DVD Reviews

Directed by Guilermo Del Toro

Columbia Pictures

If, to the purist, movie adaptations of novels are the equivalent of glorified book jackets, adaptations of comic books might be no-brainers: with the visuals already on paper, Hollywood writers and directors get to bypass the harder and, often, more imaginative steps of screen translation. But shortcutting is too often to the detriment of the films, not to mention unfair to their parent comics—the X-Men and Spiderman movies being among the rare exceptions. Hellboy, is another dark horse in this inked-up Hollywood universe, a steam-train of an adaptation that stays vividly faithful to the comic book engine underneath, even as it accommodates those whose only experience with a “graphic novel” film is Dangerous Liaisons.

The ways Hellboy manages to balance these audiences, like its special effects, are a sight to behold. Director and writer Guillermo Del Toro takes Mike Mignola’s cult-fave comic to new depths, adding meat to the hero and villains, expanding the back-story, and throwing in a crucial monster-human love story that the books lacked. But Del Toro’s adoration for the off-kilter miasma of Mignola’s world and the monster-fighting monster is also evident in his attention to the bizarre detail and playful spirit of the comic.

Everything from the gothic scenery to the story’s vaudevillian tone seeps through Guillermo Navarro’s vibrant photography and Del Toro’s script, as full of thrills as it is of an anti-formulaic, self-aware logic. Ron Perlman, of TV’s Beauty and the Beast fame, has the chops (and the eyebrows and the jawbones) to deliver Hellboy’s throwaway one-liners and punches with the appropriate devil-may-care élan: he’s Dirty Harry with a penchant for beer and pancakes, a superhero-everyman less detached than Batman and much cooler than Spiderman.

And, with a bad temper, a troubled relationship with a sultry firestarter (Selma Blair), and dark beginnings (some Nazis and Rasputin—stay with me here—invited him over from Hell through an inter-dimensional portal, before he was raised by the U.S. government), he makes Superman look like Al Gore. If that makes the tempestuous and down-to-earth Hellboy a more popular superhero version of our president, well, some may not argue with that. (Just as an FBI agent wonders if “we should go back and request a special permit, type 2—,” Hellboy punches through the brick wall. BRRRAM! “You guys comin’ or what?” he asks with a wink.)

Considering Del Toro’s deft exposition of the backstory, deepening Hellboy’s craggy recesses is probably unnecessary; but, in an era when films are shot with the DVD in mind, necessity takes a back-seat to the three disc special edition, complete with collector’s booklet of arcane diagrams and vulgar Latin. Character bios, conceptual art and hours of behind-the-scenes commentary abound; one feature even allows the viewer to jump from the movie into comic book expositions at crucial moments. The trigger-happy viewer will quickly dissolve into Hellboy nerd-dom, muttering “I did not know that” as he is apprised of the items on Hellboy’s utility belt.

While such extras may verge on the excessive, having background footage and extra features is far nicer than just silly screen-saver animations, especially when DVDs have so much space for extras anyway, and when the films themselves are as fun as Hellboy. Only a few recent DVDs, including the special editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, can, with justification, rival Hellboy’s encyclopedic treatment of the imaginaries and pools of ink that gave rise to its film version. Of course, only the devil knows what kind of tome we’ll get after the inevitable Hellboy sequels.

—Alex L. Pasternack

White Chicks

Directed by Keenan Wayans

Gone North Productions

It’s not everyday that black men in tights bask in the social limelight. But perhaps it makes more sense if these men are really FBI agents posing as spoiled, white heiresses. Perhaps not.

To a world as sick of reading about the escapades of the social elite as it is of the Yankees, the Wayans brothers—director Keenan Ivory, and actors Shawn and Marlon—bring this ridiculous premise to life in their unrated and uncut DVD edition of White Chicks. It’s debatable which is meant to be scarier, the Wayans’ successful Scary Movie franchise, or Shawn Wayans strutting down a catwalk wearing what looks like an ostrich.

Down-on-their-luck FBI agents, Kevin (Shawn Wayans) and Marcus (Marlon Wayans) Copeland bungle an easy assignment escorting kidnapping targets Brittany and Tiffany Wilson (Maitland Ward and Anne Dudek). In a car accident, Brittany and Tiffany receive the tiniest of scratches to their faces, the greatest imaginable travesty, and refuse to go out in public. To keep up appearances, Kevin and Marcus must, obviously, transform themselves with a team of makeup artists and pose as “white chicks” during the biggest days of the social season, Labor Day Weekend.

Masquerading in the backstabbing world of the blonde, the rich and the famous, Kevin and Marcus alternately fend off unwanted attentions from men and battle it out on the dance floor with the Wilsons’ archrivals, the Vandergeld sisters (Jaime King, Brittany Daniel). They unabashedly spoof hotel heiresses Paris and Nicky Hilton, complete with miniature pet dog and sex video, in a hilarious but utterly contrived plot.

Particularly memorable is the shopping expedition scene where Marlon Wayans needs assistance zipping up a pair of uber-tight leather pants. His facial expressions, clearly visible beneath all of the prosthetics, are priceless. In fact, it is a feat unto itself at how Shawn and Marlon Wayans are transformed into looking like strangely normal, but utterly grotesque women.

Don’t expect any high comedy or biting social satire. Instead, the humor plays with ever-crass, but laugh-worthy, gags involving farting, racial stereotypes, and collagen. Think of enhanced breasts so large as to knock over card stands.

Special features on the DVD include an audio commentary by the Wayans Brothers, a behind-the-scenes look at the make-up transformation and two behind-the-scenes-making-of featurettes. While it’s interesting to find that their make-up took a total of five hours of preparation, the features are mostly repetitive and reuse interviews.

White Chicks is certainly not a clever spoof, like Scary Movie, but is a worthwhile watch, if only to see grown men struggle with head tosses and g-strings. The most annoying aspect of the movie is the near impossibility in distinguishing the leads from another when in full makeup. But then again, our homogenized white society is the entire basis for this send-up.

—-Emily G.W. Chau