..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

Hellboy: The Director's Cut
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro

"Hello. This is Guillermo Del Toro and you are watching the 'director's cut' of Hellboy. This is by far my preferred cut of the movie, and I hope you like it just as much. I think that the first release of the movie, the first cut that was in theaters, was a perfectly good cut and I was happy with it, but I felt the need to go back and put in some character moments and some absolutely surreal subplots that made the movie have a different flavor. So, you're going to see about 12-13 minutes of extra footage, and it restores a few of the character storylines that were lost in the theatrical cut." Thus begins Del Toro's new commentary track on Hellboy Director's Cut, a three-platter Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment release (07409, $35).

The standard presentation of the 2004 theatrical release, a two-platter set, was released earlier this year. That version ran 122 minutes, while the new release runs 132 minutes. Ron Perlman portrays an oversized red demon working for the American government, fighting villains who want to use the occult to conquer the world. There is one new action sequence and otherwise the new footage is as Del Toro describes it, elaborations upon character that give the movie a more satisfying depth and a more relaxed, easier-to-follow pace. The film is not as radically or advantageously altered as Columbia TriStar's Underworld Extended Cut was, but like that package it encourages consumers to obtain the movie twice, once as soon as the film is released on DVD, and then again with its improvements. How long will fans stand for this practice? As long as they keep buying both versions, one supposes.

The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The color transfer and 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sound are identical in quality to the first release. The film's complex and evocative lighting is effectively handled. The audio track is reasonably energized, with a decent bass. Like the first release, there is an alternate French audio track in 5.1 Dolby and optional English and French subtitles. Also carried over from the first release, there are partially animated comic panel illustrations coordinated with different sections of the movie that can be brought up while the film is playing or in a separate section (the text has been slightly elaborated), 18 minutes of good behind-the-scenes footage (again offered as a prompted link during the film or available as a separate access), and an option that brings up occasional storyboard panels during the film (more of these have been added, too). The DVD-ROM materials, including a screenplay, script supervisor's notebook and Del Toro's notes, have been carried over as well.

On one commentary track, composer Marco Beltrami, who wrote 110 minutes of music for the movie, talks about the music's themes and how it was put together on a track that is combined with a 5.1 Dolby presentation of the isolated score. Because there is so much music, he is sometimes obligated to speak while it is playing, but as is usually the case with composer's commentaries, almost everything he has to say about the film's meanings and about the construction of the music (he even employed a theremin) is insightful and fascinating.

Del Toro shared his commentary track on the first release with comic book creator Mike Mignola, but he goes solo for his commentary on Director's Cut, speaking primarily about the traditions of comic book storytelling and pulp fiction, and how aspects of the film's story were worked out. He talks occasionally about scenes in the film, usually those that are associated with the new footage. His talk is very entertaining. He shares stories about his boyhood in Mexico and how he explored underground caves and passages that were used when the Mexican government banned the Catholic church. He says that Ray Harryhausen taught him a valuable lesson, explaining that, "Most people animate monsters acting like monsters, being mean and destructive and this and that. Monsters should be thought of as animals. You should always imagine the monster in repose. Don't imagine the monster doing the bad things. Imagine the monster as you would see a lion if you wandered into their patch of the land in Africa." He also talks about the apprehension theaters in certain parts of the country had for promoting a film with the word, 'Hell,' in the title. "I must confess I admire the marketing team for just tackling the movie and pitching it to an audience when to me, it was a really hard movie to pitch. There is a country that bought the movie for international release that had a most extreme reaction to the red guy getting the girl, and I found that really funny. It's sort of a surreal racism, but you know I think that's the beauty of movies like this, of genre movies, that they can talk about things larger than just monsters, with metaphors."

The second platter is an exact duplication of the second platter on the standard release, featuring a 143-minute production documentary, 4 minutes of deleted scenes that didn't make the Director's Cut, more storyboards, character models, trailers, TV commercials and cast & crew filmographies.

The cast commentary featured on the standard release is presented on the third platter, only the 122-minute version of the film is just shown in a little box on the screen while the camera points at Perlman, Selma Blair, Rupert Evans and Jeffrey Tambour reacting to their performances and sharing anecdotes about the production. They look a little more laid back than we had imagined them when we first listened to the track.

Other goodies include an excellent 12 minute overview of the comic book artform by Scott McCloud, a fun 23-minute abridgement of an appearance by Del Toro, Perlman and Mignola at a comic book convention previous to the start of filming, an excellent 7-minute look at makeup and lighting tests narrated by Del Toro, a decent 12-minute segment on some of the film's special effects, a montage of Mignola's pre-production artwork narrated by Mignola that runs about 40 minutes, still frame galleries of other conceptual artwork, and a still frame presentation of Del Toro's vaguely disturbing director's notebook (they could probably use it as a prop in a serial killer film-one wishes that some of Del Toro's handwriting had been translated).

January 11, 2005

DVD Roundup: This Week's DVD Releases
The Review Vault

- by Douglas Pratt

Douglas Pratt's DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter is published monthly.
For a free sample, call (516)594-9304 or go to his website at www.DVDLaser.com