It’s time to call it quits after ‘Hellboy: The Crooked Man’
Image: Source: TMDb
Hellboy: The Crooked Man skipped a cinematic release in America and was only available for viewing direct-to-VOD. You’ll understand why once you’ve watched it.
The original Hellboy movie screened in cinemas during 2004 and was a box office hit. However, over time the fanbase has languished and the question that should be asked is, was this fourth live action entry in the franchise classified as a reboot really necessary? Or was the franchise being milked dry for monetary gain?
For readers who may not be familiar with this franchise, Hellboy is a gentle, yet powerful demon quasi-superhero raised by humans and employed by a government organization B.P.R.D, which sends him on missions to investigate paranormal entities and other related phenomenon.
In this latest edition Hellboy and a female rookie find themselves stranded in a demonic possessed forest in Appalachia after a train accident and naturally encounter something from the dark side – ‘The Crooked Man’, a diabolic supernatural entity which collects souls, alongside a host of evil witches.
And so, the ‘adventure’ begins – or does it? Audiences will soon learn that unfortunately this is a pale imitation of the original. Thirty minutes into the movie their interest may wane and sitting through another 60 minutes of this ‘celluloid tripe’ may prove far too testy.
Jack Kesy portrays Hellboy and has a strong resemblance to Ron Perlman, the actor who played the role in the first two movies. Kesy’s performance is satisfactory, flawlessly adapting to the character and the writers have once again graciously bestowed all the humorously dry funny one liners upon this ‘once-favoured’ character.
There are some insidious demonic body transformation scenes which are effective however many of the sequences involving witches and the paranormal seem fake, leading to the belief that only a small portion of the tight budget was allocated to the special effects unit.
It’s a concern when the horror elements within horror films are simply yawn worthy. The battle sequences involving the witches and the Crooked Man in the fast-paced action sequences just don’t generate much interest, as we’ve seen it all before. However, a pretty yet evil nympho witch oddly does fill the void with some laughs.
Halloween is just around the corner and if you think this may be just the right movie to celebrate the occasion, think again.
★★
In cinemas now.
