Every so often we’re treated with a comic book adaptation that manages to perfectly capture the spirit of the book it’s adapted from while also fundamentally changing the majority of the story’s details. A great comic adaptation is one that stands out as an entirely separate entity while also being different enough from the source material. Some fans may cry foul at the integral details that have been changed, while others embrace it and learn to love the new universe their favorite characters have to play in. The perfect example of this is Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy.
I’ve got to be honest, the first time I saw the film adaptation of Hellboy, I had never once picked up a Hellboy comic. I knew about it, but I’d never actually read it personally. After seeing the film, that changed. I couldn’t get enough of the stuff (so I suppose that was a win for Dark Horse’s marketing team). But after hunting down and reading every issue of Hellboy available at the time, I was absolutely shocked to see how much the movie differed from the book.
Kroenen was a minor character that literally just stood around most of the time and not the badass stealth assassin we’d seen in the film version, Professor Broom died off quite early in the comics and wasn’t a very big part of Hellboy’s life, and Hellboy and Liz were not even remotely love interests. I was amazed by how different the books were from the film, but I quickly realized that it didn’t matter; they were both magical.
As far as movies themselves go, Hellboy is still considered by many to be one of the better pre-2008 comic book adaptations. It’s a well-rounded mixture of action, comedy, and supernatural fun that starts off with a bang and remains steady throughout. The writing is solid, as is expected from Guillermo Del Toro who also directed the film. Del Toro’s directing is stunning as usual with some truly unique visuals and creative perspectives. Hellboy is a visually striking spectacle of a movie that doesn’t hold back, which should come as little surprise if you’ve ever seen Del Toro’s other films.
Hellboy features a great blend of practical and CG effects that really made the creatures we see seem like living breathing things in a way few films manage to capture them. The practical effects used in the film were some of the most impressive of their time, but then again, they’re so rarely utilized in this day and age that it’s exciting just to see them implemented so heavily. The Sammael creature design is astonishing and is one of the best movie monsters we have seen in years. The makeup effects used for Hellboy himself were also surprisingly good! I’d have never known that was Ron Perlman under there if his voice wasn’t so distinct.
How about the cast? Ron Perlman is pretty definitively THE Hellboy. I can’t imagine anyone else filling the role quite as well (especially after the recent franchise reboot from 2019 starring David Harbour in the role). The rest of the B.P.R.D. is rounded out by the lovely Selma Blair as pyro-kinetic Liz Sherman and an amalgamation of Doug Jones and David Hyde Pierce as the amphibious Abe Sapien.
Abe Sapien was done pretty much perfectly with Jones in the costume-suit and Hyde Pierce doing the voice work, but as we learned in the sequel, Jones would have been fine voicing Sapien on his own; making Hyde Pierce largely unnecessary. It is worth noting that David Hyde Pierce himself agreed with this and refused to be credited for his work on this film as he felt the role truly belonged to Doug Jones.
We also get Rupert Evans as the B.P.R.D. ‘rookie’ Agent Meyers; Jeffrey Tambor as the B.P.R.D.‘s government liaison Tom Manning; and the legendary John Hurt as Hellboy’s adoptive father and head of the B.P.R.D. Professor Broom.
Let’s not forget about our villains, with Karel Roden as the resurrected Grigori Rasputin and Ladislav Beran as Karl Kroenen. Both of our antagonists were portrayed as menacingly as you would hope for any villain in a comic adaptation. With a cast like this, it’s not hard to see why Hellboy was so well received by fans. Even with the few weak links, there really isn’t a whole lot to complain about.
So how does it hold up? It’s been nearly two decades since Hellboy hit theatres, and while that doesn’t seem like a long time, what the people in Hollywood can do now has evolved so far beyond what was available back in 2004. Hell, we’ve already had a failed franchise reboot of the character since then!
That said, Hellboy definitely still stands out as one of the better comic book adaptations to date. Even though the story differs greatly from its source material, Del Toro and his amazing cast manage to create a whole new universe for Hellboy fans to enjoy that feature slightly different but still recognizable versions of the characters we already know and love.
If you liked this Rewind Review, be sure to check out the whole series as we take a look back at some of our favorite corners of popular culture from years past!
