Re-Reviewed: Ron Perlman’s first Hellboy hit all the right notes

2004’s Hellboy remains the character’s best live-action outing yet.

There are more than a few classic comic book characters outside of Marvel and DC who have made their way to the big screen. And on three separate occasions, Hellboy has made the difficult leap from comic book pages to movie theaters. Without question, the first of those movies was the best one. Casting Ron Perlman as the lead character certainly didn’t hurt the situation.

While a more recent attempt to reboot the film franchise fell flat on its face, 2004’s Hellboy seemed to understand the source material. It remains one of the better comic book movies not from the Marvel or DC universes that have been made to date.

Hellboy arrives

Created by Mike Mignola, Hellboy made his very first appearance in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 which was published in August 1993. At that point, it was hard to imagine the media empire the character would spawn.

Since then, Hellboy has become a key pillar for Dark Horse Comics, the company that publishes titles featuring him. There have been dozens of titles that have taken the form of ongoing series, mini-series, one-shots, and more.

In addition to that, an entire world of characters has been built around him. Hellboy works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and has several friends and allies associated with that group. A lot of those characters have gotten their own comics over the years.

With that kind of popularity always comes multimedia cross-promotion. That means live-action movies, animated features, video games, and more. But 2004’s Hellboy might be the best of those outings to date.

Hellboy takes aim at box offices

Trying to translate a character like Hellboy to a film is no easy task. He’s a half-demon brought to the mortal plane by Nazis, presumably to fight on their behalf. Instead, he was found by the Allies and raised to fight for the good guys.

Fortunately, the movie was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, who could not have been more perfect for the job. His unique filmmaking vision was exactly what the subject matter needed to make the successful leap from one media form to another.

On top of that, casting Ron Perlman to play the titular character also turned out to be a stroke of genius. The man pulled off the character perfectly, imbuing this demonic warrior with a sense of teenage angst and rebelliousness that pulled it all together.

It also didn’t hurt that Selma Blair, John Hurt, and Jeffery Tambor were equally excellent. Doug Jones played the physical body of Abe Sapien while Frasier‘s David Hyde Pierce voiced the character in an uncredited role. This was a superb combination.

A winning combination

The movie was a reasonable success in box offices, though it has had much greater success in home media releases. Over the years, it has become something of a cult classic alongside other similar comic book adaptations like The Crow.

What makes this movie an enduring feature is Ron Perlman’s superb portrayal of the character combined with Guillermo del Toro’s innate understanding of the source material. When people who just get it work together, the outcome rarely disappoints.

It’s honestly hard to imagine a movie depicting Hellboy any better than the 2004 adaptation. That’s something the 2019 reboot found out the hard way. It could have been good but the reputed behind-the-scenes chaos prevented it from working.

Regardless, 2004’sHellboy remains a go-to film for many fans almost 20 years after its release. Anyone trying to replicate the success of this movie without Guillermo del Toro or Ron Perlman has an almost impossible task on their hands.

Have you seen Hellboy? If so, what did you think of it? Let us know in the comments below!