Who in their right mind doesn't admire and are admittedly a little afraid of Guillermo del Toro's masterful film-making? CRONOS has such a seemingly simple beginning -- the invention of a golden device shaped like a scarab which, when biting someone, imparts immortality to them. Of course, as with most fairy tales (which del Toro loves), this immortality comes at a high price. Other than that basic storyline, there's not much of anything interesting going on here, which makes me very sad indeed because I'm a bit obsessed with del Toro's work. Ron Perlman (who would become del Toro's terrifically cast Hellboy in two films) has a role that represents an enormous distraction, in my humble opinion. While Perlman is great as Hellboy (no one else could play the part or was ever considered), here he is truly awful and unwatchable. While there are little glimpses of what del Toro would do much better in future films, CRONOS is not a great film at all. But hey, all great directors have to start somewhere. And we fans have to be a part of that journey whether we like the initial films or not.