Here's a little hint for you reading at home or in your office, folks.
Unless it's something gargantuan like 'Avengers: Endgame', not seeing any reviews on the week of release - or literally the day before release - is never a good sign. Case in point, the 2019 reboot of 'Hellboy', with 'Stranger Things' alum David Harbour filling in for Ron Perlman.
As you might have guessed, it hasn't even been screened for press here in Ireland but our US colleagues have seen it and the word is... not good. Not good at all.
Currently, 'Hellboy' has a paltry 35% rating on Metacritic, with an even worse 10% on Rotten Tomatoes. Just to compare that with Guillermo del Toro's original back in 2004, that had an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 72% rating on Metacritic. Are the reviews that bad, though? Isn't Rotten Tomatoes just a compounding of figures that removes all nuance?
Well, yes, but the reviews for 'Hellboy' are still universally bad. The AV Club, for example, called 'Hellboy' "less a thrilling adventure tale than a trip to a teenager’s messy, sock-strewn bedroom," and pointed out Harbour's performanc, saying that "his many quips go over like a fart in an elevator."
Den of Geek wasn't much better, saying that "while the movie should be applauded for trying to forge its own path, it would help if it was actually a better movie." Vulture, however, summed it best in its headline - "Hellboy deserves better than this."
Yikes. 'Hellboy' is on release in Irish cinemas this weekend.
