Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron

I am a resounding fan of Guillermo del Toro's work and style, and was quite intrigued when I found out that he produced several Hellboy Animated features. It was not without a due sense of skepticism that I decided to pick up Blood and Iron as well as its 2006 predecessor, Sword of Storms. When I learned that these features aired on Cartoon Network, I even feared that the core of what made the Hellboy universe so interesting to me, the many invariant monstrosities that lurk within the caverns, ruins and precipices of a seemingly mundane world, would be diluted by censorship. Fortunately, I was wrong in these regards, and Blood and Iron may be considered a very worthwhile addition to the Hellboy universe as first put to film by Guillermo del Toro.

In Blood and Iron, Hellboy and the other key members of the BPRD set out under the personal lead of Professor Trevor Broom - as he was first introduced in the live-action movie - in order to investigate a haunted house. At the same time, you are let known how in the past, the Professor had tasked himself with hunting an old and powerful vampiress, Erzsebet (very well voiced by Kath Soucie). At first, the film sprouts a rather nonspecific battle scene that does not tell you much about the characters or the plot that is yet to come, but after this you will be exposed to the touch of surprisingly intelligent cartoon direction. As you are coasting through the story in a linear, chronological fashion, the plot and the true nature of the mission is explained in a backdrop of flashbacks that start at a pivotal event in the past, and then proceed anti-chronologically. In this method, the viewer is gradually let known the intentions and motives of the people and creatures both at current time and in times past. It is a clever method of character development, and serves to give a sense of wholeness to the entire feature; Blood and Iron has both a beginning and an end at both its start and its finish, and it works brilliantly.

The praise that I give is somewhat tempered however, by several characters that seemed entirely unnecessary, or simply did not fit into the well rounded equation that tops the experience. The presence of the Goddess Hecate serves as little more than a plot device to facilitate the antagonist's return and her presence in the film may serve to deter you from the wholeness of the experience. The only reason for her presence then is to give Hellboy something to do, while the professor continues with the real important stuff. She is the reason for a long, and enormously drawn out fight sequence that does not fit well with the movie and destroys its pace. Make no mistake, the real villain of this movie is Erzsebet, and that is how it should have remained. They could have gone much deeper with the story, and in light of what we are treated to in return and excess, I really wish they had.

Character design and voice acting is generally of high quality; we are treated to the same cast that played in the original Hellboy movie; Ron Perlman's Hellboy, Selma Blair's Liz Sherman, Doug Jones' Abe and John Hurt's Professor are easily recognizable, the first three often the center of sardonic and sarcastic wit that is worth quite a few laughs. Kate Corrigan, which you may know from the somewhat inferior Sword of Storms is back also, and we are given a new character in the form of human metal detector Sydney Leach, whose innocence and naiveté is a welcome addition to most of the rest of the BPRD, which seems to consist of people mentally hardened by frequent encounters with crazy things. Over all, his presence is solely meant to give the movie a lighter note at certain times.

The reason why the flaws of this movie persist can be found in the title; the real story does not revolve around Hellboy at all, as he takes a side seat to an experience in which Professor Trevor Bruttenholm is center point. Now, I really like the professor. He's sharp, he's kicking bottom, even when he's old. If just they could have found something for Hellboy to do without tarnishing the plot with, dare I say it, a Greek Goddess. Despite this little problem, though, Blood and Iron is still a very enjoyable movie. Cinematography grade; *** out of 5, but personally, I'd give it 8 out of 10

In '39, a young Bruttenholm(who was fighting off a helium addiction at the time... OK, what is probably actually the case is that they tried to fiddle with the recordings so he'd sound like the age he was supposed to be, and it was a horrible result... it's perfect when they don't, however... he's the one kind of Hurt I love) put down the vampire Erzsebet(this is gone over near the opening, and then further details are added on by several flashbacks over the course of this... and they, for some reason, decided to put these back into chronological order(would you do that with Pulp Fiction? If you would, don't go near that film again), in the 20 and a half minute extra Reversal of Fortune: Professor Broom's Story. Today, it appears that some of her followers are attempting to bring her back, at the newly acquired haunted mansion owned by a millionaire. A ton of ghosts and a phantom wolf pack are among the supernatural entities they meet there, and Hellboy himself(who also fights a minotaur, in the first bit... and it has Mr. Wink's hand, and it's far cooler here than in the second flick) is challenged by Hecate, Goddess of Witches, on his purported destiny to lead to the destruction of mankind. The entire team(joined by a Human Metal Detector(!), who wanted to experience something... and he might just get his wish) is together in this one, all of them with something to do, and all of them worried about Trevor, who hasn't been on an active mission for a decade and a half, and insisted on going on this one. At 73 minutes, this is quite well-paced, keeping you watching throughout. This is superior to Sword of Storms. Part of it is that there is only one plot, and it's connected(as opposed to the many small ones they tried to cover up not having to do with each other in that one), it's compelling(she drinks the blood of young women to remain youthful forever), and because of the time dedicated to it, we really delve into it, and get into themes of good and evil, faith, and magic. The characters are great, and the acting is excellent for everyone involved. Blair did it right in this one, don't know what happened last time... maybe she just needed to get into it? There is action in this, not as frequent as the other(this is closer to thriller in that respect), and this is definitely first and foremost horror. It's atmospheric(taking an appropriate amount of time establishing the apparitions and mood of the place), creepy and there are some nicely done jumpscares and spooky sequences. This is locked into one location, with leaps in time(back and forth between the two periods), sharpening its focus. The animation is well-done, with a few stand-outs visuals. Creature design and the like are memorable. Dialog and humor are marvelous, this is yet again very funny. You can follow this reasonably without knowing much about the movies or graphic novels. There is some violent and disturbing content in this, and a little mild to moderate language. The DVD comes with an informational, interesting commentary track(Mike Mignola, Tad Stones and Victor Cook), two featurettes that I will review on their own pages here on this site: the 13 minute Tales From The Tomb: A Look Inside Blood Iron & Iron and the 3 and a half minute Iron Shoes: The Animated Debut and Penanggalan: An E-Comic Exclusive From Mike Mignola(what? I don't have the credentials to critique it). I recommend this to fans of the franchise. 7/10

This time Hellboy and his team square off against the gothic horrors of Vampires, witches, wolves and a cult of Hecate.

I loved this. All of the action is tied intrinsically into the story and it all serves to either propel the narrative, flesh out characterizations, or resolve issues from the past. Sometime all three simultaneously.

Each player gets a chance to shine and it never feels overstuffed.

Another point in it's favor; the stakes feel real. I was genuinely concerned for the characters safety. Even Hellboy who is generally treated a bit like The Tick in that he is nigh invulnerable. You usually never worry about him because he is so resilient, but here he meets his match. In fact it's more than his match.

A Terrific chapter that makes me wish there were more of these animated features.

After being a little disappointed with Sword of Storms, Blood and Iron makes up for it with a darker story, better voice acting, and a far less irritating music score. The movie begins with Hellboy beating down a monster, which is kinda what he does, and getting the crap beaten out of him while it happens, which is also kinda what he does. Afterwards, we're treated to a surprisingly layered story involving Trevor Bruttenholm, Hellboy's "father" essentially, an old vampire, and the witch-goddess Hecate. Caught in the middle is this old priest who lost his faith, which gives the story a good grounding that Sword of Storms lacked. It's much less of a "Let's kill the bad monster" story, and brings a very human element to the equation. The story also leaves out the ham-handed character development seen in Sword of Storms, for a much grittier, more subtle, and believable portrayal. My main criticism would be the inclusion of the "human metal detector" guy. He's not particularly helpful or necessary to the story. He actually serves to water down some scenes that were building real suspense. They also could have done a better job setting up Hecate as a character. She comes off as another monster, but her motivations don't quite work for me. Overall, I think Blood and Iron is a step in the right direction, and worth seeing at least once. It's a must-see for fans of the comic book, and anyone disappointed with the live action movie.

Hellboy: Blood and Iron is about vampires coming back after many, many years in wait, and also about ghosts and memory and all those things left behind. If it were about these things more-so in-depth (or rather the kind of attention that Guillermo del-Toro would pay to the subject matter if he directed), it would be really great material. Trouble is, the Hellboy animated movies, with this the second installment, are limited by means of budget, time, and even to an extent the scripting. There's a lack of the dry, sly and just outright clever humor from the Hellboy live-action movies, with only one or two quips from ol' Red (Ron Perelman, always good even in dull one-liners), and some characterizations and dialog that are as routine as whatever one might find in a straight-to-video release.

These flaws being noted, Blood and Iron is extremely enjoyable for what it can afford in its 75 minute running time, which is giving some lifeblood to a comic-book that needs it desperately. The plot works mostly upon the strengths of the animators, and luckily they are many. What might seem ordinary and traditional- even a little lacking in fluidity (again, budget)- gives way to extraordinary moments going past the expected for "kids" stuff. There's some very dark material particularly in this installment, as we see an iron goddess, a vampire curse, a couple of blasted witches, snakes, and those creepy ghosts (which, thanks to some del-Toro presence, reminds one of the Gothic folklore of Mexico). It's all very impressive when it works best, and there's even some interesting designs for these villains and creatures of the night.

There might not be much depth (the climax is just a bunch of "we are not like *them*" semantics from the iron woman to Hellboy as they punch each other senseless), but for a short while it's some good fun and some brilliant animation, for what it's worth. Less than great, and at the same time far better than it should have any right to be. A-