WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Hellboy, now playing in theaters.
There are a few actors out there who've become so synonymous with their roles that it's hard to see anyone else playing these characters. Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark and Chris Evans' Steve Rogers are the most prominent examples, but before them came Ron Perlman's Hellboy.
When the reboot was announced, fans immediately wondered if new star David Harbour could truly replace Perlman. When the first image arrived, it felt a bit similar to Guillermo del Toro's vision, leaving cynics thinking Harbour's Hellboy may not be that differentiated after all. Well, director Neil Marshall's film on the whole may not be resonating with critics the way the studio would like, but one thing stands tall in this new spin: Harbour's Hellboy is way better than Perlman's.
Now, this isn't a knock on Perlman's depiction in 2004's Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army four years later. He did a solid job blending a dark sense of humor with the horror and action the Dark Horse Comics franchise is known for. But for all intents and purposes, his Hellboy did feel a bit diluted for its PG-13 audience.
He didn't have a lot of the hard-edged, cut-loose traits we read in Mike Mignola's stories, and it's perfectly understandable because, at that time, Del Toro was trying to cultivate something that would appeal to mainstream audiences. Not to mention comic book movies weren't as big as they are now.
In other words, Perlman's Hellboy was made for viewers who wanted to laugh and enjoy apocalyptic spectacles in popcorn flicks. It wasn't as nuanced and deep, emphasized by Perlman's constant, angsty whining about his love for Selma Blair's Liz, coming off like a selfish, emotional brat quite often. But with Harbour's Hellboy, a lot of improvements are made to create a more compelling, badass and intimidating antihero that outdoes Perlman on every level.
The main positive is that Harbour's Red is someone that we establish a better emotional connection with. He's not disillusioned by girl issues; he's butting heads with his dad, Ian McShane's Professor Broom, over a moral dilemma. Hellboy feels like a hypocrite working for mankind and killing his fellow monsters when he knows some of them have never been given a chance to live among humanity.
It resonates a lot because he feels like a weapon, drawing parallels to how soldiers are deployed in genocidal wars across the world to kill innocents, and Harbour dives deep into the emotional toll it takes. In other words, Harbour's Red has a much more relatable angst, as someone killing his own kind, than Perlman's brood-fest for unrequited love.
Sure, the new Hellboy cracks jokes, cusses and gets drunk, but it's depression and self-resentment over truly important issues. More so, Harbour's Hellboy is much more selfless, which is why, when he turns down the Blood Queen's (Milla Jovovich) offer to unite and destroy the world, it feels more organic than when Rasputin tried to recruit Anung Un Rama to be his destroyer in Del Toro's franchise debut.
Harbour crafts a more balanced hero, too -- nihilistic when need be, scary at other times and comedic in just the right amounts. He feels more natural in his wisecracks, all so he can feign his integration into the world of man. This is the opposite of Perlman, who simply couldn't stop rattling off cheap jokes, even in the most dire of situations.
Apart from feeling like he's more substance than style, Harbour's Hellboy also fights better, like a true brawler, and isn't quick to pull his gun (the Samaritan) for every issue that pops up. He's willing to rationalize situations, but when the time comes, rest assured, he throws down in sequences that are bigger in scope than Perlman's. Watching Harbour ride a dragon and take down Giants in England is so loyal to the source material, and while Perlman had epic battle sequences of his own, Harbour's seems ripped straight from the source material.
Ultimately, the problems lie in the reboot's narrative, but where Marshall fails in terms of story, the director makes up for by detailing the soulful journey of a hero who feels torn between two worlds. By the time Hellboy's origin emerges and we find out he's half-man, half-demon, it all makes sense because, while Perlman gave us a bigger beast, Harbour takes the smarter route and makes his character much more human.
In theaters nationwide, director Neil Marshall’s Hellboy stars David Harbour as Hellboy, Ian McShane as Trevor Bruttenholm, Milla Jovovich as Nimue, Sasha Lane as Alice Monaghan, Penelope Mitchell as Ganeida and Daniel Dae Kim as Ben Daimio.