Everyone’s favorite heroic spawn of Satan is back with a new look, new tone and new horns!
Lionsgate released the first official trailer for its new version of Hellboy. Based on Mike Mignola’s Dark Horse comic of the same name, this dark fantasy adventure is a new take on the iconic monster-fighter separate from Guillermo del Toro’s two films that starred Ron Perlman as the lead. This time around, David Harbour (Stranger Things) gets slathered in red makeup and sports the stone hand to play the titular wisecracking hero accompanied by Sasha Lane (The Miseducation of Cameron Post), Ian McShane (John Wick), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) and Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil). The script is written by Andrew Cosby (Eureka) and directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent).
Though full details are sparse, Hellboy 2019 follows the cigar-chomping hero hunting down supernatural abominations for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and Professor Bruttenholm (McShane). He’s been around the world a few times and the business of beating up evil is wearing on him a touch. Out and about in the world with the help of Alice Monaghan (Lane), who Hellboy rescued from fairies as an occupational hazard obviously, Hellboy goes after Nimue the Blood Queen (Jovovich) as she plots to unleash monsters on the world.
Photo Credit: Lionsgate.
It’s certainly an impossible task to top the vision and wonder of Oscar-winner del Toro, but Marshall is no novice to dark adventure given his nerve-wracking and bloody horror film The Descent and the post-apocalyptic Mad Max tribute Doomsday. Cosby is also an interesting choice to penn the script given he was the creator of the kooky science fiction show Eureka. The input of both creative forces are certainly felt in the trailer given how light the tone is. Soundtracked by Billy Idol’s “Mony Mony,” the trailer humorously highlights how Hellboy just casually walks around in front of people who aren’t scared of him anymore but still aren’t sure what he is exactly. The rating isn’t set in stone but it seems to go for an R-rating given that Hellboy shoots monsters in the head in bloody glory. Having goofy cartoonish fights where Hellboy is thrown around by bigger monsters like the rag doll doesn’t hurt either.
There is the concern of the mostly-gray cinematography sucking out the visual punch of the scenes. Focus will certainly be on Harbour’s performance and while it would be unfair to dismiss him outright in favor of not being Perlman, he sounds like he’s got marbles in his mouth while talking. While the makeup looks good still, something about when Harbour moves or when the camera is close on his face looks a bit off. Hopefully he was given a unique take on the character to play out.
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Hellboy charges into theaters on April 12, 2019. What do you think of the new trailer and the reboot itself? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to stay with The Young Folks for the latest movie news.
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