The Good Devil

It’s box office “hell” (pun fully intended) for ‘Hellboy,’ the hell-damned Neil Marshall-helmed reboot of the not-quite-franchise spanning two movies directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman back in 2004.  Demonstrating with emphasis that just because something’s been moderately successful over 10 years ago doesn’t mean it will be moderately successful again, the new modestly budgeted ‘Hellboy’ (with a relatively frugal $50 million production budget) bombed badly in theaters in its opening weekend, managing a mere $14.3 million at the North American box office and $10.4 million internationally for a $24.7 million global cume.

 

Without GDT’s and Ron Perlman’s involvement and Marvel’s or DC’s label, ‘Hellboy 2019’ had little chance of success from the outset and lived up to being a dark horse (which is only appropriate since it originated from Dark Horse Comics).  C-listers David Harbour, Milla Jovovich and Ian McShane gave their best in their respective roles as Hellboy, the Blood Queen Nimue and Trevor Bruttenholm but all of it wasn’t enough, nor was the screenplay by Andrew Cosby and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola himself, proving that there is simply no place for third-rate comic book characters in today’s oversaturated superhero movie market.  Haven’t they learned anything from ‘Dredd,’ the equally ill-conceived box office dud in 2012 starring Karl Urban as some supercop/law enforcer in a dystopian future?  Do some market research to make sure people want to see your movie in the first place before making it next time.

 

Having said all that, I rather enjoyed this latest unabashedly R-rated ‘Hellboy’ reboot.  It’s got tongue-in-cheek humor and loads of blood, gory good fun for the entire family (okay, maybe not so much for the kiddies).  I don’t care if its Rotten Tomatoes rating is a paltry 15 percent.  I liked it anyway just as I liked the equally maligned (quite literally with an identical 15 percent RT score) 2013 fantasy gore-fest  'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters' starring Jeremy Renner and my beloved Gemma Arterton.  So the critics can all suck it and go to “hell” (again, pun fully intended).

Grade: B+