HELLBOY (2004)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, psychological*

The first adaptation of Dark Horse's HELLBOY franchise is loosely based on HELLBOY: SEED OF DESTRUCTION, a rough "origin-story" produced by creator/artist Mike Mignola and writer John Byrne. The movie script by Peter Briggs and director Guillermo Del Toro improves on the original in many ways, improving on the dramatic dynamics of the principal characters. 

The titular character is a humanoid demon with horns and a tail, discovered in child-form by his adoptive father Professor Broom in 1944. Sixty years later, the adult Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is a big, swaggering fellow who, due to his not blending well with common humanity, has devoted his life to the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Broom is at once the director of the agency and a nurturing but demanding father. In addition to various human agents, the BPRD, dedicated to investigating paranormal phenomena on Planet Earth, are two other super-powered individuals: pyrokinetic Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and amphibious Abe Sapien (Doug Jones). 

As it happens, in 2004 one of the occultists responsible for Hellboy's presence on Earth-- none other than a very long-lived Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden)-- is bringing about a plot to unleash a world-destroying demon, the Ogdru Jahad. This involves having a lesser demon, who looks like a cross between The Alien and The Predator (but bulkier than the "Predalien" of three years later). This demon, Sammael by name, also lays eggs to produce duplicates of itself, though I think the only real function Sammael serves is to give Hellboy a heavy-duty sparring partner.

Nevertheless, precisely because of the rough family dynamics of the Briggs-Del Toro script-- which includes a possible romantic relationship between Liz and Hellboy-- the rock-em-sock-em battles possess good human context, as well as some lively humor. (The "no tongue" line is among the best.) Though given a lot of support by the other actors-- Jeffrey Tambor as a fussy managerial type, Rupert Evans as a human agent who might offer Hellboy some romantic competition-- HELLBOY is largely Ron Perlman's show. Once or twice he verges on scenery-chewing, but it's somewhat inevitable given all the intensive makeup effects. Possibly it helps that here he could play an ass-kicking hero miles away from his soulful incarnation of the similarly makeup-heavy Vincent of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

The film was successful enough to spawn a sequel with essentially the same cast, more on which anon.