As if we needed any more proof that Hollywood will never learn any of its lessons no matter how often they’re taught, rumors abound that director Brian Taylor has been tasked to reboot the Hellboy franchise all over again.
Even though not a single soul was crying out to see Big Red brought back to the screen by anyone other than Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman, you’ve got to question the logic behind the decision. After all, the last attempt at rebooting the Dark Horse favorite was a critical and commercial disaster, so much so that David Harbour keeps a framed photo of Hellboy in his home to remind him of just how hard it sucked.
No offense to Taylor – who admittedly gets a lifetime pass in some regards for co-directing the deliriously delightful Crank duology alongside Mark Neveldine – but if you break his reported hiring down to its essence, there are absolutely no reasons to be excited by the prospect of a second Hellboy reinvention in quick succession.
As a solo filmmaker, he took the reins on Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which is one of the lowest-rated Marvel Comics adaptations of all-time on Rotten Tomatoes by virtue of an 18 percent rating. In addition, he co-wrote the screenplay to the infamous Jonah Hex, which is coincidentally one of the worst-reviewed DC adaptations on the aggregation site.
His Nicolas Cage horror comedy Mom and Dad was excellent, to be fair, but when you lay it out to say that the director of the even worse sequel to a bad Marvel blockbuster who also wrote DC’s biggest bomb has been given the chance to reboot one of the worst reboots in recent memory, how are fans supposed to get excited?