--- title: "Hellboy" year: 2004 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/hellboy" fi1m_score: 71 critics_score: 73 critics_reviews: 14 published: "2026-09-18T07:06:37.880297+00:00" updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:38.061034+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Hellboy (2004) Directed by Guillermo del Toro · 2h 02m · MPA PG-13 · Fantasy, Action **Fi1m score: 71** · Critics 73 from 14 reviews *In a sentence:* The devil’s own son files down his horns, smokes cigars and sulks over a girl; the squid god is an afterthought > Guillermo del Toro’s comic-book film has a hero worth the name in Ron Perlman’s sulking, cigar-chewing demon, and monsters built with obvious love. The plot about waking an old god is the least interesting thing in it, and the film seems to know. ## Synopsis In Scotland in 1944, Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden), working for the Nazis, opens a door to somewhere worse than the war, and what comes through is a small red demon with an oversized stone hand. A young Trevor Bruttenholm (Kevin Trainor) takes it home. Sixty years on, that demon is Hellboy (Ron Perlman), horns filed flat, cigar lit, working out of a Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense hidden behind a waste-disposal plant in Newark. An ageing Bruttenholm (John Hurt) assigns him a new minder, John Myers (Rupert Evans). Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), a courteous fish-man, keeps him company. Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), who sets rooms on fire without meaning to, has checked herself into a hospital rather than come back. Then something with too many teeth breaks into a museum. ## Review Guillermo del Toro adapts Mike Mignola’s comic about a demon raised by a kindly Englishman to fight for the side he was not born on. The prologue puts Nazis, Rasputin and a portal on a Scottish island in 1944; the rest puts the grown demon in Newark sixty years later, punching things for a bureau nobody admits exists. It is good-natured, handsome and 122 minutes long. The plot is the weakest thing in it. Perlman carries the rest. Under a full-body prosthetic, horns ground down to stumps, Ron Perlman gives Hellboy the walk of a man who has spent his life ducking through doors. He eats, he smokes, he sulks about a girl, and he hits monsters with a hand the size of a paving slab. Perlman plays the ordinary things straight and lets the red skin be the joke, and when Liz will not come home his hurt is real and a little ridiculous. The Bureau, designed by Stephen Scott and Gene Warren III, is riveted steel doors and library shelves. Guillermo Navarro shoots it in blues and steel greys, so that Hellboy is the warmest thing in every frame, and lights the tunnels under the city with sodium orange and torch beams. Wendy Partridge puts Hellboy in a duster coat and Karl Ruprecht Kroenen (Ladislav Beran), the Nazi assassin from the prologue, in black leather and a gas mask. Kroenen frightened us. He does not speak, he moves like a wound-up toy, and blades come out of his sleeves; del Toro shoots him with more care than he gives the nominal villain. That villain is where the film goes soft. Karel Roden plays Rasputin as a still man who wants to wake something ancient and tentacled, and the film tells us so several times without making us feel what difference it would make. His creature, Sammael (Brian Steele), is a fine design with a tongue like a fire hose, but the fights with it are the same fight staged in a museum, then a subway, and Peter Amundson lets each one run past the point where we knew how it would end. In wide shot Sammael has the rubbery weightlessness of 2004 computer animation, and the film keeps cutting to the wide shot. Rupert Evans plays the new agent, John Myers, as decent and puzzled, and the film uses him as our way in when it already has a better one. The romantic triangle between him, Liz and Hellboy is the one thing we did not believe for a second. John Hurt, as the professor who raised him, does the film’s quiet work, and his scenes with Perlman are played by both men as though the horns were not there. Selma Blair gives Liz a flat, medicated sadness that is right for the character and a little dull to sit with. Doug Jones’s Abe, amphibious and polite, is lovely movement work. Jeffrey Tambor’s Manning, the FBI man, gets most of the jokes. The moment that got us was smaller than any fight: Hellboy on a rooftop with a small boy, a plate of biscuits and a glass of milk, spying on the woman he loves. It is sweet and slightly pathetic, and we were fonder of the film for it than for anything it blew up. Marco Beltrami’s score is brass and choir, loud where the fights are loud and gentler under the rooftop. *Cronos* (1993) and *The Devil’s Backbone* (2001) had one idea each and followed it; *Blade II* (2002) was a hired job done with relish. *Hellboy* has the monsters of the first two and the plotting of the third, and *Pan’s Labyrinth* (2006) would show what happens when he gives the story as much love as the creatures. See it for Perlman, for Kroenen and for the rooftop, and forgive it the squid. It carries a 12A, and a child of ten who likes monsters will get on with it fine. So did we, mostly, and we were sorrier than we expected whenever the big red idiot got hurt. *Fi1m score 71, published 18 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics warm to Hellboy, and the praise gathers in two places: Guillermo del Toro’s affection for Mike Mignola’s comic, and Ron Perlman in the lead. Reviewers describe the film as a comic brought to life with visual flair and heart, and Perlman’s gruff, cigar-chewing demon is named as its best asset in nearly every notice. The gothic design and dry comedy are liked, and several later pieces argue it has aged well against more anonymous superhero films. The reservations cluster around the story. Some find the plot preposterous or muddled, the squid-god threat less engaging than the fistfights, and the mix of gags and drama uneasy. The Los Angeles Times calls it a triumph of design over meaning, and a few note excess CGI and shaky supporting turns. The spread is narrow, most landing between good and very good; the lone dissent comes from Eye for Film, which finds it loud, boring and too violent for children. ### Reviews we read (14) - **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (4/4): Del Toro is drawn to the comic's hopeful humanity and creates a generous, morally clear film that evokes the allure of evil while emphasizing isolation and love conquering all. The director's startling use of color and moral clarity stand out in this action-packed extravaganza. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/hellboy/) - **Sight and Sound**, Kim Newman (85/100, inferred): The film brings Mike Mignola's comic to life with visual flair and a big red heart, thanks especially to Ron Perlman's grounded, soulful performance as the grouchy demon hero. Del Toro honours the source material's arcane mechanics and bug imagery while delivering action set-pieces and wry comedy. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/763) - **Variety**, Joe Leydon (85/100, inferred): A rock-the-house sci-fi/fantasy extravaganza that apportions sound and fury with heart and soul, it is a labor of love for director Guillermo del Toro. The well-cast actors generate rooting interest and propel the plot through their colorful personalities, with production values vividly rendering the comic mythos. [Read](https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/hellboy-1200534276/) - **Little White Lies**, Daniel Seddon (80/100, inferred): Guillermo del Toro's 2004 film remains a subversive, gothic-laced antidote to contemporary superhero movies, with Ron Perlman's cigar-chewing anti-hero providing compelling existential depth amid lavish spectacle. Its idiosyncratic artistic flourishes and dry comedy set it apart as a uniquely heartfelt comic adaptation. [Read](https://lwlies.com/in-praise-of/hellboy-guillermo-del-toro-subversive-superhero-movie) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (80/100, inferred): The film feels like a comic book come to life, full of energy, zeal, and joy in its making despite nonstop special effects and a preposterous story. Ron Perlman excels as the title character, chomping his cigar and battling demons with glee while the director brings the source material's spirit to the screen. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hellboy-2004) - **Time Out**, PW (80/100, inferred): Fun is in plentiful supply thanks to del Toro's gleeful direction and especially Ron Perlman's star-making turn as the wisecracking, cigar-chomping hero. The film delivers furious entertainment through coruscating set-pieces against urban-occult backdrops without navel-gazing. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/hellboy) - **Empire**, Kim Newman (70/100, inferred): Del Toro brings Guillermo del Toro's comic-book anti-hero swiftly up to speed with an atmospheric WWII prologue and present-day action, introducing a team of supernatural outcasts while nurturing a romantic triangle. The director's loyalty to the source material shines through in the blocky architecture and character work, especially Ron Perlman's gruff, blue-collar charisma as Hellboy, though the nebulous squid-god threat feels less engaging than the fist-fests. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/hellboy-review/) - **The Guardian** (70/100, inferred): The critic praises Guillermo del Toro's personal project adapting the obscure comic into a rip-roaring film full of dark, brooding imagery. It is seen as pleasingly Gothic yet vibrantly alive, with strong casting including Ron Perlman as the cigar-smoking Hellboy and good supporting turns. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/jan/07/dvdreviews.shopping2) - **Screen Daily** (65/100, inferred): Del Toro's handsome adaptation delivers visual flair, impressive effects and an engaging portrait of a quirky outsider hero, with Perlman excelling in the title role. It never quite transcends its comic-book origins like the best recent adaptations, though monster designs and action sequences are effective. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/hellboy/4017970.article) - **Los Angeles Times**, Manohla Dargis (60/100, inferred): The movie is an enjoyable if somewhat neutered defender of the free world, with Hellboy still hard-boiled but now wearing a smile. It is principally a triumph of design over meaning, succeeding more in conveying what happens than how it happens or why it matters. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-apr-02-et-dargis2-story.html) - **The AV Club**, Keith Phipps (60/100, inferred): The film showcases a strong central character brought to life with gruff tenderness by Ron Perlman, and it looks great while staying true to the comic's world. However, it uneasily mixes comedy gags with drama and fails to make the story or action fully come alive. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/hellboy-1798199484) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (80/100, inferred): The critic praises Guillermo del Toro's 2004 adaptation for successfully blending studio expectations with the director's distinctive weird, earnest sensibility and passion for monsters and mythology. Ron Perlman's blue-collar Hellboy stands out as a highlight, though some compromises for mainstream appeal, like the everyman side character, slightly dilute the focus. [Read](https://collider.com/hellboy-guillermo-del-toro-movies-review/) - **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (B): The piece praises the film as enjoyable entertainment that showcases del Toro's style and gives Ron Perlman a perfect leading role, highlighting its fun tone, emotional core and romantic elements. It notes flaws including shaky supporting performances and excessive CGI. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/essentials-guillermo-del-toro-best-20130709/2/) - **Eye for Film**, David Haviland (10/100, inferred): The critic calls the film loud and boring with a nonsensical plot full of repetitive fights and illogical developments. It is deemed too violent for children and too stupid for adults. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/hellboy-film-review-by-david-haviland) ## Details - **Director:** Guillermo del Toro - **Director:** Guillermo del Toro - **Screenplay:** Guillermo del Toro - **Writer:** Mike Mignola, Peter Briggs - **Cinematography:** Guillermo Navarro - **Editor:** Peter Amundson - **Music:** Marco Beltrami - **Production design:** Stephen Scott, Gene Warren III - **Costume design:** Wendy Partridge - **Producer:** Mike Richardson, Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin - **Cast:** Ron Perlman as Hellboy; Selma Blair as Elizabeth 'Liz' Sherman; Doug Jones as Abraham 'Abe' Sapien; John Hurt as Prof. Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm; Rupert Evans as John Myers; Jeffrey Tambor as Tom Manning; Ladislav Beran as Karl Ruprecht Kroenen; Bridget Hodson as Ilsa Haupstein - **Runtime:** 2h 02m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 2 April 2004 - **Genres:** Fantasy, Action - **Budget:** $66 million - **Box office:** $99 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc4-3QmiFak ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $12.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-18.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IN, IT, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, TR, UA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Hellboy II: The Golden Army* (2008): The sequel, where del Toro stops apologising for the monsters and lets them run the place. - *The Devil's Backbone* (2001): Del Toro’s Spanish ghost story; one idea, one orphanage, followed to the end. - *Cronos* (1993): His first film: a clockwork insect, a Mexican antiques dealer and Ron Perlman, already. - *Ghostbusters* (1984), Fi1m 80: The other film about a shabby government-adjacent outfit that deals with the unspeakable and files reports. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters.md) - *Big Trouble in Little China* (1986), Fi1m 78: A lunkhead hero, ancient sorcery under a city, and jokes that land more often than they should. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/big-trouble-in-little-china.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/hellboy