The fourth live-action adaptation of the much-loved comic creation Hellboy, and the third iteration of the character following two well-received Guillermo del Toro-helmed, Ron Perlman-starring outings and a less-said-about-the-better reboot with David Harbour, Brian Taylor‘s take on the character in Hellboy: The Crooked Man has a distinct personality of its own and a well-suited Jack Kesy in the lead role, but, sadly, suffers from a decidedly limited budget that gives it an air of straight-to-DVD; though, in these times, I guess straight-to-VOD or streaming is more accurate.
And indeed, in the United States this latest adventure is bypassing the multiplexes all together, with Australia, surprisingly, one of the regions gracing it with a big screen engagement. It’s quite surprising that a character like Hellboy has a new feature that’s releasing to little fanfare, and whilst Taylor’s film doesn’t match the budgetary quality of what’s come before, he at least flexes an audacity in taking on The Crooked Man graphic novel, which is one of creator/writer Mike Mignola‘s best, and lacing it with a smaller, more gothic mentality as opposed to the large action blockbusters the other films have adhered to.
Disconnected from the aforementioned films starring Perlman (2004’s Hellboy and its 2008 sequel The Golden Army) and Harbour (2019’s Hellboy) and shifted from present day to 1950s Appalachia, The Crooked Man (re)introduces us to Hellboy (Kesy easily making the character his own) and his Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense partner, Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph), as they get caught up in a twisted tale of witchcraft, with the source of such relating back to the malevolent entity known as The Crooked Man (Martin Bassindale).
Feeling a little more in line with a supernatural horror-bordering effort like Constantine, Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a nice shift from the usual fare we’ve seen the character play within. Whilst it occasionally suffers from losing the focus on its titular character and indulging in its horror ensemble, and the poor CGI really undoes any of its good will with truly shockingly appearing effects (this only exacerbated on a big screen), Kesy has a stronghold on Hellboy himself, and he continually keeps the film afloat when it stumbles from questionable pacing and dialogue; his version feeling more in tune with Mignola’s vision of the character being a calculated detective.
As much promise as the film has, the budget being clearly a little too limited means that any of the ambition the narrative required leaves The Crooked Man at an unfortunate loss. The practical effects are impressive, but so much of the story clearly relies on advanced technology, and with the film already operating on a smaller scale, it results in the type of production that feels undone in spite of its promising concept.
A mixed bag that doesn’t do the character justice in terms of a budgetary story, but more than has enough of a worthy successor in the charming, hulking Kesy, Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a big step-up from the 2019 redo but, unfortunately, falters under its constraints. del Toro’s films are still untouched, and fans may wait until we get another reboot at some point down the line (it feels inevitable, right?), but if you can overlook its evident limitations, you can more than have enough genre fun with this horror noir tale that at least dares to try something different.
TWO AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Hellboy: The Crooked Man is now screening in Australian theatres.
