Animated Movie Month - Hellboy: Blood & Iron
If you read my Hellboy: Sword of Storms review, you’ll know that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Hellboy’s first animated movie. So, I’ll admit I was a little sceptical going into this one, hoping that it had a more mature tone to it (due to the 15-age rating it received here in the U.K.) and it didn’t disappoint. I think it’s a superior film in every way compared to the original.
Plot
“Hellboy and his team face off against a new supernatural threat, while Professor Bruttenholm must investigate the possible re-emergence of a vampire he had slain decades prior.”
Hellboy: Blood & Iron is loosely based on 1996 story Hellboy: Wake the Devil, taking aspects of the story and adapting them into their own unique story about gods, vampires and ghosts.
One of the problems the previous Hellboy film had was how safe it played it, making sure that it was suitable for most audiences by toning down the violence and blood. Blood & Iron, on the other hand, goes all out. Blood, torture and the gruesome sounds of mutilation. This one takes advantage of its higher age rating and for the better I would say, dropping aspects of the Saturday morning cartoon vibes its predecessor gave off.
I noticed some drastic similarities between both movies - Hellboy (Ron Perlman) himself doesn’t have that much to do with the plot overall. Most of the story is explained by other characters and develops around their actions, while Hellboy wanders from point A to point B without developing the plot any further. Although in Blood & Iron’s case, this is a story about Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt) more than anything, which isn’t a bad thing. I just feel that Hellboy always takes a backseat in his own animated films.
This time around the whole cast is together, rather than split off in their own stories, allowing us to see each of them interacting with each other in a realistic manner. It helps the viewer understand everyone’s roles and relationships with one another. Although the hints at romance between Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) & Elizabeth Sherman (Selma Blair) is completely ignored as if it never happened. Learning how integral each member of the B.P.R.D. is to the mission. And unlike last time, everyone (including Bruttenholm) gets their own chance to defeat an opponent, but Liz gets the coolest moment in the film by annihilating a pack of demon wolves in a single move.
The inclusion of a side character, Sidney Leach (Rob Paulsen), felt deserved this time. While he didn’t appear that much, he contributed to furthering the plot in minor ways, making his inclusion useful, rather than for pure comedic relief. On that note, this film lacks comedy and I mean that in a good way. Unlike Hellboy: Sword of Storms, most of the comedy is cut down in exchange for a tighter, more coherent story and better dialogue in general - something that Sword of Storms severely needed to improve on.
Story wise, it’s a solid film. Rather than the three plot threads Sword of Storms had, Blood & Iron reduces it down to two, but tells its thread in two completely different ways. The side plot tells the story backwards, slowly revealing subtle story elements through each flashback, while the main plot happens in the correct order. The last time I saw a film tell the story this way was Memento. The side plot isn’t integral to the overall plot, it just makes some moments easier to understand.
Now, I don’t know if I missed something towards the end of the story, but I had no idea who the final battle was against (I know who it was, I just don’t know how the story got there) and it lasted a lot longer than the fight against the villain they’d actually built-up throughout the film.
What disappoints me with the plot is that no one gets any form of character development in any way. No one is changed by the events of the story. I know that this is basically their day job, but we don’t learn anything about these character’s that we didn’t already know before.
Animation
Honestly, based on appearance alone, you’d still mistake this for a children’s cartoon, but when it deals with the more serious moments, the animation style strangely suits it. It’s almost as if Starz Media is trying to be more serious this time around. This is down to the editing and colouring of those scenes come to think of it.
There are some scenes which seriously suffer due to the art style, fight scenes don’t look as if they have any impact when the punches land, chairs are thrown and the bullets are shot, but that can all be ignored as we get decent fights. Hellboy faces a small, but dangerous number of foes that all pose a threat to him and the B.P.R.D. but they’re enjoyable to watch and some of them last a good few minutes. The choreography could be a lot better, though.
Character designs haven’t changed in any way, but due to the smaller cast and single location, it helps the boring designs stand out. The monster designs even improved, yet not in a drastic way. Everything does look unique and looks like a threat. Specifically, Erzebet’s (Kath Soucie) vampire form.
I still wish that we had an art style that was similar to Mike Mignola’s own style, but since only two of the animated films were made (not including the short), this won’t happen unless another film is made based on the newly rebooted film.
Voice Acting
If you remember what I said last time about the voice acting from Ron Perlman, I wasn’t particularly impressed by his constant flat tone and constant sarcasm. But this time he’s a lot more comfortable in the sound booth. While not significantly better, the change is noticeable, making Hellboy feel a little more real and less monotone whenever he talks.
The addition of John Hurt to the cast made a world of difference as he lends his voice to the already great cast, bringing the (visually emotionless) Professor Broom to life.
Selma Blair and Doug Jones once again provide the better voice acting for most of the movie, although coming across as a bit lost for some scenes. Barely raising their voices when fighting giant monsters yet talking in their normal voices as parts of buildings get demolished.
Conclusion
All in all, I think that Hellboy: Blood & Iron is a vast improvement to its predecessor, taking everything that didn’t work last time and finding a way to make it work. With great fight scenes and improved voice acting and plot, this is an enjoyable film that deserves more than a single viewing to enjoy some of the subtle story elements.