One of my most anticipated films of 2019 is the new Hellboy reboot. While its sad that Guillermo Del Toro and Ron Perlman have departed from the series, it is exciting to see Stranger Things David Harbour take over as our badass protagonist. This reboot also looks to shift the series tone from a fantasy-approach to something more hard-hitting.
A new photo of the actor as the title character has surfaced, and it looks pretty cool:
Stay the hell out of his way. #Hellboy returns on April 12, 2019. pic.twitter.com/MlWKVTfaGN
— Hellboy (@HellboyMovie) November 27, 2018
In an interview with Empire Magazine, director Neil Marshall (The Descent) opened up about his approach of making this reboot, with the film to be much more akin to its comic origins as far as content goes.
“It was always a case of, ‘When in doubt, go back to the source material. Some of the stuff is pretty sick. More violent and more bloody, we weren’t making it with handcuffs on.”
While Del Toro’s approach worked in its own way, I am glad to hear that this reboot won’t just ape the original film’s successful formula. Films like Logan and Deadpool 2 have proven that there is an audience for a more mature superhero film, with a third-party hero like Hellboy being an interesting test case for the depth of interest in these type of superhero films.
As far as Marshall’s involvement in the project, I was fairly happily with his selection. While he has had his fair share of hit and misses, films like The Descent have proven him to be a capable genre director, and I am glad it seems he was able to work within his comfort zone here. Hopefully this reboot will give audiences plenty of exciting and bad-ass moments.
Hellboy is set to hit theaters April 12th, 2019.