How do you know you're at a matinee of a comic flick? There are dozens of guys alone in the theater (myself included) or with buddies who also still have action figures in their homes (again, myself included), and just one or two females to be found among one hundred or so patrons. You know what I'm saying.

This is a popular refrain in my reviews, so I might as well just copyright it: I'm not a comic book reader, but I enjoy comics-turned-motion picture adaptations. But Hellboy is a new one to me. I never heard of the comic until I saw the movie's ads, and thankfully the film spent major time on backstory to get me caught up.

	Nope, no Hellboy here. That blur could be anything. The Loch Ness monster, perhaps.

This is just your basic good vs. evil, except evil is actually the good guy. Hellboy is an elusive, Big Foot-type "monster," pop culture-wise in the world, but really he was just a baby demon raised by a scientist dedicated to eradicating evildoers in the world. Hellboy smokes, drinks, pines for women, loves kittens and just so happens to be a minion of the devil working for the other side.

The supernatural phenomenon mumbo-jumbo is something director Guillermo del Toro (Blade 2, Mimic) is familiar with, and since he also helped write the movie, he clearly has his eye on making this comic book hero suitable for audiences to be just as enamored. I wish I could say that his direction stood out, but most of the work was done in the shadows - as one might expect when you're fighting creatures of the night - and there's really not much you haven't seen of the secret world in other superhero action hero flicks.

In the waning days of World War II, Hitler decides that to win, he needs help from the occult. I guess once Indiana Jones foiled his plans to get the Holy Grail, the Fuhrer decided to turn the other way and let the devil have his chance. There's even a hot blonde German to help out (perhaps the same one Indy and Dr. Jones, um, shared?), and Darth Vader's SS son, really just the most deadly windup toy ever. American soldiers stop the bidding of the Nazis this time, but not before Rasputin - yes, he of the Russian Romanov sorcerer Rasputin - opens a portal that brings forth the baby Hellboy who is adopted by the Allies.

Although, once you name the kid Hellboy, you're kind of relegating him to limited job opportunities. Why not Charlie? Could a red-skinned, horned, long-tailed spawn of Satan make it in this world? Charlie could. Hellboy? Not so much among the white-collar Office Space crew.

John Hurt's Professor Bruttenholm is the spine of the film, and the heart as well, although neither really figures in the end. Even the chief of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense can't stop a righteous demon on a mission, no sir. Especially when that demon has the potential to start the apocalypse and enslave mankind. But hey, Hellboy was raised by good people, so this becomes a nature vs. nurture debate. Will he choose good or evil? If he chooses evil, we'll be DOOMED! If he follows the dark instead of the light, we'll be DOOMED! DOOMED!

	It doens't take much to see that the problems of two abnormal mutants don't matter a hill of beans in this crazy world. Here's looking at you, freak.

In the title role, Ron Perlman has done a stinkload of voice-over work on animated series, both in movies and television, plus video games as well. This is all just as well, since he's under a ton of makeup and prosthetics as Hellboy, and his voice and mannerism is only what serves him in the role, full of snippy dialogue and cheesy one-liners. Heck, Perlman probably only covered a few walking scenes anyway besides standing in place, since undoubtedly stunt men were doing any movements of note, especially fighting.

Rupert Evans plays the FBI agent fresh from the academy assigned to "babysit" Hellboy. Evans hasn't done anything outside UK television, and does fine with his wide-eyed rookie character.

Completing a love triangle - one that, for once, didn't have me squirming and rolling my eyes - is Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde). Unfortunately, Blair's firestarting Liz Sherman is just like every other female action hero in a comic-turned-movie, far too fallible and unsure of her powers, doesn't get any good dialogue and her only look is panicky, oblivious confusion.

I'm not sure I even need to talk about the other "unique" champion, fishboy, Abe, voiced by David Hyde Pierce, making him the most neurotic evil spirit-fighting psychic in town. Well, I guess that at least makes him worth more than Aquaman, which isn't saying much.

Afterward, in the men's room, one of my fellow moviegoers critiqued that the end was "flaky," which is just another way of saying it was sort of corny, and I won't debate that review. But the rest of the film makes it work, with some solid action, special effects that don't distract too much, and I liked the gross and multiple tentacle demons menacing the planet. Hellboy has a good heart, even if the title character might not have one at all.