Ron Perlman plays Hellboy, who is apparently an imp from a rift in the universe that occurred as a result of tampering by the German army during WW2. Something went terribly wrong with their ?experiment?, resulting in a few people and things being sucked in from our universe to the other side in exchange for?what? before the hole was shut down. He is raised lovingly in an American government facility by the bespectacled professor that discovered/rescued him in Scotland. A couple of other paranormal misfits ? Liz the firestarter and Abe the blue psychic fish man ? are basically his adopted siblings. The trio is trained to use their powers for heroic good. Their existence is of course top secret, which explains why there are public rumors everywhere about Hellboy.

But wait?those nahtzis (spelled wrongly on purpose!) aren?t dead yet! They have unleashed Hellish creatures upon our world, which only multiply when they are slain. In fact they?ve come back for the now-grown Hellboy sixty years later so that he can complete his destiny, which is somehow tied in with reopening that rift between universes. The legendary Rasputin (who has occultic powers of his own) has concocted this plot to lure Hellboy and his entourage for a final showdown in Moscow.

The plot had its flaws but the visuals had none. I liked the action sequences and special effects, which centered mainly on the multi-tentacled creatures that Hellboy and co. spend most of the movie destroying. CGI and makeup were used flawlessly to create the human and beastly monsters. There was also a nice romance subplot between Liz (Selma Blair) and Hellboy, which begged the question; can a man overcome the monster within himself for the sake of love? Yes, echoes of Perlman?s former tv role, but with a lot more testosterone and realistic emotions. It was a surprisingly UNcheesy love story amidst all the action.

I could have wished for more backstory about Abe and Liz, but that?s my only real gripe. It comes down to this: do you like action movies, comic books and/or rooting for weird superheroes? Then you?ll probably enjoy Hellboy.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle.


Go for it! Much Better than the 2-Disc Special Edition!   August 14, 2004
 45 out of 47 found this review helpful

The Director's Cut release completes with an unrated, extended cut of the film, in total about 132 minutes (10 min. more than the special edition). This DVD comes with 3 discs, most of them are same as the 2-disc special edition (feel free to read my review on Hellboy Two-Disc Special Edition), but this adds alot of extra brand new special features, all new director's commentary, production design, workshops, deleted scenes, etc. This edition details are roughly shown below:

[Disc 1]
- Director's Commentary: new commentary from Guillermo del Toro, exclusively for the Director's Cut DVD
- Composer's Commentary with isolated score
- Video Introduction to Disc 1 by Guillermo del Toro
- DVD ROM: Director's Notebook, Printable Script and expanded Script Supervisor's Book
- Eight Branching DVD Comics by Mike Mignola: A never-been-done DVD feature containing eight Branching DVD comics by Mike Mignola - an onscreen look at Hellboy comic books with all new expanded text from Guillermo del Toro
- Right Hand of Doom: Set Visits and Factoids
- Expanded Storyboards: picture-in-picture storyboard track plays simultaneously with the film
- Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1)

[Disc 2]
- Hellboy: The Seeds of Creation
- Four Animatics - computer-generated animated scene breakdowns. The next level in storyboarding. Director's use them to help visualize what some of the more complicated shots will look like.
- Five Board-A-Matics: side-by-side comparison of scenes with the animated storyboards
- Weblink: Hellboy merchandise
- Three deleted scenes with optional commentary
- Scene deconstruction: director Guillermo del Toro walks us through the evolution of a scene from his sketches to the storyboards to the finished scene
- Kroenen's Lair: four storyboard to film comparisons
- Maquette Rotations Gallery
- Poster Explorations for the Hellboy theatrical campaign
- Filmographies
- Previews

[Disc 3]
- Cast Video Commentary with Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor and Rupert Evans
- Production Workshop featurettes
- Q&A Archive: Comic Con 2002 featuring Guillermo del Toro, Ron Perlman and Mike Mignola
- A Quick Guide to Understanding Comics with Scott McCloud
- Video Introduction to Disc 3 by Ron Perlman
- Production Design Photo Gallery
- Mike Mignola Pre-Production Artwork
- Conceptual Art Galleries

Overall, it is a great movie with lots of extra freebies features. If you are the Hellboy comic fans, go for it! If you already own a copy of the 2-Disc Special Edition, you may not find this worth the money, but if you don't have a copy yet, this is a no-wrong choice!

*** Otto Yuen's DVD Special Rating for Hellboy (Director's Cut) ***
1. Film Rewatchability: MEDIUM-LOW
2. DVD Featurability: EXCELLENT
3. Picture Quality: EXCELLENT
4. Sound Quality: EXCELLENT

(Reviewed by Otto Yuen, 14-Aug-2004)



Somewhat Disappointing   April 21, 2004
 33 out of 38 found this review helpful

I didn't have much background about Hellboy going into the movie. All I knew of it was from the trailers that I had seen and the cool action figures you can buy at the toy stores. However, the action looked quite good and I am always willing to give these types of movies a go. However, after watching the movie, the best part of the 2 hours I spent at the theatre was the Spider-man 2 preview. I found that the movie was quite simplistic and left me feeling unsatisfied. The storyline was too simple. And the climatic battle was short and too easy. The character relationships were too shallow. We didn't see much of the relationship between Hellboy and his father although it is implied that there is a strong bond. We didn't see much interaction between the two characters. The relationship between Hellboy and Liz was an odd one. We know that Hellboy loves her but we don't get a real sense of how she feels towards him or any of their history together. The relationship between hellboy and his new companion is also under-developed. We weren't told why that guy was chosen by Hellboy's father, only that he was "handpicked". And he didn't do anything to affirm that he was special in any way, other than try to move in on Hellboy's girl (***GIGGLING***). There were also aspects of the movie that were unexplained. For instance, how did the cross raise the russian corpse from the dead. What exactly was that giant creature in the end. In summary, I found this movie to be mildly entertaining, but nothing that will be long lasting in my memory. Go see it if you like superheroes or action, but don't expect too much.


Hellboy for Earth   June 12, 2008
 33 out of 47 found this review helpful

News flash! The Nazis tried to open up hell! And that's just for starters!

What determines a man? That is the question posed at the beginning and the ending of this fun flick steeped in horror and sci-fi and poured out as a quaffable entertainment. I was pleasantly surprised.

Ron Perlman glows as Hellboy, aptly named as the only thing to survive the explosion to close the gate to Hell. Those closing it are American agents from the Bureau of the Paranormal situated in the States. After defeating the Nazis in the opening scene, they manage to capture little Hell baby who is so cute with his red skin and huge right clay hand and horn knobs on his forehead. Th agents from the Bureau of the Paranormal take him home. After all, he is, well, paranormal.

Hellboy grows up with two companions: Abe Sapiens, sort of amphibious man, and Elizabeth, a firestarter. The professor teaches each how to control and utilize their special skills. The viewer learns this during the rolling of the story. We next meet Hellboy as an adult--and here I was expecting fearful scenes, but Hellboy loves cats. That settled it for this viewer. Cats everywhere in his cozy apartment. The professor has trained Hellboy to eliminate monsters. But that is how he is trained. The question again: What manner of man is he?

The question is answered in the last action scene. John, the agent assigned as his special assistant makes the case that a man is determined by his choices, what decisions he makes. Man is not destined to be one thing or another. There has always been choice. The fact that the choice is played out in battle with a multitude of hell creatures and a hell monster makes the decision even more memorable.

This is a highly recommended film! It is campy, creepy, and with context and comraderie. It't quite different from what you might expect!