The plot goes something like this: Nazis release Hellboy who joins the good guys. 60 years later Hellboy must fight creatures created by Rasputin (the bad guy who was a part of the Nazis). That's really about it. There are other things within the movie too, but this is just the main idea.

I liked Hellboy, but to me it didn't comare to the likes of other recent comic movies like X-Men and Spiderman. It was okay. At least it was better than the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I liked the Hellboy character and pretty much most of the other characters. The special effects are awesome and the action scenes are pretty cool too. Some of the movie is confusing though and that one bad guy with the blades just irritated me (and his part didn't make any sense). I also wish that the fire girl and the fish man had more of a part in the movie. But, it is all okay. It is a comic movie anyway and shouldn't be taken too seriously anyway. It is a fun movie, but just a bit too lengthy.

Well, I have seen the movie....... (Rating: 3.00)
Review : Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is a reformed demon, the product of Nazis mucking around with the occult during WWII. He now works as a monster-killer in a secret US government facility overseen by the wizened professor (John Hurt) who discovered him. It seems Rasputin (yes, that Rasputin) plans to unleash the apocalypse, so it's time for Hellboy to go to work.
I was prepared to dislike this intensely, another humorless comic-book adaptation, but I enjoyed it . Hellboy, though alive for 60 years, is barely more than a teenager it seems, and Perlman gives him a wonderfully funny crankiness. We take unexpected detours into romance-- Hellboy competes for the love of Liz (Selma Blair), a sexy firestarter, with an FBI agent (Rupert Evans)-- and physical comedy. There's a wonderful scene on a rooftop between Perlman and a little boy that's as affecting and funny as anything I've ever seen in a movie of this type. It's a popcorn movie, but a superior popcorn movie. One fault: the ending drags on too long. Also with Jeffrey Tambor and the voice of David Hyde Pierce as Hellboy's sidekick Abe Sapien (a psychic fish-man). Recommended.

Great Casting (Rating: 3.00)
Review : One of the better Marvel Comic / Movie crossovers of late with a powerhouse performance by Ron Perlman in the title role, who delivers the character which such panache, you can forgive the other disappointing aspects of the movie. A typical pulp storyline finds the birth of Hellboy by a Nazi ritual interuppted by well to do professor figure who he comes to know as father, and then we are moved hence 60 odd years. Hellboy is now on our side thankfully, but we are then only to find (shock horror) that the original protagonists have re-emerged to finish their aim of World destruction yada yada yada. Top heavy on the SfX as you would expect, but the success lies in the movies persistent, and almost self effacing script; that refuses to try and overlay a topical, or politically correct message, as so many other movies of the genre have in the past. The film seems to know it's implausible and often silly beyond belief, but the acting is perfectly executed. Any moments of stale screen time are soon enlivened with some beautifully delivered lines, again by Perlman, who almost single handedly carries the whole picture. A lot of fun here for young and old, and should appeal to those outside the 14-22 demographic for whom it seems to have been intended for by the director. Your intellect won't be tested too much, but if you know that going in, you should enjoy this movie. Deserves 3.5 stars, but not quite 4.

If you want a good time....watch Hellboy! (Rating: 4.00)
Review : Hellboy has to be one of the best experiences I've had at the movies. It's exciting, funny and is the best movie based on a comic since X-Men 2. For a move that is only about an hour and 50 minutes, Guillermo del Toro (Mimic, Blade 2), throws a lot at you in just one movie. The beginning throws so much at you in like 5 minutes that you feel like you just watched a whole movie when it didn't really even start yet. Guillermo del Toro is a director that's great with giving the viewer interesting and scary creatures in all his movies. He knows how to give you the feeling that what your looking at is real. It's too bad that George Lucas isn't letting anyone else direct the prequels because Guillermo del Toro would probably make one awesome StarWars movie. When you see his name there as director you know you're in for a ride.

Anyway Hellboy is about a demon child who is released from a portal in the early 1900's. Nazi's opened the portal trying to bring hell on earth. A scientist finds the demon child and raises him to be good and to fight evil. The child grows up to be Hellboy (Ron Perlman of Blade 2 and City of the Lost Children), a big red demon with broken off horns and an attitude. He has a soft spot however and that soft spot is what keeps him good. He's also in love with a girl who can produce fire (Selma Blair. The movie spends a little too much time with him being jealous that she might have feelings for the new guy on the team though. However Hellboy being jealous is pretty funny and makes for some entertaining scenes so it still works. Ron Perlman is fantastic as him. He's witty, scary and loveable all in one. The movie should not only be seen for the action, cool creatures and del Toro's direction but for Perlman's performance as well.

Just to let you know (Rating: 4.00)
Review : A 3-disc edition of HellBoy is coming out in November. It'll have 15 minutes added into the film, a new commentary track, and a few other extra features and bonuses. So you might want to wait on getting this if you'd rather get the full version. Sheesh, when are studios going to quit doing this? It's bad enough there're going to be 4+ other releases of Kill Bill...

Stylish fun (Rating: 3.00)
Review : "There is a place, a dark place, where ancient evil slumbers, waiting to be awakened," a character warns in the first minutes of "Hellboy." And if you think that ancient evil is going to continue slumbering through a film with a title like "Hellboy," you must be dreaming. Awaken it does -- on two fairly spectacular occasions -- and to defeat it, the world must call upon a guy who could squash Spider-Man with one sweep of his rock-hard right hand, a scarlet-skinned avenger who makes the Hulk look not-so-incredible.

Hellboy, as readers of the Dark Horse comic know, is a half-man, half-demon and, as played by Ron Perlman, he's a whole lotta fun to hang around with. Although he's got brute strength to spare, his fireproof hide hides a tender side: He vainly tries to sand down the pair of horns that keep threatening to sprout out of his broad forehead, he consumes basins of chili and mini-mountains of nachos in one sitting, and he enjoys the company of ... kittens.

The dream project of the gifted Mexican screenwriter and director Guillermo del Toro ("Mimic," "Blade II"), "Hellboy" initially appears to be a flashy mishmash of elements lifted from "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "X-Men," "The Matrix" and other fantasies. But stick with it. Somehow del Toro gives the movie unexpected rhythm and spirit; don't be surprised if you get caught up in this weirdly affecting tale about a superhero bedeviled by his need for acceptance and companionship.

The screenplay by del Toro begins in 1944, as the Nazis and the diabolical Grigori Rasputin (yes, the Mad Monk himself) combine science and black magic to open a portal to Hell. The results are dire for all concerned, and in the midst of the mess a miniature red menace manages to cross over from the dark side.

Adopted by paranormal expert Professor Broom (John Hurt), the little creature grows up to be Hellboy, the secret weapon of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, an organization dedicated to stamping out monsters whenever and wherever they appear. They're a low-profile bunch. Instead of the supersonic jet the X-Men travel around in, the BPRD team disguises itself as a band of trashmen.

In the rare moments when he's not fending off attacks by the sinister forces of Rasputin (Karel Roden), Hellboy attempts to deal with new BPRD trainee John Myers (British TV star Rupert Evans), who has managed to win the trust of Hellboy's dreamgirl, Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), a sullen soul cursed with pyrokinesis: Whenever her temper flares, everything goes up in flames. The bizarre love triangle is delightfully well-played, with Hellboy fuming and fussing as he stalks John and Liz. "When am I ever gonna get a girl?" Hellboy complains. "I drive around in a garbage truck."

"Hellboy" also introduces Abe Sapien, an intellectually inclined gill-man/psychic who speaks with the voice of David Hyde Pierce; an undead assassin with a horribly mutilated body, veins full of dust and a clockwork heart that keeps him running; and Sammael, a hell-hound capable of resurrecting itself (or quickly reproducing copies of itself) each time it seems to be near death. Avid readers of the comics will be pleased to know creator Mike Mignola served as a visual consultant here, and he's at least partially responsible for the film's sleek, dark, glossy/grungy look.

Certainly not everything works as well as it should. The humor, which often gives scenes a welcome edge, sometimes gets perilously close to the thudding one-liners that eventually sent Arnold Schwarzenegger into exile in the California governor's mansion. An insufferable bureaucrat (Jeffrey Tambor) who abruptly disappears from the storyline -- a plot point that's ridiculed during the end credits -- is an extraneous annoyance that slows down the action and should have been cut before shooting began.

But for every little flaw or misstep, "Hellboy" manages to come up with something unexpectedly off-the-wall to compensate for it, such as the inclusion of 1940s chanteuse Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" on the soundtrack, or a fistfight that somehow continues, even as the participants are hurtling down an elevator shaft.

Hellboy (Rating: 5.00)
Review : As far as Comic book movies go, this was extremely well done. Del Toro did a marvelous job in bringing this to the big screen. Ron Pearlman was superb in the title role as Hellboy, just as Michael Keaton was to Batman. The plot was great, taken right from one of Mike Mignola's stories. This is pure escapism at it's best (as all comic book movies are). Just enjoy it for what it is. If you want to go further, just head to Borders and read a copy of any of Mike Mignola's Hellboy graphic novels for free (there are about 6 available). In closing, I really enjoyed the film and will buy the DVD, although I'm hoping for a directors cut extended version (I'm hoping they'll do one). Like I said, just enjoy it folks!