A new chapter in Hellboy live-action cinema. It dials it back quite a bit here from the previous, and is actually not too bad off because of it. Del Toro’s first two were grounded in the folktale origins of the comics but on a really big and fantastical scale that, honestly, was kinda crazy. How can you beat saving the world? Save it again, but with more crazy monsters! Neil Marshall’s version basically fell into the same trap, but made it more serious and horrific. But still, the scale? Too much. Here? A dark folktale, with a few supporting asides. Given the character and the overall story, a better balance.
1959, return mission after capturing a fuckin giant deadly demonic spider. Ridin the hobo train back to base, but things go a bit off. Seems the area they ridin’ through has a bit of an evil stank to it. Hellboy notices. Giant Evil Spider notices. This escalates, throwing them into the deepest parts of Appalachia. Backwoods. A lot of curses and witches seem to be about. And something darker. Much more sinister. And whatever it is, now it has a new giant evil spider pet! Fookin ‘Ell!
Given the smaller scope and studio making it, so smaller budget, that does show a bit, not gonna lie. I like the Hellboy character, Perlman was made for the role, Harbour did a passable job in the 2019 version. Here, I dunno who Jack Kesy is, but again, both in acting and makeup, passable. Smokes too much though. Like, an excessive amount, even for 1959. The other main roles of fellow B.P.R.D. agent Bobbie Jo Song and local Appalachia-guy Tom Ferrell are well done. A few others may be a little...over-zealous in their roles? Some of the budget issues are massaged in editing, so a few too many obvious post effects. The CGI is adequate, it usually does the job fine but a few effects are...ok. Sets and locations are actually pretty good. Overall, despite some of the limitations, it’s a decent chapter of a true Mignola Hellboy story in live-action form, capturing the dark Grimms fairytale nature of the comics in a much less frenetic way than its predecessors.
