbed,
shot, poisoned and drowned, but during World War
II he worked for the Nazis. Hitler hoped that
Rasputin might be able to unleash the 7 Gods of
Chaos to help him win the war and dominate the
world. The only thing that can stop Hitler and
Rasputin's minions, which include a nasty
masochistic half mechanical man named Kroenen
(Ladislav Beran, in some scenes), is Professor
Bloom (Kevin Trainor as the young Bloom) who has
studied the occult. He and a group of American
soldiers storm Rasputin's castle stopping the 7
Gods of Chaos from entering our world. In the
process Rasputin is sucked into the other strange
realm and a tiny red monkey-like creature that
looks like Satan with a stone hand is released
into ours. Turns out Hellboy, as he is called by
his saviors, was really the little guy that
Rasputin was after. We don't know why but we soon
find out.
Sixty years later Rasputin's minions revive him,
and bring him back from the other side. Meanwhile
Professor Bloom (John Hurt) has established a
paranormal division of the F.B.I. with Hellboy
(Ron Perlman) and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones, but
voiced by David Hyde Pierce of "Fraiser" fame) a
half-human/half-sea creature and Liz (Selma Blair)
a human with the ability to control fire. With the
addition of new assistant John Myers (Rupert
Evans) recruited from the F.B.I. these five are
all that stands between chaos and the world. The
only problem is that Rasputin has plans for using
Hellboy himself to help release the 7 Gods of
Chaos.
A fun, invigorating thrill ride with witty
dialogue and nice character moments, "Hellboy"
becomes much more than an adaptation of a popular
comic book. Director Guillermo Del Toro ("Mimic,"
"The Devil's Backbone," "Blade II," "Cronos")
invests considerable effort to bring Mike
Mignola's complex characters to life and adds
characters that actually enhance the original
creation. It's a marvelous movie filled with
invention that was almost overlooked by audiences.
Certainly there are elements of the script that
are clichéd but, on the whole, Del Toro packs so
much visual and narrative invention into the
slightest scene that these minor flaws can easily
be overlooked. Del Toro's film makes visual
references to other films (particularly those of
animator Ray Harryhausen) and other comic book
artists as well (Jack Kirby is a bit favorite) and
still manages to retain its own identity. |
