Hellboy

This rollicking, soulful science-fiction/fantasy is based on the Dark Horse comic series. The film opens in 1940s Scotland as American troops, accompanied by a paranormal specialist, confront Nazi soldiers and the infamous undead mystic Rasputin, as Hitler’s disciples try to use a Hell-Hole Generator to transport the Seven Gods of Chaos to Earth and enlist them to conquer the world. A well-placed hand grenade disrupts the event but not before a small, red creature with horns and a large, disfigured hand is pulled from the Netherworld, befriended by the Yanks and given the name Hellboy. The film then leaps to the present, where the creature (Ron Perlman in a role he seems born to embrace) has grown into a massive, cigar-smoking, Baby Ruth-devouring superhero who battles supernatural threats and makes occasional unsanctioned trips into the public domain. Hellboy both kicks butt and falls in love, in an adventure that is thrilling, funny and touching.