Ah yes, Hellboy, the demon superhero with the red Invulnerable Right Hand of Doom. Oh how I’d want one of those!
After a couple of disappointing efforts in Wanted and Hancock, I went into Hellboy II: The Golden Army looking for something surprising and fresh the week before The Dark Knight comes out and crushes the world as we know it.
Guillermo Del Toro directed the two Hellboy films, but squeezed in-between both was the beautifully dark Pan’s Labyrinth. The first few previews I saw for The Golden Army showed brief scenes with creatures and settings that made me think I was watching a trailer for Pan’s.
Del Toro is brilliant at bringing to life worlds that we’ve never imagined before. One can only fathom what he’d have done with the Cantina scene in Star Wars. Granted, that was a different time, but the stuff he does now makes the average alien bar look like a Muppet’s Convention.
And that was the best part of The Golden Army for me. The visual effects and stunning creations from the underworld were just amazing. Early on we get the sight of a strange looking man with a square-ish head covered in pale flaps of skin. It was something out of a Tim Burton nightmare. I loved it.
Check out this other being that appears elsewhere in the film:
It gives me complete faith in the production style that he’ll use on both of the upcoming Hobbit films.
The plot of Hellboy II is pretty basic: A truce made long ago between humans and elves ended the use of a Golden Army by the elves to destroy humanity. The control of The Golden Army was wrought in a crown, which was broken into three pieces. One piece went to the humans, the other two back to the King of the elves.
Now, one of the King’s descendants is out to find the pieces and bring back The Golden Army.
Nothing new here, it felt like a pretty standard formula. But then again, it’s a superhero movie, and most of their stories have a lot of the same parallels.
I enjoyed it anyways. The characters were all fairly interesting, especially the newcomer Johann Krauss who is nothing but ectoplasmic smoke that will dissipate if not contained in a suit that looked like old-time scuba gear.
On the other side, Selma Blair hasn’t improved much. If you locked her in a paper bag, rest easy that she wouldn’t find a way to act out of it.
The writing was okay, the acting okay. Ron Perlman did the same bang-up job that he gave us in the first film.
Mostly is was just a fun romp, with some amazing special effects, spectacularly cool creatures and some very comedic moments.
Definitely had a lot more fun in this movie than Hancock or Wanted. But it’s still no Iron Man.
And somehow, I think they might ALL pale in comparison to The Dark Knight.
Well, I had a lot of fun in Wanted even if I did find it “wanting.” I wasn't that impressed with the first Hellboy and haven't been too keen on seeing this one. Something tells me that my rating for it will probably be slightly lower than yours, but I don't think anyone would expect anything less.
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
You know, I did have fun in Wanted too, but sometimes I can have fun,but then be a bit critical afterwards.
I think the big thing for Hellboy was just the style and visuals. Del Toro is just amazing.
Will see on the small screen. I think Del Toro's visuals will become more redundant with time. The whole misplaced eye thing.
Hellboy is dependably fun; for sure that director has an amazing imagination, reminded me alot of his work in Pan's Labyrinth