The choice of movie to watch with my son for the Film at 11 podcast came right down to the wire this week. This is another Halloween-themed episode, and until just about two minutes before recording, I was all set to run with the original 1982 Poltergeist. Those plans shifted when I decided that Thomas would mostly likely not go for it. As such, we made a last-minute change to do Guillermo del Toro’s 2004 Hellboy instead.
I figured that Thomas would better enjoy something action-oriented and comedic rather than a straight horror movie. He was a big fan of del Toro’s Pacific Rim when we did that one together back in episode 22. In a roundabout way, I can make the argument that this also ties in with the new release of del Toro’s Frankenstein reboot this year.
I think I made the right decision, even if it will probably hurt my viewer stats. (Pacific Rim is currently one of our least-watched episodes.) Thomas was really into the movie and liked it a lot. Ultimately, I’m supposed to be doing this thing for the kids, not just for myself, and I need to throw them some bones every now and again.
| Title: | Hellboy |
| Year of Release: | 2004 |
| Director: | Guillermo del Toro |
| Watched On: | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray |
| Also Available On: | Blu-ray Paramount+ Hoopla Kanopy Various VOD rental and purchase platforms |
The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
I own copies of Hellboy on the 3-disc Director’s Cut DVD box set from 2004, the Blu-ray from 2007 (technically, the one I currently have is a SteelBook reissue from 2012), and the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray from 2019. I consolidated the 4K disc into the SteelBook for storage on my shelf. While the Blu-ray was limited to just the unrated director’s cut, the 4K disc offers the choice of both theatrical (122 min.) or director’s cut (132 min.) versions via seamless branching. For this viewing with my son, I went with the PG-13 theatrical cut.
As originally made in 2004, Hellboy was photographed on 35mm film but finished on a 2K Digital Intermediate. IMDb claims that a new 4K DI was created for the remaster in 2019. Judging by the results on disc, I’m left skeptical about the accuracy of that information. At the very least, I’d like to know how that 4K DI was supposedly created. The Ultra HD Blu-ray looks like a pretty standard 2K upconversion to me.
For the most part, the 1.85:1 image is decently sharp. It looks best in close-ups, which reveal impressive texturing on Hellboy’s face. However, that’s equally true of the Blu-ray and I don’t see much difference between them. Most fine details and film grain come across as noisy. Of course, many of the 2004 CGI visual effects (which were definitely rendered in 2K resolution) look kind of dodgy today, especially anything to do with fire.
Colors and contrast both look good (reds are obviously very important in the movie), but the HDR grading is subtle. Maybe highlight detail is improved a small amount, but hardly enough to be worth upgrading formats if one already owns the Blu-ray.
Another selling point for some fans will be the new Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The prior 5.1 mix is also available in DTS-HD Master Audio format on the 4K disc. For an Atmos remix, this one isn’t too bad. It has a fair amount of rumbly bass and some throb in the musical score. (Bass is typically the first thing filtered out during far too many remixes today.) However, I feel like gunshots and explosions could boom a little more than they do. Surround activity is very active. If much happened overhead, I didn’t notice it.
The 4K disc packaging promises “Three Audio Commentaries Featuring Director Guillermo del Toro, Creator Mike Mignola and the Cast,” but this turns out to actually only be two commentaries: one with del Toro and Mignola, and the other with members of the cast. Furthermore, Sony’s infuriatingly awful menu system only allows access to the cast commentary. It has no option for the director/writer track at all. The only way to find that is to use the disc player’s manual audio controls, where it’s hidden as the “English Dolby Digital” track #7.
The Ultra HD also offers a new (as of 2019) introduction by Guillermo del Toro and a 7-minute retrospective featurette. Carried over from way back on DVD are the 2.5-hour “Seeds of Creation” making-of documentary and some trailers.
On the accompanying Blu-ray can be found a host of featurettes, deleted scenes, storyboards, photo galleries, and other items that likewise originated with DVD. (Some of them weren’t on the 2007 Blu-ray.)
From what I can tell, that old DVD set still has several exclusive features that haven’t been replicated on any subsequent formats, most notably an option to watch the cast commentary with video of the actors recording it while the movie plays in a small box in the corner of the screen.
Related
- Hellboy
- Guillermo del Toro (director)
- Ron Perlman
Note: All screenshots on this page were taken from the standard Blu-ray edition of the film and are used for illustration purposes only.
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