More a horror movie than a superhero story, the new Hellboy will be entertaining to some audiences, but it is not a movie for everyone. It has a mix of dark and apocalyptic drama, action hero elements, and corny humor that some fans will love, but others are finding chaotic and unsatisfying.
Hellboy adapts, from the comic series of the same name, the story arcs “The Wild Hunt” and “The Storm and the Fury,” along with some elements from other stories. It simplifies the cast of characters from the source material and re-orders some events, so while some scenes occur almost exactly as they do in the books, others take a very different tone. Fans of the original series may appreciate the details that are faithfully done, but will likely find that the movie lacks the depth of its source material, which relies more heavily on its own continuity as well as using even more elements of Celtic myth and Arthurian legend.
Interestingly, the movie does not start with Hellboy’s origin story. Instead, it opens with Hellboy out on an assignment for the BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense). During this mission, and on Hellboy’s return to BPRD headquarters after it, we see Hellboy as a hard-drinking, frustrated being, who is struggling with who he is supposed to be. For example, he complains about Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, his adoptive father, turning him into a weapon, but at the same time, he seems overly willing to fight. This immature, unsure version of Hellboy is different from the character in the comics, although it at least allows for some amount of character development to happen during the movie.
After this initial introduction, Hellboy heads to England to help some old friends of Professor Bruttenholm deal with a group of giants by participating in the “wild hunt.” During his first meeting with these upper-class Englishmen, we are told the story of Hellboy’s origin: a Nazi attempt to use black magic to find a capability that will enable them to win World War Two opens a crack from which the infant Hellboy had come.
Meanwhile, we see a very different threat unfolding: a being called the Gruagach (a shape-shifting fairy creature from Scottish folklore) is re-assembling an ancient sorceress named Nimue. Nimue is portrayed as having been defeated in the fifth century by King Arthur and Merlin, but as able to become a resurgent threat against all of humanity.
Hellboy ends up in the company of an old friend, Alice, and the two of them, along with BPRD members and British agents, put together an operation to head off Nimue, who is, of course, assembling an army. There is an argument between Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm, and most of the remainder of the movie is a graphic battle with Hellboy, Alice, and BPRD agent Ben Daimio fighting Nimue and her army.
The theme of the movie is Hellboy’s destiny: is he a monster or can he somehow be a good person? In the climactic scene, Professor Bruttenholm tells Hellboy, essentially, to be a man and choose who he will be. Although the plot shows that Hellboy is only half-human, he clearly has free will, and his adoptive father believes that he can be good. His potential is defined by his choices, or as Saint Thomas Aquinas says, “virtue is nothing else than the good use of free-will” and is determined by developing a habit of good actions. Like Hellboy, our choices determine who we are. Through the second half of the movie, Hellboy struggles with temptations, nearly succumbs, and eventually prevails.
Although I enjoyed the movie, any recommendation of it would have to come with multiple caveats.
First, this movie is emphatically not for children or even for many adults. The rating says “strong bloody violence and gore throughout,” and that is no exaggeration. From a very early point in the movie, and all through the final battle, the action is brutal. Even some of the scenes that are not fights have gruesome imagery, most notably at the hut of Baba Yaga. If you are troubled by dark, graphic depictions of supernatural evil, do not watch this movie.
Second, there is at least one depiction of the “good guys” using clearly illicit magic; when Alice first appears, she acknowledges taking money from people to help them contact the spirits of their dead relatives.
Finally, characters on all sides use expletives. While it is not continuous, it is more than occasional.
In short, Hellboy gives us a violent, dark, and bloody confrontation between the forces of evil and the forces of humanity. Overall, I enjoyed it as a fantasy action movie with some redeeming elements, but not everyone will.
Matthew Heffron
Matt Heffron is an Iraq veteran and an attorney. He lives with his wife and nine kids in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and loves Catholic tradition, practicing martial arts, riding motorcycle, and superheroes.