This is my Weekly Design Inspiration, this is a space where I share some design work that has either inspired me or caught my attention for its execution or concept. The things I feature on here can include (but not limited to) branding, web design, app design, illustration, typography, video games or anything that shows creativity in a unique way.
Last night I went to see the long anticipated Hellboy reboot starring David Harbour. Before going into this film I had been following the promotion of it pretty closely as I was intrigued as to how they were going to make this film stand apart from the Del Toro films. From what I gathered this reboot was going to be a bit darker with more ‘horror’ like elements with added gore and swearing to bump it up to that R rating. You know, what all the cool kids in the comic book movie industry are striving for. The first trailer released definitely put me on the back foot due to the tone of it, it felt more like Guardians of the Galaxy with it’s cooky music choice and emphasis on humor. Either the studio was listening to the backlash this trailer got or they already had a different, more fitting trailer in the bag as they later came out with a second ‘red band’ trailer. This trailer was much better and I think set the tone for the movie in a more appropriate manner. However, I will say this, whoever cut together those trailers should be fired, as they gave away every single surprise the film had to offer!
I guess it goes without saying but there are going to be huge spoilers from this point forward, you have been warned.
Right of the bat I want to say that I really enjoyed the original Hellboy films, I think Ron Perlman and Del Toro brought the story and character to life beautifully. I still even read Hellboy’s voice in the comics in Ron’s voice, he just did such a good job! So that being said this reboot had a lot to live up to. However, I wasn’t going to hold the quality of the originals against this one as I know it was trying to go for something a bit different in telling a new story and introducing characters we haven’t seen on screen before. But I’m afraid to say that this film didn’t really deliver as much as I’d had hoped.
I think my main criticism of this film is the pacing. It felt as though the film was rushing to fit as much in from the comic books as possible without stopping to take a breath. This quick pace made it impossible for the film to fit in any sort of character development or real conversations between characters. Everything had to be assumed very quickly, like meeting Alice went from zero to best friends in the space of 5 mins, meeting Ben Daimio established a hostility between him and Hellboy in 5 mins and every encounter was a whirlwind just so it could get to the next part.
I feel like some of the elements of the film could have been dropped in favour of giving more time to the characters and to focus on Hellboy’s deeper character traits, like his existence and inner anger. I think the starting part with the luchador wrestling was unnecessary, other than establishing Hellboy’s job and perception to the world (which I think was achieved much better in the original Hellboy film by using Myers as a catalyst for the audience coming into this crazy world). I also feel the entire part with Baba Yaga could have been removed, it didn’t really add much to the story other than helping Hellboy find out where the Blood Queen was (which could have been done in a much more simple manner) and confirming that Hellboy doesn’t like it when children are eaten...
I can only really remember two parts of the film where relationships were explored or Hellboy showed his real emotions. This included when Professor Broom (Ian McShane) was helping Hellboy shave and secondly, when Hellboy was getting angry about monsters being kept in the dark and his dad choosing to spare him in order to become a weapon for the B.P.R.D. I think that these parts were good but ended up being resolved too quickly/easily and there wasn’t enough of it throughout the film. The quick pace made me care less about all of the characters in the film and as a result made scenes that should have been emotionally impactful underwhelming.
While I’m disappointed about the pacing of the film and the amount they tried to cram in, I do respect how much of the comic books they managed to bring into the film (even if it was too much). The way they translated The Wild Hunt, The Chained Coffin and Wake The Devil onto screen was really good. They managed to blend and overlap these stories into a cohesive single story while only changing a handful of things from the comic books (like Alice’s aging, her ‘death’ being different, Broom should already be dead and died in a very different manner and a few other things). I respect the fan service and dedication to create a film for fans of the comics but I can’t help but feel for the 99% of people going into this film without any knowledge of the comics and being totally confused. This is where I feel the originals did a better job, they held the audiences hand throughout the majority of the first film until they grasped the way this universe works, then had freedom to be more fantastical in the second instalment as we were familiar with the world. I feel as though this film has jumped the gun a bit and tried to do too much in this first instalment (I say first instalment as they are clearing planning on making a sequel based on the ending). But if that’s the case then I think they should have been more selective over the content for this film.
Something else I have both praise and criticism for is the visual effects in this film. On the one hand you have the practical effects and costumes that are stunning and match the quality of the Del Toro films (even though these films are over a decade old). On the other hand you have the CGI which was questionable at times, I understand that this film has nowhere near the same budget as the likes of the Marvel films, but I think the over dependence on CGI for some of the fight scenes let the film down a bit. The quality of the CGI was really inconsistent, at times it looked pretty good, Baba Yaga and her house looked great, but then the fight with the giants was painful to watch in parts.
Lastly, I want to talk about the tone of the film. I think they nailed some parts of the tone, matching that of the comic books and bringing some fresh ideas as well. I think the humor was alright (not quite as good as Ron Perlman’s delivery, but not bad). The over-use of gore and swearing I felt was unnecessary, this helped bump it up to that R-rating but didn’t add much real value to the film. Yes, the swearing made Gruagach as pretty funny character but it could have been just as good without. I think they added this in because they could and to help distance this film from the previous ones.
Overall, I don’t think Hellboy was a bad film, I think it had glimmers of success and it definitely entertained me in parts. However, it was massively let down by the pacing. The quick nature of the film made this ‘horror’ like film feel more like a family friendly adventure with added violence, which was quite jarring. I enjoyed the accuracy to the comics but feel there was far too much jammed in and I would have liked more exploration into Hellboy as a character. Oh, and I absolutely loved the Ainsley Harriott reference...
Honorable Mentions
As part of my Weekly Design Inspiration I also like to share some bits and pieces that I have seen which have inspired me in the last week. I have captioned each image with some info and relevant links so you can find out more.
This month has seen the return of 36 Day of Type and designer and studios have come out in full force to stretch their creative skills. Here are just a small selection of some interesting designs from studios and designers. From Left to right Strongstuff, Six Agency, Orca and Taxi Studio
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