Make no mistake, this is no big Marvel production…don’t expect Spider-man or the Hulk…or even Daredevil…this is a whole other kind of comic-adaptation….think more along the lines of Spawn…except this movie was actually much better than that disappointment…or even a kind of X-Men, but much more demented…yes, this is a much darker character and subject matter…heck, the guy’s the son of Satan for pete’s sake…and the general gist of this movie revolves around you’re a-typical bad guys who are trying to end the existence of man on earth as we know it…in this case, a group of Nazi’s rely upon a mystical type experiment to bring upon the apocalypse….

The story starts in 1944, with the Nazi’s looking for any way to turn the tide of World War II…At the heart of this evil plot is a Nazi wizard, Grigori, and his two baddie cohorts…your typical, blonde evil bitch and a badass ancient assassin who is like part ninja, part Snakeyes from Gi-Joe…although much of their evil intentions are a bit sketchy, the general gist of it is, they are trying to end the world by opening a portal to summon a giant beast to eat all of mankind…in opening the portal, Satan’s son…one Hellboy, comes through…but before the bad guys could use said Hellboy to advance their plan, their evil plot is dashed by the likes of the U.S. Army with the help of one Professor Broom….

Fast forward 60 years, and we find a full grown Hellboy, who ages by the way in so-called reverse dog years so he is really like only 25, working for the FBI in their super-secret paranormal division…where under the guidance of Broom, whom he views as his father, Hellboy and the super cool Abe Sapien (think cross between a fish, frog, and Aquaman) they fight all that goes bump in the night…

Well, Hellboy and Abe along with new recruit, John Myers, must tackle an old and mysterious evil as Grigori and his clan return to finish what they started 60 years ago…they release some rather disgusting hell hounds on earth that reek all kinds of evil…but our hero is up to the task of smashing and bashing their heads in with his peculiarly large rock hand???...added to the mix is one Liz…a mysterious girl who we quickly learn is the object of one big red guy’s affection…she has her own kind special skill, in the ability to control fire…when things go terribly wrong at the bureau, the team head to Russia to stop Grigori in his attempt to end the world….

Well, I’ve painted a general outline of the story…but there is lots here to enjoy…first, I have to say that Ron Pearlman was born to play this role…if you have ever seen him in anything else, then you know what I mean…hit fits the physical aspects of the role perfectly…secondly, the character of Hellboy is the center of this movie…his relationships with the people around him, his love for Liz, his love for Broom, his need and desire to fit in, his funny, quirky habits, and most of all seeing him become a man and take on human characteristics throughout the movie…the evil and bad guys are all secondary to this…I actually found some of the Nazi and mystical stuff kind of confusing and unclear…but it was easy to excuse it because essentially, you get the drift…the bad guys are here to end the world and Hellboy has to stop them…

My favorite scenes are when we get to see who Hellboy really is…there are some really wonderful moments in this film…when Hellboy and Liz share a moment with a six-pack…when Hellboy is trying to write her a letter…when he sits upon a roof top with a young kid, eating cookies and milk while spying on John and Liz….great stuff…and there is also much more…I totally loved the Abe Sapien character…and kudos to David Hyde Pierce for lending his voice and doing something a little different then some of his other roles…but Abe was killer…and the evil assassin guy is totally bad ass…great fight scenes and action sequences with this guy….and my favorite scene in the film may be when they arrive in Russia and are searching for the tomb in the graveyard…this is where they incorporated the Corpse comic into the movie…but it was also an awesome piece of filmmaking….cool scene with the snow falling….very cool…

Overall this was a pretty fun film…does it have the story and depth of a Spider-man…not even close…but it was still fun…and surprisingly funny in spots…I really enjoyed it in the theatre and again on DVD…and considering some of the other alternatives in terms of comic-type movies (Van Helsing, the Punisher)…Hellboy really delivered for me…

And if you are really looking to dissect and get into a movie, then this DVD is for you….it’s two discs and has just about anything and everything you can think of…I mean everything….set visits, featurettes, comic book stuff, commentaries, all trailers and TV spots, a documentary, deleted scenes, storyboards, director Guillermo Del Toro breaking down scenes and lots, lots more….