Life is filled with many awkward situations. One of them being a situation where someone shows you work they are so proud of and you cringe smile and hope they don’t notice the failure in your eyes. That is the feeling after leaving Hellboy. The effort put into this movie was high, but the end product falls short on many levels. Taking Hellboy in a different direction was a valid attempt to not be compared to the previous rendition of the franchise, however with so many aspects done poorly it is almost impossible to not appreciate the quality of the originals. It is hard to explain why, but as the credits rolled the feeling was more of pity than disappointment.

David Harbour (Hellboy) put some serious effort into preparation for this role. The grueling physical training, along with hours in makeup. Knowing these facts is what makes it painful to watch his performance fall flat. Normally a solid actor, his portrayal of Hellboy was lacking. Jokes fall flat and you never build a connection to the character. Mix that with sub par makeup and writing to match and you almost feel sorry for the guy. Ian McShane (Professor Broom) is the one glimpse of quality in this film. He has his own cringe moment but not by his doing. Milla Jovovich (Nimue) even joins the pity party with a less than Leelu performance. Poor performances is not the downfall of Hellboy, but did not help the cause in any way.

In many ways this rendition of Hellboy tried to do the opposite of its previous production. They swapped out a more artistic version for a gory version. Swapped a strong story for cheap horror. In doing this the end product fell somewhere near the “Sharknado” of comic book movies. Some people like Sharknado. They have made enough of them to know that. What Sharknado never does though is try to pass itself off as a top tier blockbuster. Those of you that love “bad” movies, especially in the horror genre may enjoy this movie. The increase of gore will be up your alley, but is also why it’s not for children. Whether you want to see this movie out of curiosity, love of the franchise, or a good laugh at a bad movie, it is best doing so from the privacy of your own home. With other good comic movies in the theatre and more coming out in the very near future, you can feel comfortable in taking this one off. If you do go to see Hellboy be sure to leave us your views in the comments or on our voicemail line (815- 905-1414)