HELLBOY

With Ron Perlman, Jon Hurt, Selma Blair
Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro impressed us with his stunning debut Cronos. After that his first big studio pic was Mimic and more recently the Blade sequel (at time of writing I haven't yet seen The Devil's Backbone). Much of the aforementioned flows into this highly stylish, sometimes gruesome flick. Since the second world war there has been a secret paranormal agency keeping evil forces at bay, kind of a mixture of the X-Men and Men In Black (hey, cool title that: X-Men In Black !). The main components of this team comprise our title character (a mean, huge red devil who chooses to file down his horns to try and fit in - hardly!), an aquaman, a pyro-chick and a regular human. The evil, immortal monk Rasputin worked with the Nazis to open a portal to unleash total annihilation on planet earth. The bastard resurfaces with his gang of freaks and the game is on. With great design, costumes, FX and pace, Hellboy is one heck of a ride, Ron Perlman looking comfortable in his red make-up job. With its comic book appeal and hyper elements, there are a few downsides, like the often-crappy one-liners - but as a whole, Hellboy is one entertaining blast.

4 / B
- PB

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