Directed by: Guillermo del Toro [1], Neil Marshall [2], Brian Taylor [3] || Produced by: Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin [1, 2] Mike Richardson, Les Weldon, Yariv Lerner [1–3], Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, Mike Richardson, Philip Westgren, Carl Hampe, Matt O’Toole, Les Weldon [2], Jeff Greenstein, Yariv Lerner, Jonathan Yunger, Robert Van Norden, Sam Shulte [3]
Screenplay by: Guillermo del Toro [1], Andrew Crosby [2], Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola, Brian Taylor [3] || Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt [1],David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim, Thomas Haden Church [2], Jack Kesy, Jefferson White, Adeline Rudolph [3]
Music by: Danny Elman [1], Benjamin Wallfisch [2], Sven Faulconer [3] || Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro [1], Lorenzo Senatore [2], Ivan Vatsov [3] || Edited by: Bernat Vilaplana [1], Martin Bernfeld [2], Ryan Denmark [3] || Country: United States || Language: English
Running Time: 120-121 minutes [1, 2], 99 minutes [3] || 1 = The Golden Army, 2 = Hellboy (2019), 3 = The Crooked Man
One of the best reviewed Hollywood superhero movies of the 2000s and one of my favorite movies by Guillermo del Toro is the 2004 film, Hellboy. That film took a niche, sidestream comic book character (see the Dark Horse graphic novel series of the same name by Mike Mignola) and melded its cosmic, almost Lovecraftian mythos with del Toro’s penchant for loveable, sometimes outwardly monstrous misfits. The result was a dark, supernatural monster-movie led by a motley crew of goofy outcasts, mixing just enough levity with its memorable occultist villains to produce an epic superhero adventure with intimate character development.
Top: The Golden Army’s Angel of Death, which bares a striking resemblance to the Pale Man of Pan’s Labyrinth, poses a question to female lead Selma Blair that I thought we dealt with in Hellboy (2004). Bottom: In Hellboy (2019), David Harbour continues the series’ repetitive nature-vs-nurture question, but also gets to wield Excalibur thanks to the movie’s incorporation of Arthurian mythology.
In my assessment, every single attempt to reproduce that cinematic magic of the first live-action Hellboy, a loose adaptation of the character’s debut story arc, Seed of Destruction (1994), has come up short. del Toro’s 2008 follow-up, subtitled The Golden Army, was an original storyline that channeled the more familiar steampunk mythology of various Studio Ghibli productions (e.g. Spirited Away [2001]) as well as the general fairy tale aesthetic of del Toro’s previous low fantasy coming-of-age drama, Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). Even less consistent in execution is Neil Marshall’s 2019 reboot, which upgrades its action with explicit violence and adult profanity, but whose story falls off a cliff in its second half thanks to overblown computer generated imagery (CGI), a bloated supporting cast, and a haphazard ending. Weirdest and least expected of the later Hellboy reboots/sequels is Brian Taylor’s The Crooked Man, based on the eponymous 2008 comic series and shot in the style of a low-budget A24 or Neon independent horror film.
Let us tackle these three movies in chronological order, then: The Golden Army remains well regarded by most critics and audiences to this day and seems to have a reputation on par with the 2004 original, to the point where many fans — not to mention del Toro and star Ron Perlman themselves — are still sore over how they never got the chance to complete their Hellboy trilogy. I never related to these sentiments because I thought the conflicts, character personalities, and narrative stakes from the first film were shaved down for the sequel, where the bulk of the story centers around the goofy comic relief and forgettable romance of two supporting characters (Doug Jones’ Abe Sapien and Anna Walton, sister to the main antagonist, Luke Goss). While I enjoyed Goss as a monstrous villain in Blade II (2002), I found his performance in The Golden Army perfunctory and akin to the generic villains of a Marvel Cinematic Universe (2008-2019) movie.
The 2019 reboot, on the other hand, appears to be a classic case of Hollywood major studio interference in the vision of an otherwise competent, though inconsistent auteur. Neil Marshall hasn’t made a universally well received movie since The Descent (2005), although he’s had better success directing notable episodes for high-profile shows like Game of Thrones (2011-2019), Black Sails (2014, 2017), Westworld (2016-2022), and Lost in Space (2018-2021). Hellboy (2019) unfortunately feels like a career low-point for him despite a memorable first half and a solid lead performance from David Harbour, as supporting characters Sasha Lane and Daniel Dae Kim have zero personality, the CGI degrades the longer the movie lasts, interesting villains (e.g. Emma Tate and Troy Jones’ Baba Yaga) are sidelined for blander ones (e.g. Milla Jovovich’s Blood Queen), and pacing issues accumulate by the finale.
Last but, for my part, the best of this bunch is this year’s out-of-left-field horror take on the property, The Crooked Man. Limited to an alleged budget of only $20 million, less than half of that of all previous Hellboy movies even before adjusting for inflation, Taylor’s incarnation is both the most comic–accurate and the smallest scale live-action Hellboy to date. Its story and direction feel more akin to a contemporary slow-burn horror film in the vein of Robert Eggers (e.g. The Witch [2015], The Lighthouse [2019]) or an X-Files movie (1998, 2008) than your average 2010s superhero blockbuster.
With all that said, I like the self-contained story, the creepy dream sequences, and the great, not to mention weird performances from the entire cast. The Crooked Man is set in 1950s rural Appalachia, where Hellboy (Jack Kesy) and costar Adeline Rudolph investigate a series of paranormal crimes said to have been perpetrated by various local witches and demonic entities. While director Taylor uses too much shallow focus cinematography for my tastes, he executes the movie’s few action sequences well (an undead assault on a dilapidated church is my favorite set-piece) and takes advantage of the Bulgarian countryside to set the mood (I do wish they had filmed in actual Appalachia, however).
Jack Kesy stars as the third live-action incarnation of Hellboy in The Crooked Man, here battling witchcraft in mid-20th century rural Appalachia.
All things considered, Hellboy has a far more expansive, colorful live-action history than most audiences might suspect given the niche following of the character. Mike Mignola’s creation is a world apart from the generic, airbrushed theatricality of most Hollywood Marvel or DC properties; and while I am not a fan of all cinematic adaptations of the Hellboy mythos, I appreciate the personality of all three films discussed here. The Golden Army is, I feel, a comedown from perhaps Guillermo del Toro’s best movie and the original Hellboy picture; Neil Marshall’s 2019 reboot is intermittently the most entertaining Hellboy of them all thanks to its uncensored violence, but comes apart by its disorganized third act; The Crooked Man, despite its limited marketing and mixed critical reception, is the best and most recommendable Hellboy since the 2004 film.
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SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATION: I believe that Hellboy on film works best when filmmakers take the darker, macabre aesthetics of the source material seriously and, as such, The Crooked Man recreates the creepy gothic tone of Hellboy (2004) better than the almost family comedy of The Golden Army or raunchy black comedy of Hellboy (2019).
— However… all three of these films feature decent action. I would also be lying if I said the Army of the Dead (2021)-esque cinematography of The Crooked Man doesn’t go overboard at times.
—> I am ON THE FENCE with regards to The Golden Army, do NOT RECOMMEND Hellboy (2019), and RECOMMEND The Crooked Man.
? Are the tax breaks for film production in Bulgaria that much better than those of, say, West Virginia?
Express Elevator to Hell 
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