As of right now, things aren’t looking too great for Neil Marshall’s reboot of Hellboy. After a poorly received trailer, coupled with having to follow Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman’s take on the character, box office projections predict a disappointing theatrical run for the movie. Whether you’re on board with the project or not though, you should hope that this film at least does okay, because if it flops, don’t expect to see the character on the big screen again.
Of course, it remains to be seen if Lionsgate can turn things around, but the marketing push is now well underway and earlier today, the studio dropped the first clip, showing David Harbour’s Hellboy hanging out with Ian McShane’s Professor Bruttenholm. And though it’s not terribly long, it does have one big tick in the positives column: Ian McShane.
Honestly, I could watch the man read a shopping list, so you’re off to a good start by having him reel off some quasi-occult gobbledegook about the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra, before asking Hellboy to intervene with their giant problem (as seen in the trailers). All that being said, there are still a few issues with this clip.
First off, Harbour’s take on the role seems to be exactly the same as Ron Perlman’s, only not quite as good. Admittedly, they’re playing the same character, so they’re going to be kinda similar, but at least judging by this footage, nothing new is being brought to the table.
Then there’s the Hellboy makeup. Opinions may vary, but I think it’s a definite step down from the del Toro movies and looks clumsy and inanimate. This clip avoids any tight close-ups, but what we do see doesn’t look like it’s going to stand up to a lot of scrutiny. It should be borne in mind that this was greenlit as a low-budget (and low risk) take on the property, too, and I think that shows here.
Don’t get me wrong. I really, really want Hellboy to not suck, as I’m a big fan of Mike Mignola’s original books, but so far, I have a pretty bad feeling about this one.