Just finished it this morning. I liked this take on the character more than David Harbour's and even Pearlman's. More serious and subdued and offered more than quips. As far as the movie, it felt like I was watching a fan film made by some YouTube channel.
this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2024
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I disagree on Kesy being better than Pearlman. He definitely drops the ball a few times and isn't so clever and repeats pretty base level quips.
But Pearlman also had like late HellBoy and this is meant to be way earlier so I'm just taking them as different takes. I wanted more emotion from Kesy but his was definitely a good choice and direction for the character.
I didn't even realize that it came out. Great marketing, guys.
Probably going to see it soon, wife is a huge Hellboy fan.
It was only on a short run here so I had to quickly grab late afternoon screening before it vanished.
I found it to be the most comic-accurate of them all (as you might expect from Mike Mignola's close involvement) and they absolutely nailed Hellboy's character as well as the feel of a lot of the usual stories. It felt like this approach is the way to start a franchise, then build up to the major stories (one criticism.of GdT's Hellboy is it went too big too early - like having Endgame as the first MCU movie).
However, it did also have it's faults, especially in it looking cheap the colour-grading was a sludgy green (as if they'd heard of orange and teal but felt orange was a bit too racy, the opposite is true for The Batman who ditched teal) and quite a few effects and props weren't really up to scratch (you could see the airbrushing on Hellboy's torso which looked very rubbery and fake).
So while there is definite room for improvement it seems like a good start, but going where? The studio not releasing the film in US cinemas suggests they have no confidence in it, that plus the poor reception would suggest a sequel isn't on the cards. So the IP goes back on the shelf again. I suspect the next best shot, five to ten years down the line, will be an animated series. Uzumaki is demonstrating how well an animation in the style of the original comics can work and Hellboy has a very distinctive style, which is difficult to capture in live action. Netflix did well with the Castlevania animated series (until Warren Ellis got #MeTooed) and if they were Looking to expand their slate if animated shows adapting franchises with a built-in audience then Hellboy could be just the ticket. Ah well, we'll see I suppose, at some point.
Actually really enjoyed the writing minus the last 25 minutes. It's quippy and fun and pretty cruel and gross out in places. Really solid.
The effects are laughable. I really appreciate them going "we are in the middle of nowhere and we need to find a house and a phone" while you can literally see the nice house they were shooting in front of just behind them in the tree line.
Man if they had cleaned up the opening sequence a bit. Canned the second climax and just gave us a long expositional epilogue it would have literally been a near comic perfect HellBoy.
All in all a really fun hour long YouTube worthy fan film.