HELLBOY
* * ½ (two and one half stars)
Big-hearted but derivative supernatural adventure.
Running time: 118 minutes. Rated PG-13 (violence). At the E-Walk, the Astor Plaza, the Union Square, others.
WRITER-DIRECTOR Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy” is surprisingly enjoyable, as adaptations of cult comic books go, thanks to a sense of humor all too rare in the genre, winning performances by Ron Perlman and Selma Blair, and a sweet romance of the kind that made “Spider-Man” a richer experience than its competitors.
But the extreme familiarity of its premise and plot land “Hellboy” firmly in the comic-book tradition.
Indeed, “Hellboy” is basically an occult version of “X-Men,” with John Hurt taking the Patrick Stewart role of a fatherly professor with an English accent.
Hellboy is a demon, who was taken as a baby from the depths of hell by the Nazis at the end of World War II with the help of evil Russian monk Grigori Rasputin (yes, he’s alive).
But instead of bringing about the apocalypse for Hitler, Hellboy was rescued by Professor Trevor Broom (Hurt) of the FBI’s supersecret Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
Under the professor’s tutelage, Hellboy became the key member of a secret team of heroes – including telepathic merman Abe Sapien (played by Doug Jones, and voiced by David Hyde Pierce) and “pyrokinetic” firestarter Liz Sherman (Selma Blair).
Enormously strong, with a hand made of stone and horns that he files down in order to fit in, the grown-up Hellboy (a perfectly cast Ron Perlman) is a sardonic, cigar-chomping but sweet-natured testament to nurture over nature.
When he’s not bashing or shooting monsters, humanity’s demon eats vast amounts of pizza, watches many televisions simultaneously and plays with his beloved cats.
But Hellboy ages more slowly than humans, and his emotions are those of a teenager. He therefore needs careful handling by Broom and by his new FBI partner, John Myers (Rupert Evans), a recent academy graduate.
Both Hellboy and Myers have crushes on Sherman, whose lack of control over her powers has driven her to leave the BPRD for a mental hospital.
Soon all of them have to leave the BPRD’s underground hideout to battle Sammael – an almost indestructible evil creature unleashed by Rasputin (Karel Rodin).
But that’s only the beginning of Rasputin’s plan to bring about the end of the world – which also requires bringing Hellboy back to the side of evil.
The task of defeating Rasputin and his minions (including a Nazi ice-maiden and a mandroid with a clockwork heart and sand for blood) is made harder by the obstructive hostility of FBI director Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor).
“Hellboy” is less gory than del Toro’s “Blade II,” but its violence more than deserves a PG-13 rating.
Unfortunately, the final act in a vast stone complex underneath a Russian cemetery makes less and less sense, as the special effects battles become ever more lavish.