What would we have done without Nazis? Aside, of course, from avoiding the atrocities of World War II, the absence of Nazis would create a serious problem for writers of action-adventure movies over the last 50 years. It's a testament to the power of the National Socialist Party that, even in 2004, it is being used to supply villains in major motion pictures like Hellboy.
Not to imply that Hellboy represents something like a moral victory for Hitler; it's far too lightweight to have any meaning that serious. But it does represent a tradition of pulp moviemaking of sorts, and shares plenty of elements with films like the Indiana Jones trilogy, which in turn take off from old Saturday afternoon serials. Like the Indiana Jones series, Hellboy features eeeeeevil Nazi scientists trying to use occult secrets to gain an advantage in their war against the Allies. In this case, the bad guys team up with near-immortal Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden), famed Russian adviser to the czar. With his help, they open a portal to Hell with the intention of destroying the world (and rebuilding it in the fuehrer's image—it's not quite clear). Instead, they only bring back a cuddly little baby demon which the Allies rescue and nickname Hellboy.
Cut to the present day, and Hellboy is now a hell-man, big and red and cigar-chomping, and played by hulking Ron Perlman. Raised by avuncular researcher Dr. Broom (John Hurt), Hellboy is the main weapon of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, one of those secret government agencies which always pops up in these sorts of movies. He's teamed with a straight-arrow FBI agent (Rupert Evans), an amphibious creature called Abe Sapien (Doug Jones, voiced by David Hyde Pierce) and pyrokinetic love interest Liz (Selma Blair). Together, they fight Rasputin as he rises from the grave and once again attempts to open the portal to Hell.
It's all good, silly fun, and writer-director Guillermo del Toro, working from a comic book created by Mike Mignola, knows how to handle it, having previously worked on comic adaptation Blade II and the campy horror flick Mimic. Hellboy works best when it's not about action, as in the scenes between Hellboy and Liz, or the casual hanging around in Hellboy's room at the BPRD. Perlman is the perfect choice for the hero, and del Toro deserves major points for not caving in to studio demands that he replace his star with a more bankable name. The imposing, deep-voiced Perlman has been a great character actor and go-to tough guy for years, and he shines in his first major leading role. Hellboy has just the right mix of humor and heart, and he still gets to kick plenty of ass.
The action scenes, while well-designed and executed, offer nothing new (do we really need another chase through a subway?), and the plot doesn't hold up if you give it much thought. The film is also about a half-hour too long, and all the fighting gets pretty tedious after the first 60 minutes. Hellboy the character is a great deal more interesting than Hellboy the movie, and if del Toro could get him in a movie with a little less derivative action and a little more character development, he'd have a definite winner on his hands. Certainly there are more eeeeeevil Nazis to fight. Perhaps the sequel will get everything right.