Hellboy (2019)

I think, on a certain level, it might be fair to compare the Hellboy franchise to the Ghostbusters franchise.  In both cases, a movie was released.  Both movies were followed by a sequel and talk of a third movie.  However, the third installment of each morphed into a respective reboot that was met with critically negative reviews.  While I enjoyed both movies, I can see where people were coming from.  In the case of Hellboy, the transition from Part III to reboot wasn’t quite as good.  It seems to want to do both, yet doesn’t do either that well.

The movie starts with King Arthur cutting up Blood Queen Nimue.  This doesn’t kill her, so her various body parts have to be spread all over the British Isles.  Cut to the present day and she seems to have a plan to get herself back together.  This would bring about the end of civilization as we know it.  It’s thus up to Hellboy and The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense to stop her.

That’s it.  That’s all the plot review I really need.  I could say more, and believe me, I will.  But, if you want to know what the movie is about, that’s basically it.  It’s an action movie that has way too many subplots.  For instance, we get the rehash of Hellboy’s origin story.  He was a half-demon that was born and somehow summoned to Earth during the tail end of the second World War.  He’s also supposed to bring about the end of the world, which he almost does.

The problem is that the sequel part of the movie makes it seem almost like the movie is trying to distance itself from the first two movies.  Franchises have survived recasting.  I’m sure the audience would have understood that a new actor is portraying the main character.  Thus, the reboot aspect comes off as unnecessary.  You could drop the origin story and just do Part III.

Even if you did, though, there are some aspects of the plot that seem a little strange.  For instance, Hellboy is called to Britain to help the Osiris Club hunt some giants.  This serves to set up the club betraying him.  The humans hunting the giants decide to turn on Hellboy because he was supposed to be killed at birth.  Hellboy is only saved because there are actually giants in the area.  The entire subplot seemed out of place.

Many of the other subplots at least seemed to work.  I would say that they seem natural, except that we have a giant talking boar named Gruagach who took Alice Monaghan as a baby, thus giving her some paranormal abilities.  So, natural might not be the best word.    I would say that if the movie had tried to be an outright sequel, it would have worked.

It would seem that the movie will try to bring back characters from the first two movies.  The final scene before the credits has a large water-filled container labeled Ichthyo sapien.  A post-credits had me thinking that Grigory Rasputin might be coming back, although there is a character named Koschei that would be a better candidate.

I don’t know that this will be the end of the Hellboy movies, as comic books seem to be a good source for movies  The franchise could go a lot of different ways.  Plus, if the Star Trek movie franchise proven anything, it’s that a few missteps aren’t the end of the world.  It’s entirely possible that a fourth movie might do well assuming that we even get that far.

IMDb page

Le cinquième élément/The Fifth Element (1997)

The Fifth Element starts in Egypt in 1914.  A professor is on the verge of decoding some ancient text when a priest pays him a visit.  It seems that the professor is on the verge of unlocking one of the universe’s great secrets.  Before the priest can do anything about it, an alien ship lands.  The aliens are the Mondoshawans and they’re there to collect four stones and a sarcophagus.  The items are not safe on Earth any more.  When the time comes, the Mondoshawans will return the items to the pyramid.  The priest is to pass down his knowledge to the next priest as it was passed down to him so that Earth will be ready.

It’s never easy being tasked with saving all life in the universe.  It’s strange, then, that it should fall on Korben Dallas.  He’s just a simple taxi driver in South Brooklyn in 2263.  Yes, several hundred years have passed and it’s about time for the Mondoshawans to return with the stones and the sarcophagus.  The only hitch is that their ship is destroyed, but not all is lost.  Scientists are able to clone one of the occupants, a beautiful woman who promptly escapes and lands in Korben’s taxi.

Amazingly, the woman has some sort of genetic memory that allows her to know an ancient language that Korben can’t understand.  At least he recognizes a name and that name happens to belong to a priest similar to the one in 1914.  Korben brings the woman, who eventually identifies herself as Leeloo, to him.  The priest understands enough of the language to learn from Leeloo that the stones are safe and that they’re to meet a courier to get the stones and save Earth.

What does the Earth need saving from?  A large mass is forming in interstellar space.  It’s not moving, but it is getting larger.  The military can’t seem to do anything about it.  The current priest, Vito Cornelius, tells President Lindberg that the sphere is pure evil.  Trying to fight it in any conventional sense will only make it stronger.  Our only hope is to bring the four stones together with the Fifth Element.  If she stands in the center of the other elements, all life will be reaffirmed.

If True Evil, who goes by Mr. Shadow, stands at the center, all life will be destroyed.  Fortunately, Good has several people in their corner.  All Mr. Shadow has is Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, who happens to employ Korben.  (Well, at least for the first part of the movie.)  Zorg has hired Mangalores, an alien race that seems to all be mercenaries.  They seem to be good at blowing things up, but not retrieving them.  (They get the case that’s supposed to contain the stones, but don’t bother to check the contents.  This is the same mistake that Zorg, himself, makes later in the movie.)

The only thing I found cliché about the movie is that evil is never allowed to hire good help.  Good is always on the ball.  Korben is former military and was apparently the best at what he did.  Leeloo is perfect to the point of being divine, or at least that’s what everyone keeps saying.  When they clone her from the smallest lump of cells, she’s reformed with what I would assume is her former knowledge. That’s pretty impressive, to say the least.

We even have Ruby Rhod, a talk-show host that finds himself along for the ride.  He provides a way for the president and the military to listen in on part of the mission.  Ruby seems to have luck on his side, both in attracting the affection of ladies and avoiding the destructiveness of the Mangalores.  When I first saw The Fifth Element, I thought he was more annoying than useful, but Ruby Rhod does seem to grow on you.  He does provide a comedic element that’s not so annoying now that I’ve seen the movie several times.  (It’s still understandable why Korben would prefer to minimize his contact with Ruby.)

Considering the nature of what’s at stake, it’s amazing that the movie comes across as not being overly serious.  Granted, the characters all have a sense of what’s at stake.  Cornelius has made it his life’s work to ensure everything goes right.  Leeloo exists to save all life.  I mean, no pressure.  Right?  Fortunately, Korben seems to be the one guy best suited to handle that kind of situation.

The movie does hold up for me.  I’m just as entertained by it today as I was when I saw it years ago.  I’d definitely recommend watching it.

IMDb page