Looking Back At Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Hellboy’ 20 Years Later
You don’t have to wander around the internet for long before you stumble across angry fans wishing that studios took the source material more seriously when developing big-screen adaptations of existing media. While I agree that there’s no point in adapting a story if the filmmakers aren’t really interested in engaging with the original narrative, it’s silly to assume that the only right way to adapt a work of art is by literally reproducing it in another medium.
After all, being faithful to the source material does not guarantee a good experience (simply compare Kubrick’s The Shining to the 1997 mini-series if you need proof), and I think a great example of an adaptation that successfully escapes the chains of its origins is Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy. And with this unique little comic-book movie celebrating its 20th anniversary while the next reboot looms on the horizon, I think this is the perfect opportunity to look back on a terrible adaptation that also happens to be a kick-ass popcorn flick.
Comic Book Movies In The Early 2000s
The early 2000s were a very different time when it came to comic-book movies. The first cinematic Super-Hero boom was in full swing, with X-Men and Spider-Man having already proven that these characters could be profitable. So, studios began scrambling after smaller publishers to get a slice of the comic-book pie. That’s how even oddball characters like Dark Horse’s Hellboy eventually leaped to the big screen, though creator Mike Mignola and del Toro originally began shopping the project during the late 90s.
It took years to finally convince producers to give their modern-day Harryhausen monster movie a shot, and even then, production ended up being fraught with behind-the-scenes difficulties. Beyond standard budgetary issues, Mignola and del Toro had differing ideas about how a live-action Hellboy should act. This squabbling would become worse when the time came to film the sequel (with the comic-book artist famously complaining to Del Toro that “Hellboy wouldn’t do that!” only for the director to reply with “This isn’t your Hellboy, it’s my Hellboy.”). But, at the end of the day, Mignola accepted most of the first film’s changes as a part of del Toro’s creative vision.
Obviously, not all of the director’s changes were for the better (I’ll forever lament the decision to turn the BPRD into a Men in Black knock-off). But the fact is that the serialized epics and one-off horror stories of the Hellboy comics could not be faithfully translated to the big screen without turning the film into an anthology—something that no studio would ever fund.
Del Toro’s Vision For Hellboy
With this in mind, it makes sense that Del Toro wouldn’t hesitate to put his own spin on the established lore, with the filmmaker understanding that his creation could never replace the original comics, but it just might direct new fans to the source material if he did his job right. That’s why the director incorporated a fairy tale romance element into the film despite this never being present in the comics, as well as Christian techno-magic and lots of daddy issues. In fact, Mignola later went on record to state that the first film’s story was fleshed out by incorporating bits and pieces from Guillermo’s unproduced screenplays.
Of course, the most significant changes came from Del Toro’s insistence on casting Ron Perlman as the title character, with the filmmaker writing the script specifically for the veteran actor and incorporating his mannerisms into the dialogue. Perlman’s effortlessly charming personality made it difficult to depict Hellboy as the gloomy investigator we see in the comics, which is why Del Toro re-envisioned the character as a wisecracking eternal teenager who would have to mature emotionally in order to choose his own path as either man or demon.
The Old Meets The New
Some of these alterations completely miss the point of what we saw in the comics, like the BPRD being mostly incompetent and the aforementioned love story with Liz (even if I still find the Beauty-and-the-Beast-inspired romance surprisingly well-written and even tear up a little when Hellboy threatens “you on the other side” and says he’ll cross over if he doesn’t get Liz back). But I think it all works very well when judged on is own merits.
Besides, all the classic imagery is there, from the occult nazi origins of the title character to his Lovecraftian enemies. It just so happens that these things are complemented by original material meant to make this a more entertaining movie. I’m not saying that Hellboy is a perfect film, with the flick’s PG-13 rating sabotaging many of its horror elements and neutering several action scenes. However I do think it’s worth noting that we did get a more comics-accurate Hellboy in 2019 and it was a disaster!
The Future of Hellboy
While I still think that the David Harbour incarnation of the character has its merits (especially where casting is concerned), this unfocused hodgepodge of comic storylines and anthological story beats simply couldn’t be condensed into a coherent movie no matter how much the screenwriters borrowed from the source material.
And as we anxiously await Brian Taylor and Jack Kesy’s version of the iconic character—which thankfully takes a more grounded approach by adapting a single limited series—I think it’s worth looking back on Del Toro’s take on Hellboy as a dated yet loving celebration of the iconography behind the character rather than the character itself.
Whether you love it or hate it, this film was responsible for introducing the character to a whole new generation, which is why I understand why so many fans are still clamoring for a third film to conclude del Toro’s story. That being said, if it was up to me, I’d have Mignola produce a heavily serialized Hellboy animated series aimed towards adults. I don’t think it’ll happen any time soon, but a fan can dream…
Categorized:Editorials
