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Hellboy
Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment

Hellboy reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 72 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.5 out of 10
based on 37 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 101 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and frightening images

Starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, John Hurt, Corey Johnson, and Doug Jones

A supernatural action-adventure based on Mike Mignola's acclaimed Dark Horse Comic series of the same name. (Sony)


GENRE(S): Action  |  Adventure  |  Horror  |  Sci-fi  
WRITTEN BY: Guillermo del Toro (also screen story)
Peter Briggs (screen story)
Mike Mignola (comic books)
 
DIRECTED BY: Guillermo del Toro  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: July 27, 2004 
Video: July 27, 2004 
Theatrical: April 2, 2004 
RUNNING TIME: 120 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90
Washington Post Richard Harrington
Del Toro moves his story along with unrelenting energy and wit while introducing the opposing parties with admirable efficiency.
Read Full Review
90
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A perfect fit in the category of instant classic, and, not incidentally, fits the profile of super-profitability. Bursting the bonds of its genre, Hellboy fills the screen with gorgeous imagery, vertiginous action and a surprising depth of feeling.
90
Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Surprisingly smart, graphically faithful live-action adaptation of the Mike Mignola series
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90
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
One of the most poetic comic-book adaptations to come along in years, yet it never loses its sense of lightness and fun -- del Toro gives it just enough screwball nuttiness to keep it from bogging down.
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90
Slate David Edelstein
Guillermo del Toro is in a class with Peter Jackson as a fan-boy who gets it--a brilliant filmmaker who has a kind of metabolic connection to horror and sci-fi that helps him transform secondhand genre material into something deep and nourishing. Del Toro reaches into himself and finds the Wagnerian grandeur in schlock.
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90
Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
Hellboy just might end up being one of the best movies you see this year.
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88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
One of those rare movies that's not only based on a comic book, but also feels like a comic book. It's vibrating with energy, and you can sense the zeal and joy in its making.
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83
Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
The movie's got a heart as warm as hellfire.
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80
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Played by Ron Perlman, he's the most magnetic action hero I've come across in a long while.
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80
LA Weekly John Patterson
One of the sturdier superhero movies of the last couple of years, with monsters and effects and diabolical baddies to spare, a heart as big as a house and a love story that actually gets its hooks in you.
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80
The New York Times A.O. Scott
Mr. del Toro lets loose with an all-American, vaudevillian rambunctiousness that makes the movie daffy, loose and lovable.
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75
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Hellboy is on fire with scares and laughs and del Toro’s visionary dazzle. It’s the tenderness that comes as an unexpected bonus.
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75
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
The film - despite being a half-hour too long - is a rocking, rolling supernatural spectacle.
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75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The screenplay has flashes of real wit, and Perlman is perfect in the title role.
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75
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Hellboy may be a big, noisy goof of a comic-book action film, but love is in the dank, dark, subterranean air as the bulky red-hued palooka tries to win the heart of the pyrokinetic beauty Liz Sherman.
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75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Hellboy likely won't be the best comic-to-screen adaptation this year, but, squared off against its early-season challenger, Marvel's "The Punisher," this is the winner.
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75
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Directed by Guillermo del Toro with a colorfully kinetic visual imagination that seldom lets up.
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75
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
The movie has a self- deprecating sense of humor and a strong emotional core that vaults it above most action movies that come out this time of year.
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75
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
There are other filmmakers who might have been drawn to a comic book as enchantingly ridiculous as Hellboy. But there are none who would have turned in a sleek $60 million picture as daringly silly, playful and imaginative as this one.
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75
Premiere Sara Brady
If the film's love triangle feels a little silly and the arch-villains a little over the top, it's all secondary to del Toro's passionate immersion in Hellboy.
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75
Boston Globe Ty Burr
So forget about taking anyone under 12. But if you want to see what a benign demon looks like when he's eating nachos and unwinding to Al Green, this is the movie for you.
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75
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Hellboy is, to borrow a phrase, one helluva good time.
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70
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Pretty much impossible not to like a little, but it's also hard to like a lot. There's a fantastic film to be made from this material, but now, the burden of making it falls to a sequel.
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70
Village Voice J. Hoberman
To his credit, del Toro does not flinch from the ridiculous. But he is equally sensitive to Hellboy's pulp poetry.
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70
Variety Joe Leydon
Has more than enough across-the-board appeal to attract mainstream auds unfamiliar with source material.
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70
Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
An enjoyable if somewhat neutered defender of the free world. Make no mistake: Hellboy still has a hide as hard-boiled as Lee Marvin in "The Dirty Dozen," but now he's also wearing a smile.
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67
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
While the film ably thrusts longtime fans of Mignola’s highly stylized artwork and newcomers alike into the world of that ol' debbil Hellboy, the film suffers from both scattershot character development and a serious case of H.P. Lovecraft overdose.
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63
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
Surprisingly enjoyable, as adaptations of cult comic books go, thanks to a sense of humor all too rare in the genre, winning performances by Ron Perlman and Selma Blair, and a sweet romance of the kind that made "Spider-Man" a richer experience than its competitors.
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63
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Will dazzle you while establishing the world in which it takes place. After that, you may wonder whether Guillermo del Toro got amnesia halfway through.
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63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
It's a treat because, making no apologies for the source material, director Guillermo del Toro lets his picture gorge on power bars of pop energy, sugared with sprinkles of playful humour, and, at least twice, laced with a visual style so piercingly keen that horror morphs into beauty. Not bad for a pulpy outing.
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60
Empire Kim Newman
Hellboy might not have the name-recognition factor of the Spider- or Batmen, but Guillermo del Toro brings the audience swiftly up to speed on artist-writer Mike Mignola's comic book anti-hero.
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58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
For all its f/x pageantry, it is rather tired, as if it's the third sequel of a franchise, not the initial episode.
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50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Arguing that you shouldn't expect rich characterization from a comic-book movie misses the point: Vivid relationships separate the graphic novels from the funnies and, in the end, spectacular set design is just window dressing.
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50
Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
Hellboy's adventures may take him to you-know-where and back, but the movie remains in limbo.
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50
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Standard-issue superhero movie -- except that writer-director Guillermo del Toro, taking his cue from "Hellboy" comic book creator Mike Mignola, brings a wicked sense of humor to this particular monster mash.
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50
USA Today Claudia Puig
Hellboy's cheeky attitude and snarky dialogue, specifically Perlman's snidely funny lines, are the highlights.
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40
Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
Hellboy is as much a wreck as "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" or "The Punisher," coming and going in two weeks, and as much a bore as "The Hulk."
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 101 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jim P. gave it a0:
Utter pap! The acting was so wooden it was unbelievable!

Ian F. gave it a7:
The first time I watched this movie I was not impressed. The villains had the potential to be cool but had so little air time and character development they became 2D figures (especially compared to the amount of time spent developing the protagonists). Ilsa especially was not worth having in the movie (which is a shame because a German bombshell could have made a good villainess). The plot was pretty standard: evil priest wants to summon in the outer gods (HP Lovecraft stuff here), and the valiant Americans must save the world. Can these yankee chumps continue to try and prove that they won WWII alone any other way than rewriting history? Hellboy is a great character brilliantly protrayed by Pearlmen (he's come a long way from In the Name of the Rose and Beauty and the Beast), the other characters are fun (especially "Niles" and the FBI Director). The FX are good, nothing to complain about. Music score is good. The plot. Weak weak weak. I didn't even realize what was essentially wrong with it until I read other reviews, and then it occured to me: I'd seen it before! The ending swallowed by monster then blows it up a la MiB was anticlimatic and cheesy. The motivation for the entire "plot" was fine (Hellboy ends up being the key to the apocalypse is nice), but the journey to this was confused and often irrelevant. Should have been a TV series.

[Anonymous] gave it a5:
Neat looking.

Hellboy gave it a10:
Aww This Movie Freggin Rocks The Best Movie Ever Made I Freggin Love This Movie Man I Watch This Movie Like Everyday Man This Movie Rocks Love This Freggin Movie (Ron Perlman) And (Selma Blair) R The Best Actors That Ever Lived Cant Get Enough Of This Movie U Guys Need To See This Movie My Fav. Part Is At The End Where Hellboy And Liz Kiss Its So Sweet I Wish That Could Have Been Me I Wish So Bad.

DWP 102589 gave it a 10:
I got the three disc extended edition for my birthday. It's thirteen minutes longer and adds more sufficent character development while still retaining the pace and excitement of the original version.

fabio gave it a 4:
You can't make a Hollywood movie without a love story (it's a way to bring girls in theaters?) - a (dark) horror/paranormal comic book turned into a (bright) fantastic movie...that's not good.

Jon gave it a 5:
Interesting idea, but the plot was pretty weak; character development was just ok. Predictable. Not funny, not scary, not really that excitining...what is it???

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