thanks, i hate it

[rivendellrose]

Saw the trailer for the new Hellboy movie today.

Nope. Not my Hellboy.

I had a few mild hopes, y'know? I liked David Harbour in Stranger Things, and I thought, personality-wise, he made sense for Hellboy. I liked Ian McShane in American Gods, and I thought he was... an interesting choice for Professor Bruttenholm. Probably a truer one to the comics than John Hurt. I... sort of wanted to like that they were bringing in Daimio (and do like that they brought in Daniel Dae Kim to play him, I just never really got attached to Daimio in the comics because as far as I'm concerned he's BPRD, not Hellboy, and he came in at exactly the same time as the artist I didn't like), and I was sort of charmed to see on IMDB that they were bringing in Lobster Johnson. Particularly since the guy they cast for him looked exactly right.

But the way they've done David Harbour's prosthetic for Hellboy makes his face totally the wrong shape, and, let's be real, in my heart Hellboy will always be Ron Perlman. And there's no Abe here, and I love Abe. And I just... don't like the style of this new movie. It's too much "THIS IS A COMIC BOOK MOVIE."

I know, I know, Hellboy is a comic. But as far as I'm concerned, it's not that kind of comic. It's moody and weird and heavily mythological and folkloric, and the humor is usually more "well, fuck" than it is "HA HA, QUIPPING ONE LINERS, BAM!" This complaint may be faintly ironic, coming from me, given that I came to the comics off Guillermo Del Toro's movies, which I freely admit were also heavily out of character from the comics. But in a different way, and a way that, at least in the case of the second movie, fit perfectly into my personal subconsciousness.

Which this movie very much does not. So. I'm sure it will make some other people happy and hopefully bring them to the comics, but otherwise... Meh. I'm out. Call me in another decade when we do another adaptation, and I'll see if that one hits my buttons.

Comments

[gaslightgallows]

We should do a rewatch of the GDT Hellboy movies over Skype or something. ♥

[ironymaiden]

aha! I was watching and going "I don't recognize this team" and that's it, I think i've only read the all-Mignola books.

[rivendellrose]

Yeah, even then it's a bit of an odd mix, if I recall correctly. Daimio never really worked with Hellboy that much (if it all?) and was usually on the team with Kate Corrigan (who you'll remember from the early HB books), Abe, and Roger. Or at least that's my memory of the BPRD books that I read...

Too much to ask, apparently, that they'd ever bring in Roger. He's my husband's favorite character.

[rivendellrose]

Oh, god, we should. The second movie would probably eat my brain again, but it'd be worth it!

How's your schedule in January? XD

[gaslightgallows]

My weekends are mostly booked, but there's always MLK Day... I'm off for part of that week because of a root canal. A Hellboy rewatch might be just what I need!

[rivendellrose]

I might be able to do that - let me see if The Boy has that day off and make sure we don't have plans; I suspect he won't and that therefore I'll be on my own and able to take a few hours for a movie rewatch in the middle of the day! And yes, Hellboy sounds like a very good antidote to root canal nonsense. ♥

[songscloset]

I heard that they were re-making it and I just... why would they re-make something that's already so perfect? Why can't anyone think of new stories anymore? (Really, that's a complaint about Hollywood/media creators, because I'm seeing really great stuff from non-trad storytellers.)

[rivendellrose]

Yeah, I mean... to some extent I can understand that people think Guillermo's movies weren't as true as they could have been to the comics. On the other hand, though, this one doesn't look likely to be any more true, just different.

And I do generally just wish we could stop remaking shit. The Disney live-action movies are the worst of that, I think -- the originals were great, and I have zero need for exactly any of the remakes. And yet they keep churning them out...

[gaslightgallows]

At this point, we'll have to see if I'm even conscious after the root canal. I'm trying to put in half a day at the office today, but I've been here less than 2-1/2 hours and I'm already dragging. :/

[rivendellrose]

Oh no! I hope the rest of the day went okay.

Honestly, my January schedule is starting to fill out with more work than I'd expected anyway - this is supposed to be one of my quiet months, but it's not looking like it's going to be!

[gaslightgallows]

It did. I mean, it was New Year's Eve at the office. Quiet and not very busy. But I got up at 5:30 in the morning to be sure of getting to work on time, and then I was up until 2 am the next morning. Quiet day but loooooong.

And what with being sick, I'm way behind on Patreon and DF stuff, so yeah, the rewatch might have to be rescheduled. :/ Sorry about that!

[rivendellrose]

Oh god, you guys still do Actual Things on New Years, don't you? The Boy and I made black-eyed peas with ham and mustard greens, played games, and then had a Mythbusters marathon... until just after 10pm. And then went to bed. Because we are lame. XD

Bah, no worries. Like I said, I'm starting to think I wouldn't really have time to do it anyway. Some other time!

[gaslightgallows]

I mean, not MUCH in the way of Actual Things. We go over to my parents' house for sandwiches and play board games til midnight. The last couple of years have been fun because Brian's been introducing my mother to a bunch of new games, and she's become really excited about them, which is adorable. ♥