Hellboy

Within the first 10 minutes of the new Hellboy remake, we see a medieval sorceress decapitated by the sword Excalibur, a contemporary Mexican wrestling match set to a Spanish version of the Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” and a winged creature graphically impaled by a turnbuckle.

Those elements set the tone for something more promising than this lackluster reimagining of Mike Mignola’s graphic novel that does little to improve upon the 2004 film adaptation, and thus feels motivated more by financial than creative means. Whether the fanboy demand exists to pay off that bet is debatable.

Like the prior film (which spawned a lesser sequel), it’s an origin story of a half-human, half-demon gentle giant with a good heart and a bad temper, set in a contemporary dystopian wasteland where mutant creatures walk among us.

That’s where Hellboy (David Harbour) is an antihero under the auspices of his human father (Ian McShane), an esteemed paranormal researcher trying to maintain the human and alien worlds in a state of peaceful coexistence. Good luck with that.

Hellboy is summoned to London, where he’s tasked with using his brute force to stop an uprising led by a reincarnated fifth-century Nimue the Blood Queen (Milla Jovovich), whose evil scheme involves recruiting monsters to carry out 1,000 years of pent-up vengeance.

If nothing else, this Hellboy is a showcase for the technical wizardry of British director Neil Marshall (The Descent), who employs an impressive array of creature effects and a high gore quotient to satisfy genre fans, along with a handful of creatively choreographed fight sequences. The darker take on the source material has style and attitude to spare, but not much substance beneath its slick spectacle.

Harbour (“Stranger Things”) is appropriately square-jawed yet simply can’t replicate the charisma and offbeat charm that made Ron Perlman so appealing in director Guillermo del Toro’s previous two efforts.

Meanwhile, rookie screenwriter Andrew Cosby does little to develop the insecurities that could make Hellboy a sympathetic figure, or provide him with a more suspenseful conflict with which to save the world.

The film can’t commit to being either a brooding apocalyptic fantasy or a campy superhero satire. Instead, it’s an aimlessly transparent attempt to relaunch a franchise that lacks the brains to go with its brawn.

Rated R, 121 minutes.