Hellboy reviews round-up: The first dud of the year has arrived

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Director Neil Marshall has taken over the reins for this reboot with Stranger Things star David Harbour in the role played by Ron Perlman in 2004 and again in 2008 for the sequel The Golden Army Based on Mike Mignola’s source material, this R-rated film follows the character as he battles an ancient sorceress bent on revenge after becoming caught between the worlds of the supernatural and human. While Harbour’s performance is receiving praise, the reviews are calling the reboot of the Hellboy franchise a mess of the tallest order. The Independent British director Neil Marshall’s reboot of the Hellboy franchise is a lurid, confusing mess, only partially redeemed by its tongue-in-cheek humour and fitfully impressive visual effects. But the latest adaptation of Mike Mignola’s cult comics — an attempt to reboot the successful, if short-lived, film franchise Guillermo del Toro started back in 2004 — throws so many tired plot points and revelations at us that it all feels like an exhausting blur.