Thoughts on the New 'Hellboy' Reboot

Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   It seems like it was just a couple months ago that we were here discussing the possibility of a Hellboy III. Wait, that's because that was only a few months ago. Well, here we are again, discussing Hellboy. However, this time it's not the third film in that series, it's a new rebooted version of the character with a new actor and director. Here's what you need to know.

   The question on everybody's mind right now is probably "Why not just make Hellboy III?". Well, if you wanted to read that article I wrote, you can find it here, but for simplicity's sake I'll sum it up for you. Basically, Guillermo Del Toro (who directed the first two Hellboy films) was asking for a gigantic budget for the film, a budget around the $200 million mark. Even though the films are great, they don't make anywhere near the amount of money to justify a budget of that magnitude. No studio was willing to provide Del Toro with that budget, and he was unwilling to cut it down. As a result, the Hellboy franchise was left at a standstill for ten years. 
   That is, it was dead until a couple days ago when Hellboy creator Mike Mignola announced the rebooted project, tentatively titled Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, on his Twitter account. It was there that he confirmed that Stranger Things star David Harbour would be taking on the lead role in the franchise. I'm not really sure how I feel about this casting. The only thing I've seen Harbour in was Stanger Things, and he was quite good in that show. However, his character in that show was very different from the character of Hellboy. One thing that does give me some comfort is the fact that this isn't the first major comic-book role that Harbour has been circling. A few months ago, there was a report going around that Harbour was in the running for the character of Cable in Deadpool 2. Though Josh Brolin ended up snagging that part, it would not be surprising if that report was true considering Harbour has now taken a role a little similar to that. 
   The big thing in this announcement that has me excited is the director they've attached to helm the project. They have signed director Neil Marshall to this new Hellboy film. Marshall's most notable work consists of the 2005 horror film The Descent, along with two episodes of Game of Thrones, and one episode of Westworld. I have not seen The Descent, but I have watched Game of Thrones and Westworld, and I loved both of them. The most exciting thing is when you consider which two Game of Thrones episodes he directed. Those episodes were Season 2 Episode 9 "Blackwater", and Season 4 Episode 9 "The Watchers on the Wall". Both of those episodes are considered by many to be a couple of the best Game of Thrones episodes to date. Notably, those are both very action-heavy episodes, so hopefully, Marshall can make great use of his experience and give us some amazing action sequences in Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen. 
   It has also been confirmed that the rebooted Hellboy film will be rated R, to the relief of many fans around the world. Screenwriter Andrew Cosby as a "darker, more gruesome version of Hellboy" and that they want it to " walk a razor’s edge between horror and comic book movie". So this new Hellboy will have a very large horror influence on it, which is very exciting. Though Del Toro's Hellboy films definitely dipped their toes in horror, they still felt like action movies at the end of the day. I'm excited to see what they can do with the character of Hellboy by bringing even more horror into the mix. 

   So what do you think about Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen? Do you think David Harbour was well cast in the role? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter. It really helps! Don't forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and other miscellaneous movie thoughts! 

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