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oyceterKeep in mind that I have never read or even heard of the comic prior to this.
I thought that it was an absolutely gorgeous movie, and I adore Hellboy the character completely. He reminds me of Buffy. I mean, if Buffy were big and red and demony and smoked a cigar.
It was such a pretty movie -- the cinematography, the colors. Liz Sherman on fire. Some of the shots looked like they were taken from comic panels in the best possible way. And I loved loved loved the world of Hellboy, the whole occult thing. Plus, evil magic Nazis! I think one of my bulletproof kinks is magic mixed with technology set before the technological age. Or magic in the post-industrialist, pre-urban fantasy stage. Or retro-technology, like the robot in Iron Giant. Anyway, I like that hazy period between the past and the present, when things are still being modernized.
It was also a really frustrating movie too. It was so gorgeous, but the plot was pretty dumb. I think in general self-replicating demon thingys are not scary, because scariness is not really reliant upon sheer number (see: S7 Buffy and the ubervamps of doom). And I got this sense that there was so much more, that there were acres of mythology about the Gods of Chaos and of other dimensions and of men whose blood dried up to sand, and all I got to see was the hunting down and exploding of some monsters!
And I didn't like the ending. I feel when a character is about to unleash the apocalypse and hell on earth to save the soul of the person he loves, said person's soul should not be restored simply by whispering in her ear. Not earned. Plus, blowing up of monsters as a climax for me is, in general, unclimactic. And I felt the final psychological battle for Hellboy was not emphasized enough or built up enough in the beginning to have much tension -- I was in no doubt whatsoever that Hellboy would pick the right side. And they chose to go with the big creepy monsters as villains instead of the more creepy sand guy. And I thought sand guy died too easily.
So my main problem was with the plot, which I felt was too fast and not that thought out. I adored the characters -- loved small moments between Hellboy and Liz at the asylum, loved the masked evil Nazi, loved Hellboy's relationship with his dad. I also loved Hellboy and the director of the FBI finally kind of accepting each other.
So now I really want to read the comic, because I think it can go more into the world and the mythology, and it has lots more space to develop the characters. Except it's driving me nuts because I can't find a single fan site! Every time I google, only movie sites come up!
I found the official site, except they don't even have something like pictures of the characters and a small synopsis! I can't figure out what's going on at all, and I have no idea where to start looking. And right now I am too cheap to buy the comic -- may end up camping out in a bookstore to read it and see if I like it.
I thought that it was an absolutely gorgeous movie, and I adore Hellboy the character completely. He reminds me of Buffy. I mean, if Buffy were big and red and demony and smoked a cigar.
It was such a pretty movie -- the cinematography, the colors. Liz Sherman on fire. Some of the shots looked like they were taken from comic panels in the best possible way. And I loved loved loved the world of Hellboy, the whole occult thing. Plus, evil magic Nazis! I think one of my bulletproof kinks is magic mixed with technology set before the technological age. Or magic in the post-industrialist, pre-urban fantasy stage. Or retro-technology, like the robot in Iron Giant. Anyway, I like that hazy period between the past and the present, when things are still being modernized.
It was also a really frustrating movie too. It was so gorgeous, but the plot was pretty dumb. I think in general self-replicating demon thingys are not scary, because scariness is not really reliant upon sheer number (see: S7 Buffy and the ubervamps of doom). And I got this sense that there was so much more, that there were acres of mythology about the Gods of Chaos and of other dimensions and of men whose blood dried up to sand, and all I got to see was the hunting down and exploding of some monsters!
And I didn't like the ending. I feel when a character is about to unleash the apocalypse and hell on earth to save the soul of the person he loves, said person's soul should not be restored simply by whispering in her ear. Not earned. Plus, blowing up of monsters as a climax for me is, in general, unclimactic. And I felt the final psychological battle for Hellboy was not emphasized enough or built up enough in the beginning to have much tension -- I was in no doubt whatsoever that Hellboy would pick the right side. And they chose to go with the big creepy monsters as villains instead of the more creepy sand guy. And I thought sand guy died too easily.
So my main problem was with the plot, which I felt was too fast and not that thought out. I adored the characters -- loved small moments between Hellboy and Liz at the asylum, loved the masked evil Nazi, loved Hellboy's relationship with his dad. I also loved Hellboy and the director of the FBI finally kind of accepting each other.
So now I really want to read the comic, because I think it can go more into the world and the mythology, and it has lots more space to develop the characters. Except it's driving me nuts because I can't find a single fan site! Every time I google, only movie sites come up!
I found the official site, except they don't even have something like pictures of the characters and a small synopsis! I can't figure out what's going on at all, and I have no idea where to start looking. And right now I am too cheap to buy the comic -- may end up camping out in a bookstore to read it and see if I like it.
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