Hellboy (film)
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| Hellboy | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster |
|
| Directed by | Guillermo del Toro |
| Produced by | Lawrence Gordon Lloyd Levin Mike Richardson |
| Written by | Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro Story: Guillermo del Toro Peter Briggs Comic Book: Mike Mignola |
| Starring | Ron Perlman Doug Jones Selma Blair Ladislav Beran John Hurt Rupert Evans Jeffrey Tambor |
| Music by | Marco Beltrami |
| Cinematography | Guillermo Navarro |
| Editing by | Peter Amundson |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 2, 2004 |
| Running time | Theatrical Cut: 122 min. Director's Cut 132 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $66 million |
| Gross revenue | $99,623,958 |
| Followed by | Hellboy II: The Golden Army |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Hellboy is a supernatural action-thriller, directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film based is on the Dark Horse Comics work Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola.
Released in 2004, it grossed $60 million at the U.S. box office, and $100 million worldwide[1] and was favourable with critics. A sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, is scheduled to be released on July 11, 2008.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
 |
The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
In 1944, aided by the German Nazis' military and scientific departments researching the occult, the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, long thought dead, has spent five years building a dimensional portal device on an island off the coast of Scotland. He intends to use the huge machine to bring about the destruction of Earth by awakening the Ogdru Jahad (The Seven Gods of Chaos), monstrous entities that have been imprisoned and asleep since an undisclosed time. Rasputin's magical abilities alone can't sustain the power the portal requires to remain open, which is why he uses the device to amplify and enhance his abilities. As his time to open the portal nears, he turns his attentions to his servant and lover, Ilsa von Haupstein, a member of the Nazi party, and grants her eternal life, youth and beauty (along with the will to serve only him). Also in his employ is Colonel Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, a notorious assassin. Kroenen has been decorated by Adolf Hitler for his work as one of the Nazi Party's most brutal leaders, and is director of the Thule Occult Society, the Nazis's occult research division. He has been aiding Rasputin in the construction of the portal by supplying personnel and materials.
However, the United States has become aware of the plan and sent forces to disrupt it, along with a young doctor, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, who is well-versed in terms of magic and sorcery. After deploying on the island, they watch in silence as Rasputin activates the portal and announces that "what [he] is about to do, can never be undone." Bruttenholm knows that after establishing the portal, Rasputin is vulnerable because he can't simply disengage the link. At this point, fighting breaks out between the Nazi and Allied soldiers. In the midst of the battle, Bruttenholm manages to throw a hand grenade at the portal device. Kroenen goes after the grenade but is unable to reach it under the spinning machinery, parts of which slice off portions of his right hand. He subsequently becomes impaled by a rebar after the grenade detonates. As the portal collapses, Rasputin is sucked into it, seemingly killed. Ilsa escapes and Bruttenholm observes that Kronen has seemingly survived his impaling, extracted himself from the rebar and disappeared.
Bruttenholm orders the soldiers to maintain a lookout around the area, as anything could have come through the portal due to the length of time Rasputin successfully held it open. The doctor's suspicions are confirmed when he and a photographer/soldier discover a bright red infant demon with a right hand seemingly made from stone moving among the crypt they are searching. Saving the child from being shot to death by the other soldiers, Bruttenholm coaxes it into his arms with a Baby Ruth candy bar. Bruttenholm discovers that the demon is a boy, and later on that morning the soldiers all make the child of Hell their official mascot, giving it the nickname "Hellboy."
Sixty years later, a young FBI agent named John Myers is sent from Quantico, Virginia to a building in Newark, New Jersey which is identified as Squeaky Clean Waste Management Services. This building is actually the location of the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense, which is run by Professor Bruttenholm. Bruttenholm informs Myers about their functions, then leaves him to be introduced to Hellboy through another agent, named Clay. Clay is Hellboy's primary bodyguard and housekeeper; he makes sure that Hellboy doesn't go AWOL. Also employed with the BPRD is a fish-like being named Abe Sapien, who has very advanced psychic abilities, and Liz Sherman, a pyrokinetic who has yet to learn to control her firestarting abilities and is implied to have unintentionally injured people when overly emotional. Liz has recently quit the bureau (for the thirteenth time) and checked herself into a mental hospital in an effort to protect others from herself. Despite regular visits and coaxing from Hellboy, she is determined not to return this time.
Meanwhile, Kroenen and Ilsa, who have not aged, have found a sacred cave and maze in the mountains of Moldavia. Kroenen deceives and stabs their guide to death, spilling his blood into an engraved portal, thereby resurrecting Rasputin. Rasputin and his companions travel to New York and the Machen Library of Paranormal Artifacts. There, they release a demon known as Sammael, who resembles a hell-hound with a distinct insectoid appearance and, because of magical influence from Rasputin himself, now possesses the ability to split his essence, generating two Sammaels for every one that is killed. Rasputin then visits Liz as she sleeps, subconsciously reactivating her powers, causing the near-total destruction of the hospital. Afterwards, Myers visits her and convinces her to return to the bureau, at least in the short term.
Hellboy has to defend the city, battling the Sammaels through alleys, streets and the subway, while trying to protect his friends from each attack. He and the team are first employed on a mission to the museum where he encounters the first Sammael. Hellboy later discovers that the Sammaels have spawned eggs in the city sewers. He, Sapien and a group of agents go to the sewers. Sapien is badly wounded, and Hellboy and Clay pursue Kroenen who appears just in front of them. The two get separated and Hellboy confronts a Sammael in a train station, which he ends up killing (not noticing that two more are born). Clay, waiting for Hellboy in the sewers, is confronted again by Kroenen. Attempting to shoot Kronen, who appears immune to bullets (though he receives wounds that appear to be full of sand), Clay is stabbed by Kroenen repeatedly and falls unconscious. Kroenen, whose ancient body is now run by mechanisms, then shuts himself down and pretends to be defeated just before Hellboy arrives and calls for medivac, which sees Kronen's 'corpse' removed to the bureau. At the bureau, Director Tom Manning reveals that Sapien is going to be okay but that two agents died and that Clay won't survive to see the morning, saying Hellboy's recklessness makes him responsible. Hellboy gets mad and threatens Manning, just as Liz returns, his shock at her arrival causing him to relent. Liz, however, is disgusted and threatens to leave again just as quickly. Myers, in an effort to help her overcome her difficulties with Hellboy, offers to take her out for coffee, which makes a misunderstanding Hellboy jealous and he follows them, leaving the bureau unguarded.
While they are away, Rasputin appears at the bureau, reanimating Kroenen before they confront Professor Bruttenholm. Out of twisted respect for Bruttenholm's protection and nurturing of Hellboy, Rasputin promises him a quick death, but first offers him a vision of the future, showing Hellboy has destroyed the world. Rejecting Rasputin's vision of Hellboy's destiny, Bruttenholm is stabbed in the neck and collapses, clutching a rosary, and dies.
Manning takes over the BPRD and, with the help of Hellboy and the others, manages to find Rasputin based at a mausoleum outside Moscow, Russia. An enraged Hellboy destroys Kroenen once and for all, to avenge the death of his "father", Professor Bruttenholm. Meanwhile Liz, with some help from Myers, lets go of the fear that has prevented her from unleashing her full potential and uses her pyrokinetic powers to encase herself in blue fire, which she uses to incinerate the army of Sammaels. Unfortunately, the effect renders Hellboy, Liz, and Myers unconscious and they are captured by Rasputin and Ilsa. Obsessed with wanting Hellboy to fulfill his destiny, Rasputin sucks Liz's soul out of her body, killing her, and tells Hellboy that Liz will come back to life if he opens the locks of the stone that will open the portal to the Ogdru Jahad. Hellboy, not wanting to lose Liz, transforms into his true power as Anung un Rama (the Beast of the Apocalypse), growing giant red horns, breathing fire, and now wearing the Crown of the Apocalypse. Just before Hellboy opens the final lock with his right hand of doom, Myers reminds him of his father's Catholic faith and tosses Bruttenholm's rosary into Hellboy's grasp, which burns a cross in his palm. He realizes that he has become everything his father didn't want him to be and snaps off his horns, causing the Ogdru Jahad to remain in their crystal prisons. As Rasputin screams his disappointment at Hellboy, Hellboy stabs him with one of his broken horns.
However, Rasputin does not immediately die; he reveals he is possessed by a demon from the Ogdru Jahad, which is presumably how he survived his repeated 'deaths'. The Behemoth bursts out of Rasputin's body, grows to immense size, and destroys Rasputin and Ilsa. Hellboy grabs a stone sword from a nearby statue and attacks the Behemoth's tentacles, then allows himself to be swallowed with a live band of hand grenades. The Behemoth dies in the resulting explosion. Liz's vital signs are gone when Hellboy returns from the fight, but he whispers into her ear and suddenly her life is restored. When she asks how her soul was returned, Hellboy replies that he simply told the creatures from the other side the cost of taking her: "Hey, you on the other side. Let her go. Because for her I'll cross over, and then you'll be sorry." She and Hellboy kiss as she surrounds them in blue flame and our narrator, Myers, tells us what truly makes a man, is "Not how he starts things, but how he chooses to end them."
The film ends with a forgotten Manning lost in the mausoleum, looking to see if there's anyone around.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Ron Perlman | Hellboy |
| Selma Blair | Liz Sherman |
| Ladislav Beran | Kroenen |
| Doug Jones | Abe Sapien |
| John Hurt | Professor Trevor Bruttenholm |
| Rupert Evans | John Myers |
| Karel Roden | Grigori Rasputin |
| Jeffrey Tambor | Tom Manning |
| David Hyde Pierce | Abe Sapien (voice, uncredited) |
[edit] Reception
Hellboy opened on April 2, 2004 where it grossed USD $23.1 million in 3,028 theaters on its opening weekend. It went on to make $59.6 million in North America and $39.6 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $99.3 million.[3]
The film was well received by most critics with an average review score of 79% based on 182 reviews, which earned it a "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[4] Hellboy was also ranked number 13 out of 94 in Rotten Tomatoes' "Comix Worst to Best" countdown.[5]
[edit] Awards and nominations
[edit] Won
- Image Award, 2004
- Best Director - Feature Film.
- Saturn Award, 2005
- Best Make-Up.
[edit] Nominated
- Teen Choice Award, 2004
- Choice Movie - Drama/Action Adventure.
- VES Award, 2005
- Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in a Live Act on Motion Picture.
- IHG Award, 2005
- Best Movie.
- Bram Stoker Award, 2005
- Screenplay.
- Saturn Award, 2005
- Best Fantasy Film.
- Best Special Edition DVD Release.
- Best Costumes.
[edit] References
- ^ "Hellboy". Retrieved on 2006-08-04.
- ^ DiOrio, Carl. "Paramount shuffle delays 'Trek'", The Hollywood Reporter, Nielsen Business Media, 2008-02-14. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ "Hellboy", Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-02-04.
- ^ Hellboy at Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-05-15.
- ^ Giles, Jeff. "Comix Worst to Best", Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-02-04.
[edit] External links
- Hellboy at the Internet Movie Database
- Hellboy at Allmovie
- Hellboy at Rotten Tomatoes
- Hellboy Movies hype at Superhero Hype!
- Hellboy film official site
- Hellboy official site
- The Doug Jones Experience Hellboy film page
- Hellboy at FLAREgamer
- Screenplay - Production Draft
- Detailed Comparison between Theatrical release (PG-13) and Director's Cut
[edit] Trailers
| Preceded by Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed |
Box office number-one films of 2004 (USA) April 4, 2004 |
Succeeded by The Passion of the Christ |
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