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Starring
Ron Perlman
John Hurt
Selma Blair
Rupert Evans
Karel Roden
Jeffrey Tambor
Doug Jones

1944, an evil man named Rasputin (Karel Roden) and a couple Nazis open a portal to hell to bring forth a demon that will help them destroy the world. A baby demon is delivered but before the Nazis can get their hands on him, he is enticed away by a scientist named Dr. Broom (John Hurt). Dr. Broom takes the demon (HELLBOY) to the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. HELLBOY is the story about this demon growing up pretty much as a human being. HELLBOY looks like a red demon, horns on his head (which have been sawed off), a forked tail and all but he likes to drink beer and chase girls. It’s this different contrast that makes the HELLBOY character interesting and likable. Actor Ron Perlman does an excellent job of balancing both sides to his character.

At the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, HELLBOY grows up with other people/beings with supernatural powers. These freaks of nature have basically been collected by the Bureau (similar to the X-MEN) to be used as superheroes for national defense. Much of the drama centers around how each of them come to terms with the good and bad their individual power brings to the world.

An FBI Agent named Agent Myers (Rupert Evans) is sent to watch over this operation and becomes Hellboy's rival for a flame throwing young woman named Liz Sherman (Selma Blair). This love triangle becomes the focus amongst the action and brings a warm center the movie needs.

The real drama comes when Rasputin and his henchmen still want Hellboy. To get him back, they let loose a nasty hellhound who is basically an unstoppable force. The creature can recreate itself and even duplicate.

HELLBOY of course is a movie based on the comic book created by Mike Mignola. When you see Mignola and Guillermo Del Toro talk together, there is no doubt that they share the same vision and enthusiasm for HELLBOY. Their thoughts can be found on the first of two audio commentaries found on Disc 1 of the two-disc set. They go to great lengths to explain how they got together, the origin of HELLBOY and cover a lot of technical knowledge of the making of the film. Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor and Rupert Evans speak on the other commentary, which is also on the Disk 1. Like any commentary featuring actors, the cast is a bit more relaxed and has fun with talking about how they made the movie.

As far as supplements, HELLBOY Special Features will practically knock you down.

Hellboy - The Seeds of Creation - is 27 documentaries, totaling over 2 hours! Things are roughly assembled together and though I appreciate massive amounts of detail, this truly needed to be edited down. You get almost every facet of what it took place to make this film and as always Guillermo Del Toro does a passionate, humorous job of giving fans his heart.

Right Hand of Doom - Set Visits is a behind-the-scenes branching feature. Kind of like New Line Cinema’s infinifilm feature, this plays whenever you press an icon that pops up during the movie.

There are also eight branching DVD comics by Mike Mignola and four short films featuring the cartoons Hellboy recommends. HELLBOY has a feature-length storyboard track, which I don’t remember ever seeing on another DVD. Also included are four computer-generated animated scene breakdowns. Five Board-a-Matics: side-by-side comparison of scenes with the animated storyboards. Three deleted scenes with optional commentary. All together, it’s a massive amount of supplements.

Despite the technical achievements of the look and sound of the film, I wouldn’t say HELLBOY is Guillermo Del Toro’s best film. In some ways, it may be his least interesting. But the DVD delivers big time and you won’t be sorry picking it up.

www.SonyPictures.com

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