Jerusha Maxwell

As to the marketing of the 2019 Hellboy release, it's been agreed that the initial greenband trailer failed to make an exciting first impression, leaving potential audiences unenthused. The redband second trailer looked much more thoughtfully and expertly edited. I happily watched the movie twice on opening night. Adult fans of the HB comics series (25 years old and still being produced), have the advantage of familiarity with the extensive, highly imaginative canon, and should enjoy this separate comicsverse reboot. I've distanced my critique from comparisons to the original two movies directed by Guillermo Del Toro, and starring the legendary Ron Perlman. A good many media reviewers have been far too unkind to 'Hellboy 2019', and prospective audiences should not be unduly influenced against it, and stay away. The rating of age 18+ already serves to restrict attendance, due to the frank gory violence. For the uninitiated, the movie refreshes in a necessary compact way, on the main characters' origin and backstories. Additional creature denizens are presented through quite good practical effects and CGI. Some viewers have negatively criticized parts of the CGI quality, but c'mon - how impeccable does it have to be? The fight action between HB and three towering troll giants is so vigorous, that the background of sky doesn't matter much. On the other hand, interior sets like the cathedral and Baba Yaga's cottage, have been gloriously rendered. Many thousands of fans are already fond of David Harbour, who puts all of his heart and energy into playing a brash 'teenage' kind of Hellboy who finds major reasons for disillusionment in most of the humans around him, but keeps punching to save them from the baddies. The most threatening villain in this case, is Nimue, the 'reassembled', beautiful Dark Ages witch. HB is a dark-humoured, conflicted half-human demon with a kind heart towards animals, and the young psychic medium Alice; the one person who's proven her concern and loyalty. The production has taken pains to pack the movie with comics-canon dramatic events and eye-opening special effects. If you may already love Hellboy, see it for an entirely different David Harbour!