Hellboy

Dir: Guillermo del Toro

2004

*****

There are so many comic that deserve a live-action big screen adaptation but I just can’t see it happening for many of my personal favourites. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought Hellboy would or could have been made into a movie, certainly not a big studio PG13 one. When you talk about comic and superhero adaptations the subject usually revolves around Marvel vs DC, how Marvel got it right and where DC got it wrong. It is becoming a tired conversation to be honest, as much as I love the films. The one thing that really annoys me though is when people spend hours stating how good 2008’s Iron Man is. Yeah, it is good, it was the beginning of something much bigger that we all love but four years before that, one of the greatest comic book adaptations was released and it was a far greater achievement. There is no way you can adapt any of the Hellboy stories into film and there is even less chance you could ever find anyone to portray the character authentically, and yet Guillermo del Toro and Ron Pearlman did just that. It isn’t my favourite superhero/comic book adaptation of all time, it is certainly on the list, but I would argue that it is probably the most accomplished and authentic an adaptation than anything that has come before or after. I think starting off with an adaptation of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction was a clever move, an obvious choice perhaps but certainly not the easiest of the Hellboy stories to adapt. There are aspects of Right Hand of Doom and Box Full of Evil but the core is Seed of Destruction, with a few nods to The Corpse and Pancakes (“Pamcakes”) for the hardcore fans. For an origins story the origin part is kept fairly short. In 1944, with the help of Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, the Nazis build a dimensional portal off the coast of Scotland and intend to free the Ogdru Jahad - monstrous entities imprisoned in deep space straight out of a H.P. Lovecraft story - to aid them in defeating the Allied forces. Rasputin opens the portal with the aid of his disciples, Ilsa von Haupstein and Obersturmbannführer Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, member of the Thule Society and Adolf Hitler's top assassin. An Allied team is sent to destroy the portal, guided by a young scientist named Trevor Bruttenholm, who is well-versed in the occult. The German team is killed and the portal is destroyed - in the process absorbing Rasputin - while Haupstein and Kroenen escape. The Allied team discovers that an infant demon with a right hand of stone has come through the portal; they dub him "Hellboy" and Bruttenholm adopts him. Sixty years later, FBI agent John Myers (Rupert Evens) is transferred to the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) at the request of Bruttenholm (John Hurt), where he meets the adult Hellboy (Pearlman) and a psychic, amphibious humanoid named Abe Sapien (played by Doug Jones and voiced by David Hyde Pierce) . He learns that a third BPRD member, Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), has recently checked into a mental hospital to protect others from her volatile pyrokinetic abilities. Despite regular visits and coaxing from Hellboy, she is determined not to return. Meanwhile, Kroenen and Haupstein resurrect Rasputin in the mountains of Moldova and the three unleash a demon known as Sammael. Rasputin imbues Sammael with the power to reincarnate and split his essence, causing two of the creature's eggs to hatch and mature each time one dies. Rasputin visits Liz as she sleeps, activating her powers and almost destroying the hospital. Myers persuades her to return to the Bureau. Sammael's ability to multiply becomes a problem as Hellboy repeatedly kills it and dozens more are born. Concluding the eggs are in the sewer, Hellboy, Abe and several FBI agents go down the sewer to destroy them. Abe is injured while looking for the eggs, while Kroenen kills most of the agents. Kroenen, whose mutilated body is run by mechanical parts, shuts himself down, pretending to be defeated. Kroenen's body is brought to the bureau. FBI Director Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) is angered by Hellboy's recklessness. Myers takes Liz out for coffee and to talk. Hellboy, jealous, covertly follows them, leaving the bureau unguarded. Kroenen reanimates himself and Rasputin appears at the bureau, confronting Professor Bruttenholm. Rasputin offers him a vision of the future, showing Hellboy is the agent that will destroy the world. However, Bruttenholm tells Rasputin he will always see Hellboy as his son. Rasputin, respecting Bruttenholm for raising Hellboy, directs a quick death. Bruttenholm is stabbed in the neck by Kroenen and dies clutching a rosary. Manning takes over the BPRD and locates Rasputin's mausoleum in an old cemetery outside Moscow, Russia. A team led by Manning and Hellboy enters the mausoleum, but swiftly becomes separated. Hellboy and Manning find their way to Kroenen's lair and kill him by impaling the assassin on a metal spike, then crushing him with a gear. Hellboy reunites with Liz and Myers at Sammael's new nest, but the creatures overwhelm them. Liz uses her pyrokinetic powers to incinerate the Sammaels and their eggs. Hellboy, Liz and Myers lose consciousness and are captured by Rasputin and Haupstein. Rasputin sucks Liz's soul out of her body, then tells Hellboy to release the Ogdru Jahad in return for her soul. Hellboy awakens his true power as Anung un Rama, causing his horns to regrow, and begins to release the Ogdru Jahad. Myers breaks out of his restraints, subdues Haupstein, and reminds Hellboy that he can defy his destiny, throwing Bruttenholm's rosary to him. Remembering his true self and what Bruttenholm brought him up to be, Hellboy breaks off his horns, reseals the Ogdru Jahad and stabs Rasputin in the stomach with one of his broken horns. A very cool moment indeed. Succumbing to his wound, Rasputin allows himself to be possessed by a creature from the Ogdru Jahad. The tentacled Behemoth bursts out of his body and grows to immense size, killing him and Haupstein. Hellboy allows himself to be swallowed by the beast, then detonates a belt of hand grenades and destroys it from the inside. He whispers something in Liz's ear and she is revived. When she asks how her soul was returned, Hellboy replies that he said "Hey, you on the other side, let her go, because for.. for her I'll cross over, and then you'll be sorry'. One of the most romantic moments in a superhero/comic adaptations? I think so. Upon meeting to discuss the movie, Hellboy creator and co-executive producer Mike Mignola and writer/director Guillermo del Toro decided to reveal to each other their choice for the lead role of Hellboy. They both said at the same time, “Ron Perlman”. It was meant to be. del Toro understood Mignola’s creation and Mignola loved what del Toro did with it. This sort of thing never happens and that is why it is so perfect. del Toro kept the producers at bay too, never once compromising the character. When del Toro originally met with producers, many changes to the Hellboy character were suggested. One idea was to have Hellboy be a human who transforms into Hellboy when he gets angry. Another suggestion was that he came from Hell, but was a normal human. del Toro vetoed all such attempts to alter the character. I guess the only real change was the decision to not make the film too bloody, so as to avoid an R-rating. The graphic novels are pretty graphic it has to be said, so they came up with lots of interesting ways of substituting the blood for something else. Ron Perlman suggested that in one fight scene, Hellboy could grab a gumball machine and start beating the monster over the head with it, with the flying gumballs standing in for the blood. They used the idea in another scene, where Hellboy rips a payphone off the wall and beats the monster over the head with the phone, with the coins that go flying out standing in for the blood. It’s not the same as the comic but it still feels fairly authentic and in-line with the humour. My only criticism was that Doug Jones wasn’t allowed to do his own voice. I adore David Hyde Pierce and his voice fit Abe perfectly but he himself decided to go uncredited, as it was Jones who embodied the character and actually, Jones doesn’t sound that different to Hyde Pierce anyway. Apart from that, I consider it the perfect comic adaptation, thanks to understanding, communication and a brilliant team who were all on the same page.