n the midst of World War II, Allied forces sneak up on an Nazi encampment and witness a bizarre ritual conducted by none other than Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden), the Russian cleric of historic infamy. Guided by Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm, a British scientist and expert in the occult, the Allies interrupt the summoning, defeat the Nazis and close the portal opened by Grigori, but not before something finds its way through. The lone refugee turns out to be a small, red monkeylike demon with horns, a tail and a big stone hand. The soldiers christen the newborn demon Hellboy and hand him over to the custody of Professor Broom.
Flash forward 60 years later to the present day. Professor Broom (Hurt) has established a secret government organization in the United States called the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development, or B.P.R.D. He has also become a father figure for the now fully grown Hellboy (Perlman) and a host of other "special" individuals who call the bureau home, including a psychic merman known as Abe Sapien (played by Doug Jones but voiced by an uncredited David Hyde Pierce) and a pyrokinetic girl named Liz Sherman (Blair), on whom Hellboy has a crush.
The world of the B.P.R.D. is introduced through the eyes of a young FBI agent (Rupert Evans) recently assigned as Hellboy's new "liaison." Under Professor Broom's guidance, Hellboy has become a force for good, but his attitude and his determination to escape the confines of the bureau have made him a difficult charge. Myers discovers this firsthand when he accompanies Hellboy on a mission to stop a demon summoned in a museum and loses him in the sewers below the city.
While Hellboy deals with fighting the demon and his own personal issues, a resurrected Grigori and his Nazi henchmen plan to fulfill the apocalyptic ritual set in motion over 60 years ago. Though Hellboy doesn't know it, those plans center around him and will ultimately force him to choose between the man he has become and the demon he was born to be.
The road to Hell is paved with plot holes
What makes a successful comic book, and thus a successful film adaptation, is a compelling hero. And Hellboy is certainly that. He drinks beer and eats junk food. He cracks jokes. He has difficulty expressing his emotions. In other words, beneath the red skin, stone fist, pointed tail and filed-down horns (no, those aren't goggles on his head), Hellboy is just a typical guy. It's that dichotomy that makes him interesting. Mike Mignola understood that when he created the comic book, and director Guillermo del Toro understands it, too. Unfortunately, del Toro is so focused on showcasing what's cool about Hellboy for the film version, the story seems to be little more than an afterthought.
There's no arguing that Hellboy looks amazing. Del Toro's intense, stylized visuals are ideally suited to Mignola's world. Like Mignola, he finds beauty in the grotesque and vice versa. And while the director revels in massive action sequences—fights, chases, crashes, explosions—with the enthusiasm of a teenage comic-book fanatic, he doesn't lose sight of the little human moments that reveal the humor and pathos of the characters. If you don't think about it too much, Hellboy is a great movie.
Upon further scrutiny, the film fails to evolve beyond its original premise. Too many scenes exist for the sake of spectacle rather than moving the narrative forward. As in love with the main character as he is, del Toro neglects to give him an equally intriguing opponent. The main villain, Grigori, is drawn as a one-dimensional evil madman. His origins, powers and motives are never satisfactorily explained. And though the demon-creature Sammael and the silver-masked Nazi known as Kroenen are impressive achievements in design, they have no personalities to speak of. They exist only to give Hellboy something to chase and fight.
Ultimately, fans of the comic-book version should be pleased with del Toro's faithful (to the spirit if not to the letter) take on the world's greatest paranormal detective, in no small part due to the tone-perfect performance of Ron Perlman. It's rare for an actor to come to a role as tailor-made for him as Hellboy was for Perlman. Clearly, del Toro knew that when he cast him above bigger-name actors, and the film is the better for it.
