As we approach its April 12th release date, a new trailer has appeared for the freshly-rebooted Hellboy, and things are turning up to 11 fast here.
The gist of ‘ol Red’s problems involve Nimue (Milla Jovovich), an ancient deity who looks to ruin a whole lot of folks’ tea time with her war against mankind and recruit our titular ‘Boy–heir to the throne of Hell, y’know–for some help.
In this “red band” trailer (hide the kids!) there’s naughty language, spurts of blood, and some other extreme (X-treme) footage, and it’s all looking pretty sharp. We catch glimpses of Hellboy’s humble beginnings as a Nazi occult project, some large-scale mayhem on the streets of London, and even a bit of family drama.
David Harbour, under his horns and hand of doom, seems to be carrying Hellboy with a swagger and sense of humor as we’ve seen before on the big screen, and the great Ian McShane as Trevor Bruttenholm (read: Hellboy’s pa) brings a charisma and charm to the seasoned occultist.
There’s been a lot of doubt cast upon the new film, with many fans longing for the third part of the Guillermo del Toro/Ron Perlman trilogy that never materialized. Instead, horror director Neil Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers) has taken the helm, with original Hellboy creator Mike Mignola serving as a strong proponent of the new film’s direction.
I’ve been a bit divided on this one. I am a diehard fan of Mignola’s comics and the character, including a love for del Toro’s films. Though truth be told, they are very much del Toro’s, submitting more to whimsy and fantasy than the more quiet, haunting aspects of the comics. Said to be closer to the source, I’m not quite seeing that with these trailers, but I can’t help but be excited regardless. It’s more Hellboy! And if the cast list is anything to go by, there will be a Lobster Johnson appearance in some capacity, which just blows my mind. “Who’s Lobster Johnson?,” you ask? Imagine Batman’s urban vigilantism meets Captain America’s pulp, anti-Nazi origins, add a splash of the occult and a dash of Judge Dredd fascism and voila!
