For comic book geeks, \Hellboy"" is an amazing on-screen version of the beloved hero. For everyone else, it is a solid movie and one that not only hardcore comic fans can enjoy. It could even be compared to the Indiana Jones Trilogy, though it's not quite on par with the action classic.
The movie begins with a lengthy set-up describing how Hellboy, a young demon, was brought to this world from another thanks to Nazi occultists toward the end of World War II. Fortunately, American soldiers stumbled across the boy and took him home, where he was raised in the care of the U.S. government and became an agent for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense.
That's all well and good, but the best part of this movie is the protagonist, a six-foot, five-inch red-skinned behemoth called Hellboy. Portrayed by Ron Perlman, this demon-man is a blue-collar hero in every sense of the word. Perlman does a great job of showing how fighting monsters is just a job to Hellboy, like being a plumber for the average guy. Perlman's performance keeps the movie grounded. The character is constantly spewing one-liners while going toe-to-toe with various creatures, and his laid-back attitude creates an interesting contrast to all the weird black magic happening around him. Although Hellboy takes several brutal beatings, his manliness could have been emphasized better with a few more swear words. He is a guy's guy, after all. Blame it on the PG-13 rating.
Hellboy is aided in his missions by a nerdy fish-man called Abe Sapien, voiced by David Hyde Pierce, most famously known as Niles from ""Frasier."" Casting scores a huge victory here, as Pierce's voice is perfect for the brilliant, telepathic fish character. His brain provides an excellent foil to Hellboy's brawn, and the two complement each other well. The movie suffers after Abe Sapien is injured in an underwater battle and thus has to stay behind while the other characters finish off the bad guys. He is sorely missed in the final half hour of the movie.
With the exit of Abe Sapien, the love story between Hellboy and female agent Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) comes to the forefront. Sherman has the ability to create and project fire from her body. The sizzling sexual tension between these two strengthens Hellboy's image of being a man, as opposed to the supernatural creature that he is. The relationship is kept from getting too sappy until the end, when a gag-inducing kiss between the two finally occurs. Hellboy doesn't kiss girls-he just kicks ass and takes names.
Despite this unfortunate scene and near wussification of the big red man, his biting insults and casual attitude while saving the world help the audience identify with and care about him. He actually makes the confusing plot about outer space gods coming to destroy the Earth because Nazis summoned them seem somewhat feasible by just being an average Joe.
The filmmakers wisely focus on the characters in ""Hellboy"" and keep the puzzling storyline on the back burner. A nearly indestructible big red man shouting lines fit for Bruce Cambell while fighting weird monsters is much more interesting anyway.
