Intermission: 'Hellboy' brings comic book character to life

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Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.|ret||ret||tab|

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With movies as varied as "American Splendor," "X-Men" and "Ghost World" as well as many others it's hard to say that being "based on a comic book" is a movie genre in and of itself. The subjects approached by comics and their higher-priced brethren, "graphic novels," are as varied as the movies themselves.|ret||ret||tab|

The latest epic to be based on a comic book series is director Guillermo del Toro's take on "Hellboy," created in magazine form by Mike Mignola. |ret||ret||tab|

Del Toro, who loves working in dark and cramped spaces (he directed "Blade II," "Mimic" and "Cronos") is in top form here. "Hellboy" features breathtaking battle scenes, incredible computer graphics, creatures that look real and an engaging storyline peppered with a good amount of dark humor. My only problem, and it's a minor complaint, is that while the individual scenes are well paced some are headspinning the overall film seemed just a bit long.|ret||ret||tab|

"Hellboy" is equal parts "X-Men," "Alien," "Men in Black," and fantasy in the vein of H.P. Lovecraft. There's a good measure of historical references the Nazi/occult connection, Rasputin the Russian monk thrown in the mix as well. Hellboy himself is a more warped version of The Thing from "Fantastic Four" comics. Trying to cover this many bases often results in a mishmash of a script, but "Hellboy" pulls it off with (sometimes bludgeoning) aplomb.|ret||ret||tab|

For the uninitiated, we're given a prologue that takes place in World War II. A group of GIs accompanied by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "psychic advisor" Professor Bruttenholm manages to thwart an attempt by the Nazis, aided by Rasputin, to open the gates of Hell and unleash the Seven Gods of Chaos. Rasputin is killed. All that slips through the portal is a tiny baby demon. He's nicknamed Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm becomes his adoptive father.|ret||ret||tab|

Cut to the present. We see FBI agent Tom Manning wagging his finger at the TV camera, in an obvious homage to a former president, assuring the American people, "There is no Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense!"|ret||ret||tab|

The next scene is the exterior of a gated building. The superimposed caption reads, "Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense."|ret||ret||tab|

New at the bureau is FBI agent John Meyers. Already there are a grown up Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm. |ret||ret||tab|

As the agency in "Men in Black" battled evil aliens, the BPRD protects us from the bad creatures (ancient evil gods and the like) that come back to life or visit from another dimension from time to time. Meyers has been taken on to be Hellboy's new agent/companion. |ret||ret||tab|

We also see, on the other side of the world, Ilsa the Nazi girl from the prologue, Kroenen (another really bizarre Nazi) and a group of folks who managed to raise Rasputin from the dead.|ret||ret||tab|

They waste little time to lay siege to a NYC museum, cut open a statue and unleash a rather ill-tempered creature named Sammael, the ancient god of resurrection. |ret||ret||tab|

In comes the BPRD to take the situation in hand. The battle scene moves from the museum to the streets of New York City to the subway system. Hellboy, manages to destroy the beast. Or so he thinks. Remember the "resurrection" part? Sammael also lays eggs, "Alien"-style. Soon Earth will be covered with these things and the Apocalypse will be upon us.|ret||ret||tab|

There's another character involved with the BPRD, too. The pyrokinetic Liz Sherman. She has ditched the bureau and checked herself into a mental hospital. We learn that she and Hellboy were once a hot item, which is perfect. She tends to burst into flame. He's fireproof. She's agreed to come back aboard to help fight this new menace.|ret||ret||tab|

The film winds up in Moscow, in a huge labyrinth under a graveyard. The sets here are amazing and the sounds of the giant machines and monsters add a lot to the feel of the film.|ret||ret||tab|

All of the actors are good Selma Blair as Liz is the one touch of utter beauty in the film but Ron Perlman (TV's "Beauty and the Beast," "City of Lost Children") is in his element as the cigar-smoking, wisecracking and cynical but with a get-the-job-done attitude Hellboy.|ret||ret||tab|

Del Toro directs the film like a true lover of comics. Much more so than "Blade II," every scene in "Hellboy" looks like a page from a comic come to life. Lovers of "X-Men," or any of the other films mentioned above, will take great delight in "Hellboy." Be sure to get there early enough to catch the preview for the equally amazing-looking "I, Robot." It might be a good summer after all.|ret||ret||tab|

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