Hellboy
***Warning, contains spoilers***
I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, really just for one reason, Ian McShane is in it. Ian isn't just a good actor, he's exceptional, one of the greats and he's British!
Since John Wick came out McShane has made a huge name for himself, funnily enough in the three big things he's in, namely John Wick, American Gods t.v series and Hellboy he plays incredibly similar characters.
In John Wick he's a mysterious character who assists the hero of the movie as a side, but still important character. He does bad to do good. By that I mean there are times that he puts Keanu Reeves character in jeopardy but, he only does it to force the lead character to grow and eventually succeed. In the epic Amazon Prime (in the UK) t.v series American Gods (Season 2 now showing and I strongly recommend it to anyone), he plays Mr Wednesday, a character who from the outside looks like a regular human being but actually he's a traditional God. He puts the hero of the series Shadow Moon in jeopardy on occasion but it's only to eventually win the war against the new Gods that are taking over that could threaten the world.
So, in John Wick and American Gods he plays a character that is mysterious, a bit of an enigma, who can do bad things but only doing those bad things for the greater good. Sounds class doesn't it?
In Hellboy he again plays a similar character. His 'son', Hellboy is actually a demon that the Nazis raised from the depths of Hell to try and turn the second world war in their favour. Ian McShanes character was sent to destroy the Nazis and the demon. However, when it came to it he saw good in the creature he named Hellboy and realised he could raise him to fight the evil creatures that exist that want to take over the world.
In this movie as in his other things I mentioned he causes his son harm by putting him in the path of danger, but he does it because an evil long dead woman has come back to life ready to take over the world.
Sounds good doesn't it? The trailer makes it seem even better, plus it is set in London mostly which is great for the UK and there are appearances from two Eastenders actors, the sight of seeing Mo from Eastenders shooting the evil no longer dead woman with a gun is something I'll never forget and was a big highlight of this movie.
I'm not going to go into many of the others actors in this movie, including the actor that plays Hellboy as they aren't actors I've heard of, but they do an ok ish job with a poor script and cheaply made movie. I will say that Milla Jokovich plays the evil rose from the dead woman and she has been in a fair few movies.
Unfortunately, I'm sad to report the movie wasn't that great. It wasn't truly awful, like the critics have said, (currently rated 15% on Rotten Tomatoes), but it isn't as good as the current audience rating at the time of writing of 65%.
A big, in fact huge problem in this movie is how little the best actor in this movie by far, Ian McShane is used. He is in very few scenes in relation to the whole movie. In John Wick that happens too but it's fine there as Keanu Reeves is an exceptional actor, but when it's a so far average actor I've never heard of, too have the most famous and talented actor in few scenes in the movie is a complete waste and ruins the movie.
The second problem (spoiler alert), is that McShanes character is killed off. What a waste, and the fact that he now won't be in the inevitable sequel (judging by the mid credits scene) to this movie, means I probably won't be watching it. There is a great scene in this movie where, when McShanes character is killed off he comes back and talks Hellboy out of going to the side of the evil raised from the dead woman.
The final problem of this movie is that, unlike most fantasy or super hero movies the special effects are very 90s. By that I mean the bad guys look so fake it's ridiculous and there is a scene where Hellboy fights the giants and I swear you can almost see the line where the giants have been super imposed on the movie in the editing process. Shocking, and criticism needs to go to the special effects and editing teams for that. This movie would have looked great in the 90s, but compared to the special effects used in today's movies, for example Alita: Battle Angel which is the best movie so far this year, Hellboy looks awful.
I am strongly thinking that the budget for this movie was too low, hence the poor quality looking effects, if that is true then shame on the movie company financing the movie. However, if it's just the editing and special effects team being lazy then shame on them. Either way, someone needs to admit and accept fault with this. It's 2019, we demand better quality effects than this.
However, even allowing for my negative criticisms above it is not a truly awful movie. Ian McShanes acting is again truly outstanding and towards the end of the movie when the evil creatures from Hell come out and start killing Londoners it is truly terrifying as for once in those scenes the effects look good. There is a scene where an evil creature rips a humans face off, so maybe all the special effects/CGI budget was saved for the ending scenes from the movie?
All in all this movie is rank average, it isn't truly awful (thanks mostly to the legendary Ian McShane), but it's not great either. I haven't seen the previous Hellboy movies before this reboot but surely they have to be better than this?
The saddest thing is with more spend on special effects and not killing off McShane and involving him in the movie more this movie could have been great. Instead, it's rank average.
Don't waste your money seeing it at the cinema, wait till it comes out on Netflix or Amazon Prime etc. Rank average movie, 3 stars sadly awarded.
*This review is all my own work, please don't reproduce without my permission but please visit my advertisers pages as they help keep the blog going thankyou. :)
I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, really just for one reason, Ian McShane is in it. Ian isn't just a good actor, he's exceptional, one of the greats and he's British!
Since John Wick came out McShane has made a huge name for himself, funnily enough in the three big things he's in, namely John Wick, American Gods t.v series and Hellboy he plays incredibly similar characters.
In John Wick he's a mysterious character who assists the hero of the movie as a side, but still important character. He does bad to do good. By that I mean there are times that he puts Keanu Reeves character in jeopardy but, he only does it to force the lead character to grow and eventually succeed. In the epic Amazon Prime (in the UK) t.v series American Gods (Season 2 now showing and I strongly recommend it to anyone), he plays Mr Wednesday, a character who from the outside looks like a regular human being but actually he's a traditional God. He puts the hero of the series Shadow Moon in jeopardy on occasion but it's only to eventually win the war against the new Gods that are taking over that could threaten the world.
So, in John Wick and American Gods he plays a character that is mysterious, a bit of an enigma, who can do bad things but only doing those bad things for the greater good. Sounds class doesn't it?
In Hellboy he again plays a similar character. His 'son', Hellboy is actually a demon that the Nazis raised from the depths of Hell to try and turn the second world war in their favour. Ian McShanes character was sent to destroy the Nazis and the demon. However, when it came to it he saw good in the creature he named Hellboy and realised he could raise him to fight the evil creatures that exist that want to take over the world.
In this movie as in his other things I mentioned he causes his son harm by putting him in the path of danger, but he does it because an evil long dead woman has come back to life ready to take over the world.
Sounds good doesn't it? The trailer makes it seem even better, plus it is set in London mostly which is great for the UK and there are appearances from two Eastenders actors, the sight of seeing Mo from Eastenders shooting the evil no longer dead woman with a gun is something I'll never forget and was a big highlight of this movie.
I'm not going to go into many of the others actors in this movie, including the actor that plays Hellboy as they aren't actors I've heard of, but they do an ok ish job with a poor script and cheaply made movie. I will say that Milla Jokovich plays the evil rose from the dead woman and she has been in a fair few movies.
Unfortunately, I'm sad to report the movie wasn't that great. It wasn't truly awful, like the critics have said, (currently rated 15% on Rotten Tomatoes), but it isn't as good as the current audience rating at the time of writing of 65%.
A big, in fact huge problem in this movie is how little the best actor in this movie by far, Ian McShane is used. He is in very few scenes in relation to the whole movie. In John Wick that happens too but it's fine there as Keanu Reeves is an exceptional actor, but when it's a so far average actor I've never heard of, too have the most famous and talented actor in few scenes in the movie is a complete waste and ruins the movie.
The second problem (spoiler alert), is that McShanes character is killed off. What a waste, and the fact that he now won't be in the inevitable sequel (judging by the mid credits scene) to this movie, means I probably won't be watching it. There is a great scene in this movie where, when McShanes character is killed off he comes back and talks Hellboy out of going to the side of the evil raised from the dead woman.
The final problem of this movie is that, unlike most fantasy or super hero movies the special effects are very 90s. By that I mean the bad guys look so fake it's ridiculous and there is a scene where Hellboy fights the giants and I swear you can almost see the line where the giants have been super imposed on the movie in the editing process. Shocking, and criticism needs to go to the special effects and editing teams for that. This movie would have looked great in the 90s, but compared to the special effects used in today's movies, for example Alita: Battle Angel which is the best movie so far this year, Hellboy looks awful.
I am strongly thinking that the budget for this movie was too low, hence the poor quality looking effects, if that is true then shame on the movie company financing the movie. However, if it's just the editing and special effects team being lazy then shame on them. Either way, someone needs to admit and accept fault with this. It's 2019, we demand better quality effects than this.
However, even allowing for my negative criticisms above it is not a truly awful movie. Ian McShanes acting is again truly outstanding and towards the end of the movie when the evil creatures from Hell come out and start killing Londoners it is truly terrifying as for once in those scenes the effects look good. There is a scene where an evil creature rips a humans face off, so maybe all the special effects/CGI budget was saved for the ending scenes from the movie?
All in all this movie is rank average, it isn't truly awful (thanks mostly to the legendary Ian McShane), but it's not great either. I haven't seen the previous Hellboy movies before this reboot but surely they have to be better than this?
The saddest thing is with more spend on special effects and not killing off McShane and involving him in the movie more this movie could have been great. Instead, it's rank average.
Don't waste your money seeing it at the cinema, wait till it comes out on Netflix or Amazon Prime etc. Rank average movie, 3 stars sadly awarded.
*This review is all my own work, please don't reproduce without my permission but please visit my advertisers pages as they help keep the blog going thankyou. :)
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