Hellboy

Marco Beltrami has scored his fair share of dark movies. Horror, thriller or bleak dark undertones have been heard by his fans for a long time now, but I'm betting Hellboy will prove to be quite different. Different in the fact it is Beltrami's crowing achievement. Hellboy is his magnus opus, a score in a genre that he's known for, holding legendary themes, intricate orchestrations, powerful fanfares, emotional surprises. You name it, it has it all. Wrong, the film has it all, the recording sessions proves it abundantly, Varèse's release forgets to deliver it partially. Or how one score can sound incredibly different when hearing the big picture.

I don't know why, but Varèse's score is not the presentation Hellboy deserves. First of all it almost forgets to state the main heroic theme of the character himself. A pompous hero theme that stands for Hellboy in general is only discovered several times, and not even in full or in its powerful heroic form. Reason why is unknown to me, but whatever the explanation is, Varèse better fix it fast. I've seen expanded releases of Beltrami's Scream and Mimic recently, but Hellboy should be next on their list. Because it lacks music the world just doesn't know about.

This main theme statement is heard softly in "Meet Hellboy", showing a delicate side to Hellboy as he is found by professor Broom. Another theme that pops up early on in the score is Kroenen's theme, heard on theremin in "Snow Walkers" and moody in "Soul Sucker". And Beltrami isn't shy to state his other themes as well. The love theme or Liz's theme is heard lovely on strings in "Liz Sherman" (alongside a brief but again partial heroic theme statement representing Hellboy's presence), and professor Broom's theme gets a wonderful send off in "Father's Funeral", a nice emotional surprise.

But Hellboy has a couple of more surprises for you. The tango in "Rooftop Tango", the classical song for Kroenen in "Kroenen's Lied" and the typical Beltrami maneuvers in "Alley Fight" might be enjoyable, but they are not the highlights. For that we have to wait for the explosive "Investigating Liz" (covering a brilliant love theme statement) and the absolute knock out cue "Stand by your Man". This cue finally delivers it, Kroenen's theme by solo vocal, fanfares and a heroic take (again not in full) of Hellboy's theme.

Ending with the lovely Liz theme in "Hellboy & Liz" and the peculiar theme for the agency in "B.P.R.D.", Hellboy definitely sounds amazing when you first discover it on the Varèse release. But you wouldn't believe your ears if you ever discovered how much is actually missing from this release. The tracks on the recording sessions are expanded with powerful minutes, the tracks here are omitting powerful action music and the heroic versions of Hellboy's theme are nowhere to be found. Trust me, Hellboy is brilliant if you ever hear it in full. Only then will you realize that Beltrami created a brilliant colorful score for a dark comic book genre, and an unlikely hero named Hellboy.

Hellboy: ***1/2
Hellboy "Recording Sessions Promo": ****1/2

Tracklisting

1. Oct. 7th, 1944 (1.17)
2. Meet Hellboy (1.29)
3. Main Title (1.06)
4. Snow Walkers (2.22)
5. Liz Sherman (2.26)
6. Fireproof (1.34)
7. Rooftop Tango (1.13)
8. Wake Up Dead (3.19)
9. Evil Doers (2.44)
10. Kroenen's Lied (1.57)
11. Father's Funeral (2.03) Excellent track
12. Alley Fight (3.11)
13. Nazis (2.42)
14. Investigating Liz (3.22) Excellent track
15. Abe Sapien (1.27)
16. Mechanical Mausoleum (0.41)
17. Soul Sucker (3.31)
18. Stand by your Man (2.32) Excellent track
19. Hellboy & Liz (2.43) Excellent track
20. B.P.R.D. (2.58)

Total Length: 45.08