Hellboy

The bad guys in this effects-heavy summer's-come-early action flick are real eye-rollers: occultish kung-fu Nazis and a resurrected Rasputin who want to open an intergalactic wormhole to bring about Armageddon. But writer-director Guillermo del Toro (Blade II, The Devil's Backbone) has a genuine taste for the film's underground-comics origins and its muscle-bound, red-skinned, horn-headed, demon-spawn antihero--a paranormal, crime-fighter called Hellboy--and the film boasts a reasonably sharp, sardonic rhythm full of imagination. Perfectly cast in the title role is the mountainous Ron Perlman (TV's Beauty and the Beast), whose rumbling, ironic lilt and cynical cigar-chomping lend charisma to this supernatural superhero whose first choice would be to stay home eating giant bowls of chili and watching TV--but OK, fine, he'll help save the world too. Although the picture succumbs at times to comic book hyperbole and action-movie clichés, it also rises above similar genre efforts with unsuspected depth and entertaining chutzpah--that is, until the I-don't-know-how-else-to-end-my-movie closing voiceover. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD extras on this double-disc set include a brief intro by director Guillermo del Toro, audio commentaries (a “Creator” track featuring del Toro and comic book writer Mike Mignola, and a “Cast” track with costars Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, and Rupert Evans), an eight-section branching DVD comics feature (all-new story segments by del Toro and Mignola, accessible during the film or from the index), eight “The Right Hand of Doom” set visit segments (exclusive behind-the-scenes segments accessible during the film or from the index), a storyboard track (synchronizing storyboard artist Simeon Wilkins' work to the film), four “From the Den: Hellboy Recommends…” animated shorts featuring Gerald McBoing Boing (7-8 mins. each), an intro by costar Selma Blair, the “Egg Chamber”--three deleted scenes with optional commentary by del Toro (less than 3 min. each), the 27-part making-of documentary “The Seeds of Creation” (143 min.), cast/crew filmographies and illustrated and text character bios. IN addition, the “Kroenen's Lair” section includes intros, a scene progression sequence, four animatics sequences, five motion “Board-a-matics” sequences, four storyboard comparisons (using the angle function), a six-segment “Maquette Video Gallery” of 3-D character sculptures, a print campaign gallery, trailers, TV spots, DVD-ROM features (including the printable original screenplay, script supervisor's notebook, and excerpts from del Toro's director's notebook), and a weblink. Bottom line: a whopping extras package for a better-than-average comic book superhero flick.] (R. Blackwelder)