The film was lucky to be released, is my understanding. The fact that it was at all comprehendable as a narrative is a small miracle. There was very serious behind the scenes issues between the director and producers, and the director did not have final cut, and from what I've heard didn't even see the final CGI renders of Ian McShane's . . . well, I'm not sure what to call that but if you saw it you know what I mean. It was beyond terrible CGI. The producers were responsible for that nonsense, and they cut the film together for release and included all those crappy songs as well.
Kind of broke my heart after reading about the troubles on set. I was rooting for this film.
I had purchased the score about a week before seeing the film. I really like the score. It's barely in the movie. I recognized only 2 or 3 pieces of music in between the songs, which pretty much destroyed any chance of atmosphere. Music can make or break a film for me. If it's done wrong, and it was done wrong in Hellboy, it can just ruin everything else.
I would have to say I enjoyed Lobster Johnson the most, though his big action scene was not well edited and felt really choppy and off. I never thought I'd ever see Lobster Johnson on film, so that was a cheap thrill for me, as he's one of my favorite comic book characters. Even if his glove was just a light up cosplay prop and they didn't bother to do any FX on it.
I liked Harbour as Hellboy. Apparently he had issues as well, to the point of storming off set and getting into screaming matches with previously mentioned producers.
I liked seeing stories from the comics pulled used for the film, although they crammed in a little more than what was needed. Especially since a few of the scenes never paid off.
Broom was not Broom. He was an entirely different character they called Broom.
All in all I would say I liked the movie, but it's lack of artistry, it's lack of compelling or interesting visuals, and all those damn songs crammed into the score were tough for me. I won't see it again. I'm not a huge fan of Neil Marshall anyway, but I still would rather that he had final cut, and was able to work with the Director of Photography he wanted to work with, etc.