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Hellboy II: The Golden Army


Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Guillermo del Toro, 2008)



Del Toro's follow-up to both Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth interestingly begins in the same way as the latter with a child reading/hearing a "fairy tale" which has far more to do with said child than he/she could ever know. Hellboy II is crammed with so much visual stimuli and creative CGI that it can almost seem a bit offputting at first, but if you stick with it, it definitely becomes much-more human and easier to relate to. I'll admit that it wore me down with the F/X overabundance but it did provide nice little touches; yes, even if it means laughing a bit more at Barry Manilow and accepting Tecate Light as much as Duff Beer. The film has plenty of other homages. For example, when Hellboy has to deal with that Forest God in the middle of Downtown, it reminded me both of Spielberg's War of the Worlds and a few Miyazaki films. Obviously, the prologue of a world of elves is reminiscent of Tolkien, but what would you expect since del Toro was picked to helm both Hobbit flicks. Ron Perlman is still the perfect Hellboy, even if I thought he had more to do and did it better in the original, but what about the insane new character, Johann Krauss? He was hilarious and totally far-out, man! He also may have my fave line of 2008. When talking to Hellboy in his cornball German accent, he says "You will learn to obey me, follow protocol and stay fock-used (focused, ha!) at all times!" Hellboy's response is equally priceless. Hellboy II ends up being a mass entertainment which I'm actually surprised doesn't have a huger audience.