Hellboy: Blood and Iron is the second installment in the Hellboy animated feature series, that, despite a valiant effort, left me wishing I had just watched the previous Hellboy: Sword of Storms instead.
Right now, I think it’s safe to say that Hellboy is hot (no pun intended). With a successful feature film in 2003, an ongoing monthly comic, a follow up feature film in the works, and now these new animated features premiering on DVD, I think it’s safe to say that “Big Red” has cemented his place in pop culture.
That being said, it doesn’t mean that everything with the Hellboy name is good. Case in point, the new direct-to-DVD feature entitled Hellboy: Blood and Iron. Following on the heels of the successful “Sword of Storms,” the film has our heroes sent to investigate the supernatural activity at an old mansion turned tourist attraction. When the team discovers they’re dealing with a vampire from Professor Broom’s past with a grudge to settle, it’s up to them to stop the creature and ensure Professor Broom’s safety.
When I received my DVD screener of “Blood and Iron” the other day I was all to happy to run inside and pop it into the DVD player. Really enjoying the previous “Sword of Storms,” I had high hopes for this film as I had read that it dealt with a female vampire from Broom’s past, and let’s face it....who doesn’t like vampires? About 30min into the film (total runtime of 116min) my hopes were dashed when I realized this wasn’t “Sword of Storms”....not even close.
The film itself isn’t BAD, it just feels really, really rushed. While it was obvious from beginning to end that “Sword of Storms” was a labor of love, this film just felt like an attempt to capitalize on the success of it’s predecessor. The reason I liked the first Hellboy animated film was because on top of it being visually stunning, it had a solid story, and reunited the live action film’s cast, which always lends itself to the continuity. With the exception of the returning cast, this film has none of those qualities.
While watching the film I kept wondering if my screener was a test version. When I say “test version” I mean a version where not all the FX and sound are completely finished. The animation in the film was good, but that’s it. In a time when blending 2D and 3D animation is the standard, having “good” animation just doesn’t fly anymore...it has to be great. For the most part the characters look good (there’s that word again), however during certain scenes the perspective on the characters becomes extremely distorted and almost makes them look like those super D characters commonly found in anime.
Setting the animation quality aside, it’s the film’s story that really turned me off. Honestly, during the entire course of the film I felt like I was watching every vampire flick I’d ever seen. I mean here you’re dealing with a female vampire that kills young women so she can bathe in their blood and keep her own beauty...ok, sounds good enough right? Sure, if it hadn’t been done 100 other times before. Then, the vampire turns an unsuspecting human into her werewolf slave to send after HB and his crew....didn’t we just see this is films like Van Helsing?? It’s all been done before.
It really kills me to say something negative about anything related to Hellboy because I’ve been a fan of the character since it’s creation, but this film was about as bland as they come. Where as “Sword of Storms” pitted Hellboy against Thunder and Lightning, this film just tries to liven (no pun intended) things up by making it’s villians seem fresh, and unique but in doing so it just goes to reinforce how unoriginal and boring they really are....almost like they tried too hard with this one.
One good thing I can say about this film is the quality performance each actor gave in their respective part. Ron Pearlman returns as Hellboy (like there was anyone else who could do it) and delivers another solid performance as the adolescent monster hunter. I can’t say enough good things about Pearlman in the part. Whether he’s playing HB in the live action film, or just providing the voice, this is the part Pearlman was born to play. Also returning is Selma Blair as Liz Sherman, who despite her slightly odd appearance in the film (is it just me or does she look hispanic in animated form?) delivers another great performance. Doug Jones once again impresses me as Abe Sapien, delivering a different, albeit, refreshing performance from Abe’s live action counterpart voiced by David Hyde Pierce. And of course what Hellboy film would be complete without the always brillaint John Hurt returning as Professor Broom? Do I even need to say how good he is? I didn’t think so.
Overall Hellboy: Blood and Iron just wasn’t what I was hoping it to be. I had hoped to get a follow up just as good, if not better as the previous “Sword of Storms,” and instead what I got was a film that seemed forced and extremely rushed. Oh well, I guess there’s always the recently announced Hellboy: The Phantom Claw to look forward to right?