I saw "Hellboy" this afternoon with some friends. Visually, it was very interesting. The makeup for Abe Sapiens and Hellboy was top-notch. The creatures looked like they slithered right out of a Lovecraft story. The action was as exaggerated as comic book action should be.

The story was lacking, though. From what I gather, the crux of the story centers on Hellboy's choice between the life (and love) of humans and his demonic nature. I saw plenty of the human side (and that was very well done) but I saw little of the demon side. Other than the fact that Hellboy is red, super-strong and super-tough and other than a brief glimpse of a future where he lives among the Cthulhu monsters, we see no propensity in the character to indulge in what one would expect to be demon behavior. What possible benefit would there be for him to choose his demon side? He never experiences those benefits and neither does the audience. Although Rasputin tells him to make a choice, there really is no choice. There is no conflict where conflict should be.

On the other hand, as a friend remarked as we left the theater, we now know that it is possible to film a good Lovecraft movie. The big beastie is as Cthulhu as they come!