You know, say what you will, but I never felt the GDT flicks captured the essense of Hellboy. Del Toro has a certain style that carries over most his films, for better or worse, but when it came to Hellboy, it just... felt wrong. The costumes were impressive, but they looked "plastic". The world itself had a... "plastic" feel to it as well. When watching them I didn't feel as if I was watching Hellboy, but rather "The Adventures of Hell-Boy", you get me?
The thing with the HB comics is that they have a very distinct look themselves, due to Mignola's art & writting, and they flawlessly manage to put together humor, horror and that mythological aspect. GDT's flick IMO skipped the horror part, and delivered super-natural adventures. Which isn't really Hellboy. You need a "grittier" style for it. It's the fact that the world is bleak, scary and disturbing, and yet, despite all that, Hellboy is a good-natured "kid-in-a-man's-body" character, that makes the stories work. In GDT's flicks, the world wasn't really that dark. It was just... eh. PG-13 Lovecraft and plastic sets.
As for this Reboot, dunno. That Marshall guy has directed some pretty well-known horror flicks, but I'm not really sold on Harbour. Generally, I think you need someone with an eye for camera tricks and shadows. The HB saga has never been touched by another person, so if you can't translate Mignola's style, you essentially lose the game.
The thing with the HB comics is that they have a very distinct look themselves, due to Mignola's art & writting, and they flawlessly manage to put together humor, horror and that mythological aspect. GDT's flick IMO skipped the horror part, and delivered super-natural adventures. Which isn't really Hellboy. You need a "grittier" style for it. It's the fact that the world is bleak, scary and disturbing, and yet, despite all that, Hellboy is a good-natured "kid-in-a-man's-body" character, that makes the stories work. In GDT's flicks, the world wasn't really that dark. It was just... eh. PG-13 Lovecraft and plastic sets.
As for this Reboot, dunno. That Marshall guy has directed some pretty well-known horror flicks, but I'm not really sold on Harbour. Generally, I think you need someone with an eye for camera tricks and shadows. The HB saga has never been touched by another person, so if you can't translate Mignola's style, you essentially lose the game.