Hellboy (2019) Trailer - Review/Reaction

The long awaited trailer for the Neil Marshall directed Hellboy movie was released recently. This is a reboot with David Harbour taking over the mantle of the titular superhero from Ron Perlman.

Joining David Harbour are Ian Shane (replacing John Hurt) as Professor Broom, Sasha Lane, Milla Jovovich and Daniel Dae Kim.

Check out the trailer:

This trailer proved to be underwhelming. The movie tries to ape the MCU movie style of humor that so many recent movies have tried desperately and failed.

This is an important point as Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy) himself gave his stamp of approval for the reboot and claimed that is much closer to his vision for the character.

It is possible that Mignola and Marshall tried to bring the superhero back to his horror roots and stay away from the particular sense of humor that del Toro and Ron Perlman brought so successfully to the movies. Guillermo's sense of humor was enjoyable and meshed well with the flow of movie.

But here it is a different situation. Perhaps the studio forced the director to include the comedic tone to the movie. The trailer itself starts with a scene that is intended to showcase the comedic nature of the movie, but then the trailer switches gears and becomes a “save-the-world” movie with our hero being the only guy capable of stopping the apocalypse.

The humor looks forced and either comes off as childish or falls flat most of the time. One of the lines (“Hey, I am on your side”) is directly lifted from the first Guillermo del Toro movie:

Similarly, Hellboy's fight against a bigger opponent reminds one of the encounter between Hellboy and Wink in the fantastic Troll Market sequence of Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

Considering that Mike Mignola clearly wanted this movie not to take the del Toro route, the trailer is just surprising to say the least.

Not only the CGI but even the production values look below average. There is a generic blockbuster feel to the whole movie that clearly misses the unique horror/comic book roots of the character that Mike Mignola repeatedly claimed that this movie would have.

The actors appear uninterested with Ian Shane looking positively bored as Professor Broom. Ditto for Sasha Lane and Daniel Dae Kim. Milla Jovovich seems to be in just for the paycheck.

David Harbour's take on the character might be lost in the obvious (but failed) attempts at humor. Fingers crossed on this.

I was looking forward to this movie primarily for two reasons: the director and for featuring one of my favorite superheroes.

Neil Marshall has directed one of my favorite werewolf movies: Dog Soldiers. That movie was made on a much lower budget than this one and had a great screenplay, acting and action sequences. I also liked Centurion starring Michael Fassbender and Olga Kurylenko.

I can only assume that studio interference has played a significant factor in the dumbing down of his latest effort.

This trailer confirms that it would have been a better idea for Universal Pictures and Mignola to have let Guillermo del Toro make the series finale. He clearly had great ideas for the third chapter that would have completed the story arc for Anung Un Rama and Liz Sherman.

Well, Ron Perlman looks set to be the definitive version of Hellboy and the del Toro movies would remain classics - a recognition very well deserved.

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Image Sources: Nu Boyana FX, Campbell Grobman Films, Dark Horse Entertainment, Lawrence Gordon Productions, Millennium Films 

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The Strain Season 1 Episode # 2 "The Box" - Recap and Review

This post discusses the episode in detail. Readers yet to read the episode are recommended to skip the rest of the post, if they wish to avoid spoilers.

The episode begins with a quick recap of the previous episode, “Night Zero”.

Gus Elizalde (Miguel Gomez) delivers the box to its destination and tries to figure out its contents. The grumbling noises and the roars coming from inside the box scare away Gus who flees the garage running at full speed.

We are introduced to the Vasiliy Fet (Kevin Durand), Inspector at City Pest Control. The big muscular chap works on eliminating the rat problem in the city and not surpisingly has a pet cat. This reminded me of  Hellboy (another del Toro favorite) also having a lot of pet cats.

At the cargo area in JFK airport, Dr Eph Goodweather (Corey Stoll), Dr Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro) and Jim Kent (Sean Astin) examine Peter Bishop's corpse. As readers might remember, Bishop was attacked and murdered by the Master in the previous episode.

Nora notices ammonia discharge, similar to the one inside the doomed flight Regis Air 753.

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Dr Everett Barnes (Daniel Kash) releases the four survivors. Eph tries to keep them under quarantine on his authority.

Eldritch Palmer (Jonathan Hyde) plans to release disinformation campaign to counter CDC's stranglehold on the passengers. The blame is placed on the airline company's negligence to safety standards. This is supposed to be the cause of the casualties.

Thomas Eichorst (Richard Sammel) goes to meet Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley) in jail and refers to him by his Jewish concentration camp number “A230385”. Thomas was in charge of Abraham's concentration camp during World War II.

Thomas also asks if his antique sword belongs to “Sardu”. Eichhorst further taunts Abraham by asking if he still keeps “her” heart.

Abraham retorts by informing Eichhorst that he had slain Eichhorst's friend Dreverhaven and that he will be joining his dead friend soon.

Crispin (Francis Capra) gifts the clock, he stole from Abraham's pawnshop, to his mother. Gus chastises him for presenting their mother with a stolen item and decides to return the clock to its rightful owner.

Margaret Pierson, Secretary of Human and Health Services informs Eph that the flight incident is now under the control of National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Barnes tries to calm down Eph by advising him about his personal life. Eph loses his cool and grabs his superior by his collar. Barnes promptly removes Eph from the case and orders him to go on leave for a few days.

Eph tries unsuccessfully to reach Dr Bennett at the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Captain Redfern (Jonathan Potts) meets Eph and Nora at a bar. He lets them know that some government agents has brought the box to the flight cargo.

Eph and Nora run some chemical tests to determine the nature of the agent that caused the death of the flight passengers.

The duty conscious Vasiliy is making an inspection in a restaurant on a Sunday. Meanwhile, Gabriel “Gabe” Bolivar (Jack Kesy), his manager Ruby Wain (Regina King) and Joan Luss (Leslie Hope) discuss about their strategy to make money from the Regis incident.

Gabe discusses with Joan about hearing the humming noise inside his head. Joan agrees that she too hears the same. Joan notices blood in her drink and realizes that she has blood in her mouth.

Vasiliy uses his authority to close down the restaurant and orders the patrons to leave.

Eldritch and his assistant/bodyguard Mr Fitzwilliams (Roger R. Cross) get ready to meet the Master. Mr Fitzwilliams is not comfortable with his employer's deal with Thomas Eichhorst and suggests having a backup plan. Eldritch disregards his bodyguard's advice and declares that he is more excited for the upcoming meeting that anything else in his life.

Eph meets Zach (Ben Hyland) before their court custody appearance. Eph has a very uncomfortable man-to-man talk with Kelly's new boyfriend Matt Sayles (Drew Nelson).

Eph attends an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Eph confirms his committment to remain sober solely for the sake of Zack.

During one of his orgies at his townhouse, Gabe can hear the blood pumping inside one of the girls and bites her real hard. After the girls leave, Gabe continues to licks the blood on the floor.

Redfern's pathological report reveals that his body is undergoing metamorphosis. Under the UV light, they notice some movements inside his skin.

Gary Arnot (Steven McCarthy) contacts Eph to thank him for releasing his daughter, Emma (Isabelle Nélisse) to him.

Mr Fitzwilliams gives a friendly warning to Eldritch about his suspicions about Thomas. Eldritch sees the Master's face and is left whimpering in fear.

Eph and Nora reach the CDC office to check on Dr Bennett and the corpses. They realize that all the corpses are gone.

Emma is lying in the bathtub. When Gary approaches her, she attacks him with her newly developed stinger.

The show is getting on nicely with the second episode building on the events that took place previously. 

Kevin Durand and Regina Hope are the new newcomers. They are welcome additions to the show and enliven the show with their screen presence.

I liked the exchange between Abraham Setrakian and Thomas Eichorst in the jail. This conversation revealed Abraham's backstory and explained his rivalry with Eichorst.

Corey Stoll's discussion with Drew Nelson's character was funny. Credit to Corey for bringing in some much needed humor to the proceedings that can get quite grim.

Special mention must be made of Leslie Hope as ambitious attorney Joan Luss. She sells the concept of an infected victim undergoing change really well.

Guillermo del Toro has put in a lot of efforts to make the show an enjoyable treat for his fans and it shows. The makeup, the sets and the atmosphere - they are consistently excellent and bear the stamp of a master craftsman at work.

Recommended watch for fans of del Toro and/or Horror genre.

Trivia

• The song “I Love You” from Barney can be heard in the closing scene, when Gary Arnot is attacked by his changed daughter.

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Image Sources: FX Networks, TheTVDen.com, DelToroFilms.com

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The Strain Season 1 Episode # 1 "Night Zero" - Recap and Review

Guillermo del Toro is one of my favorite directors and I love most of his movies (Pan's Labyrinth, Mimic, Cronos, The Devil's Backbone, Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Blade II). I have also enjoyed the movies he has produced like Mama, The Orphanage and Julia's Eyes.

Guillermo has also co-authored with Chuck Hogan, “The Strain”, a vampire horror trilogy. The books are being adapted as a FX TV Series, with the active participation of del Toro.

The first episode “Night Zero” aired today. This post discusses the episode in detail. Readers yet to read the episode are recommended to skip the rest of the post, if they wish to avoid spoilers.

In the opening scene, a male voiceover talks about the hunger known as “love” and how it defines us as humans. 

A flight Regis Air 753 from Berlin is approaching touchdown at the JFK airport. One of the flight attendants, Rose (Karen Glave) is contacted by her co-worker, Peter (Adriano Sobretodo Jr.) for immediate help.

Peter is convinced that there is something moving in the cargo. Shortly, a hooded black figure attacks both of them.

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The flight lands at the airport. The ground crew does not receive any response from the flight crew. Concerned with this situation, they decide to call in the official agencies including the CDC.

Dr Ephraim “Eph” Goodweather (Corey Stoll) is the Chief Medical Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He is late again for the last of his court mandated family therapy sessions. His wife, Kelly Goodweather (Natalie Brown) is concerned about his inability to being a good husband and father to their son Zack (Ben Hyland).

Any readers out there seeking marital counselling can check out Regain. Regain is an online relationship counseling platform that provides 24/7 help through licensed and credentialed therapists.

Eph is informed about the Regis Air emergency. He reaches the airport and is met by Dr Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro) and Jim Kent (Sean Astin).

We also meet Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley), an aging pawn shop owner who is more than what meets the eye. He deftly handles a couple of shoplifting street thugs.

Abraham learns about the airport incident on the news and realizes that “He” is back. He has a beating heart stored in a jar and feeds it his own blood to keep it alive.

Eph and Nora enter the plane wearing containment suits. They notice a lot of ammonia present and also that the passengers show no signs of any infection or struggle.

After switching to UV lights, they notice lot of biological stains inside the plane. There are four survivors so far: Captain Redfern (Jonathan Potts), vain celebrity Gabriel Bolivar (Jack Kesy), ambitious attorney Joan Luss (Leslie Hope) and timid Ansel Barbour (Nikolai Witschl).

At the Stoneheart group building, a mysterious Thomas Eichhorst (Richard Sammel) visits elderly billionaire Eldritch Palmer (Jonathan Hyde). Eldritch's right-hand man, Mr Fitzwilliams (Roger R. Cross) hesitates to interrupt his employer's ongoing dialysis.

Jim informs Eph about the discovery of a finely hand carved box about 9 feet tall containing soil. Nora notices that the coffin has an inside latch.

Eph asks Bishop, a ground crew worker to make inquires about the mysterious cabinet. Even as he makes the call, Bishop hears some voices inside his head and is led to a secluded place. He is brutally murdered by the same mysterious figure that attacked the flight attendants.

Eichhorst also visits Gus Elizalde (Miguel Gomez), a Mexican gangster and entrusts with the task of moving the coffin. He offers Gus the reward of having his beloved mother's immigration status cleared in return for his work.

Dr Bennett (Jeffrey R. Smith) performs autopsy of the dead passengers and discovers that their blood has turned white and opalescent. All of them also have a precise incision in their necks.

Abraham meets Eph and Nora and asks them to destroy the bodies of all passengers, whether alive or dead. He further asks them to destroy the coffin as the only way to destroy him. Eph has the seemingly raving Abraham arrested by the cops.

Eph and Nora realize the importance of the box and rush to investigate it. The box is missing and Eph orders Jim to ensure that it is not carried out of the airport. Gus, with Jim's help is able to get the coffin out of the airport.

The corpses come to life at the CDC and feed on Dr Bennett.

Gus is happy with his latest assignment and calls to check on his mother. He does not seem to be as concerned with his brother, Crispin (Francis Capra).

One of the dead passengers, Emma Arnot (Isabelle Nélisse) returns to her father Gary (Steven McCarthy) and he happily embraces her.

The episode closes with Abraham Setrakian's voiceover quote: “Love is our grace. Love is our downfall”.

This episode was directed by Guillermo del Toro and his touches can be felt throughout the episode -  the way the episode has been shot and colored, the character development, the humor and the focus on the very human emotion of Love

Eph's description of the way a virus is transmitted was done well.

Acting is solid across the board. I liked Corey Stoll (Eph), David Bradley (Abraham Setrakian) and Miguel Gomez (Gus Elizalde).

Miguel has some of the best lines in the show and looks to be the standout performer.

This is Guillermo doing what he does best: a character driven piece with aspects of horror thrown in for good measure.

Hats off to him for successfully bringing the book to life. I look forward to Vasiliy Fet (Kevin Durand) making his appearance on the show.

This is one of the best 90 minutes of TV show I have seen. The recently concluded Fargo was another very well done show (also from FX Networks). If the show maintains the same level of quality, FX has another massive hit on their hands.

A must watch for fans of Guillermo del Toro/Horror genre. 

Click here to read the review of the next episode, “The Box”.

Trivia

• The folk song “Maggie” can be heard playing on the radio in the first scene with Abraham Setrakian.
• The song “Sweet Caroline” can he heard playing on the radio, when Dr Bennett is attacked by the dead flight passengers at the CDC.

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Image Sources: FX Networks, DelToroFilms.com

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Pacific Rim

Movie Review: Pacific Rim (2013)

Earth is under attack by Kaijus, monsters that have arrived via a recently opened portal in the Pacific Ocean. Human beings all over the world have united as a race and have built gigantic robots called Jaegers. Jaegers are operated by two human beings (and sometimes three), connected to each other thro via their thoughts and memories. This concept referred to as "Drifting", enables these Jaeger drivers to manage the task of operating these towering machines.

Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Yancy Becket (Diego Klattenhoff) are brothers who make an excellent team of Jaeger drivers. In one such Kaiju encounter, Yancy is killed and Raleigh leaves the Jaeger program. He still suffers from nightmares.

Meanwhile, Kaijus are becoming more tougher to beat and the humankind is losing the fight. Marshal Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba), in charge of the Jaeger program wants Raleigh back and has his worn out Jaeger, Gipsy Danger rebuilt with the help of his protege, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi).

Two scientists, Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) and Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) are figuring out a way to defeat the Kaijus. Both of them have different theories and bicker constantly.

Herc Hansen (Max Martini) and Chuck Hansen (Robert Kazinsky) are a father-son duo, who operate Striker Eureka (Australian Jaeger).

Also in the mix is Guillermo del Toro regular Ron Perlman as Hannibal Chau, a shady dealer of Kaiju body parts.

The human interaction sequences that occupy a major section of the movie can get boring sometimes, thanks to pedestrian dialogues and cardboard characterizations. Specifically, the Russian Jaeger drivers are extreme stereotypes and reminded me of Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in Rocky 4.

The acting varies from being good to intolerably bad. I was expecting a Henry Cavill kind of handsome looking-but-bland and uninvolving performance from Charlie Hunnam. But Hunnam proved to be surprisingly good in his role. Rinko Kinkuchi and Robert Kazinsky are also impressive.

Idris Elba and Max Martini are adequate as senior and strict officers. Ron Perlman is a hoot as Hannibal. He has a charismatic screen presence.

Burn Gorman is OK. The least satisfying performance comes from Charlie Day. He is in a shouting mode for most of the movie and grates on the nerves. His work as the "likeable but goofy comic relief" makes Richard Pryor's Gus Gorman (a computer nerd), in Superman III (1983) look superlative by comparison.

Guillermo del Toro is well known for his love of horror/cult movies. His movies have been excellent, whether they are in the horror genre (The Devil's Backbone and Cronos) or superhero genre (Hellboy movies and Blade 2) or fantasy genre (Pan's Labyrinth). He puts in a lot of work in preproduction and his movies are always a work of passion.

I am sure he would have put his heart and soul into this movie too. The design and execution of Jaegers and Kaijus are proof of this fact.

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The special effects are very well done and are easily the best parts of the movie. The fight sequence featuring Crimson Typhoon (Chinese Jaeger) and Cherno Alpha (Russian Jaeger) is quite entertaining.

But the movie stretches on far longer than needed. The movie would have been great if it had ended with the battle sequence in Hong Kong. The "climax" that follows is just a big letdown, compared to the superbly rendered showdown between Gipsy Danger and a couple of Kaijus.

As Sherlock Holmes states in The Adventure of the Norwood Builder: "But he had not that supreme gift of the artist, the knowledge of when to stop."

Despite the amazing action sequences and the expertly executed machines and monsters (by ILM), the movie lacks much of the fun quotient of the Hellboy movies and is also predictable. It is not as bad as Man of Steel, but is still a disappointment considering the previous milestones in del Toro's career.

Fans of summer blockbusters/science fiction/action movies will enjoy Pacific Rim. My suggestion to fans of Guillermo: Watch the movie with reduced expectations and you might like it.

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Image Sources: Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures

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