(April 27, 2004)
Hellboy Review:

I've never read much of Mike Mignola's work, but I've seen it out there, and 
I was looking forward to the Hellboy movie as soon as I saw the trailers. Some 
friends have loved it, some have hated it, but I thought it was a really well 
put together movie.

Hellboy himself is the first and biggest reason. He's an extradimensional creature 
who gets sucked into this world due to a nefarious experiment put on by Rasputin 
and the Nazis. Raised by an British professor of the paranormal, he becomes part 
of a special task force built to protect humanity from the "things that go bump 
in the night". Because of his upbringing, Hellboy is very human. He's got issues 
with communication, he's self conscious about his appearance, and he wonders if 
he'll ever be able to get the girl. Any girl. He's a nice guy with paranormal 
fighting skills stuck in a rather odd profession where nothing is certain, and he 
does an admirable job of trying to maintain a sense of reality in his own unreal life.

Abe Sapien, the other non-human on the team, is a lot of fun, too. His personality 
is entirely different, but he's got the same issues as Hellboy concerning helping out 
and fitting in. The human team members are sympathetic, and I did care about them, 
though they weren't the highlight of the movie.

Special effects were very well done. There were a lot of CGI shots, but they didn't 
jump out and shout "I'm computer generated!", which I always appreciate. I was 
impressed by how much of the movie relied on old school special effects, and how well 
they did with them. At the end, the big bad guy has been defeated, leaving behind 
mountains of charred goo... and they had mountains of charred goo, slowly sizzling 
and dripping in on itself. It was wonderful.

As a rabid costumer's note, the costuming was a lot of fun. You had your basic Federal 
suits, the rumpled old guy and the cast of extras, but in addition to Abe and Hellboy, 
there was a dangerous, unkillable Nazi hitman with a fantastic costume. He was a perfect 
blend of civilized and dangerous looking. (I'm going to have to make it for a future 
DragonCon.)

The plot was simple, but with alternate reality/paranormal genres where they're trying 
explain everything without going into too much exposition, simple is generally a good thing. 
The characterazations were well thought out. I cared what happened to the good guys on and 
off the job, and the bad guys had enough depth to be slightly interesting. The effects were 
very good, the pacing was excellent, and there was enough humor to lighten things up without 
detracting from the story. I had a good time watching it, and would like to go see it again 
before it leaves the theaters.