Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy films were an under-appreciated adaptation of the comic books of the same name. While they’ve become cult classics, the film franchise has since shifted to a new studio. Rather than building upon the existing movies having Ron Perlman return as the title character, Lionsgate went with a reboot. This time, David Harbour (Stranger Things) will be playing the title character in a film that adapts the source material with an even darker and more grittier tone.

Filled with all kinds of violence and profanity, this new telling of Hellboy isn’t the one that GDT told. Which may be fine. But we will just have to wait and see. Check out the latest trailer for the upcoming film here below.

Directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent), there is a stark difference when we are comparing his Hellboy to del Toro’s. For one thing, there is a lot more action in it than the originals. I mean a lot more. Like, a lot a lot more. Of course, del Toro’s adaptations had their fair share of it, but I’d like to think the filmmaker traded in all of that for more detailed creature and world designs. The set pieces were amazing and the creatures were a delight. And very practical for that matter.

But with Marshall, we are getting a more action-focused film, with a lot of CGI characters. And that may not be so bad if the goal is to distance this version with del Toro’s. There is plenty of ’80s action campiness to it. The title character riding on a winged-demon. Hellboy mentioning that he is a Capricorn (hey, me too) in his profanity-laced banter against a 5th-century demon. Then there’s Daniel Dae Kim asking someone to get him his “fucking violin.”

But there is something about this that isn’t just clicking for me. I fear that they preferred to have it be a lot more style over substance. And I hope I am wrong.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Written by Andrew Cosby, based on the Mike Mignola comics of the same name, Hellboy draws inspiration from “Darkness Calls,” The Wild Hunt, and The Storm and the Fury.

Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim, and Thomas Haden Church also star in the film.

Hellboy opens in theaters on April 12, 2019.

Trailer

[Source: Lionsgate Movies YT]