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Hellboy II: The Golden Army
"The Golden Army, the unstoppable force"
Ever since Hellboy in 2004 fanboys and regular moviegoers alike have been psyched for Hellboy II. Four years later we get The Golden Army, it was the first movie of the summer that made me want to walk out of the theater, and immediately buy another ticket.
The original (meaning only using the characters, not using a story of a comic book) story by director Guillermo del Toro and Hellboy comic book creator Mike Mingola starts where the original was kind of flawed. We actually get to see Hellboy, as well, a boy. We get a flashback to Christmas 1955 of Hellboy and Professor Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm and when he makes Hellboy go to bed, he reads him a story. This story is about a fight between Human World and Mythical World. When goblin blacksmiths create an unstoppable army called 'The Golden Army' which can only be controlled by King Balor when his rule is unchallenged. Needless to say Man loses, and in a desperate effort for safety Man makes a truce with the Mythical World and it says that Man will take the cities and towns and Mythical World will take the forests. To make sure everything is fair, King Balor breaks the headband that controls the Golden Army into three pieces, two going to him and his world, one going to Man. King Balor's son Prince Nuada is very unhappy about this decision and leaves in exile until his world will need him most.
Come back to 2008, at an auction Prince Nuada finds one of the headband's pieces is on sale. Rather than pay, he robs the place, releasing "tooth fairies" on the building. He now knows it is time to go home and get proclaim war on the Human World, when King Balor refuses and sentences Nuada to death, Nuada fights back killing Balor. Nuada's twin however, escapes with the last crown piece and a chase pursues throughout the whole movie, connecting with our three favorite characters. The story does have many interesting twists, particularly the one with Hellboy and Liz's relationship (you'll know what I mean when you see it,) but one really stupid twist that could have made the movie a lot shorter.
While the writing is very good, and del Toro has always done a great job writing, he outshines it with the costumes. All of the monsters were just interesting to look at. You could see the costume directors and make up people just having fun with it. I guess Pan's Labyrinth paid off. With the costumes I must mention the set designers too to avoid a riot. They did just as well and the whole film is very beautiful to look at. Worth the price of admission and the staying awake till midnight.
Many of the monsters also looked and acted so real, the acted like humans. Particularly Hellboy, he seems so human, he makes jokes, he messes up, gets drunk, gets hurt (not that easily), even does a bad singing. However, he is a good guy at heart and makes him that much more likable.
What would Hellboy be without the great Ron Perlman playing him?* Ron's acting is some of his best and I hope he never stops. Another honorable mention goes to Doug Jones (thankfully doing his own voice now) and Seth MacFarlane (yes, that Seth MacFarlane,) doing a great german accent as Johann Kraus. The only one who even did remotely close to bad was Selma Blair who overacts her role a bit.
To sum it up, Hellboy II is a pinnacle of comic book film making funny and action filled. Perlman shines as Hellboy backed up by a good plot, great set designs, and perfect costumes. I'll be seeing it again, soon, with more people and more Hellboy merchandise in my room.
Rating:
* del Toro seems to agree with me saying that if Ron doesn't play Hellboy, no one will
"The Golden Army, the unstoppable force"
Ever since Hellboy in 2004 fanboys and regular moviegoers alike have been psyched for Hellboy II. Four years later we get The Golden Army, it was the first movie of the summer that made me want to walk out of the theater, and immediately buy another ticket.
The original (meaning only using the characters, not using a story of a comic book) story by director Guillermo del Toro and Hellboy comic book creator Mike Mingola starts where the original was kind of flawed. We actually get to see Hellboy, as well, a boy. We get a flashback to Christmas 1955 of Hellboy and Professor Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm and when he makes Hellboy go to bed, he reads him a story. This story is about a fight between Human World and Mythical World. When goblin blacksmiths create an unstoppable army called 'The Golden Army' which can only be controlled by King Balor when his rule is unchallenged. Needless to say Man loses, and in a desperate effort for safety Man makes a truce with the Mythical World and it says that Man will take the cities and towns and Mythical World will take the forests. To make sure everything is fair, King Balor breaks the headband that controls the Golden Army into three pieces, two going to him and his world, one going to Man. King Balor's son Prince Nuada is very unhappy about this decision and leaves in exile until his world will need him most.
Come back to 2008, at an auction Prince Nuada finds one of the headband's pieces is on sale. Rather than pay, he robs the place, releasing "tooth fairies" on the building. He now knows it is time to go home and get proclaim war on the Human World, when King Balor refuses and sentences Nuada to death, Nuada fights back killing Balor. Nuada's twin however, escapes with the last crown piece and a chase pursues throughout the whole movie, connecting with our three favorite characters. The story does have many interesting twists, particularly the one with Hellboy and Liz's relationship (you'll know what I mean when you see it,) but one really stupid twist that could have made the movie a lot shorter.
While the writing is very good, and del Toro has always done a great job writing, he outshines it with the costumes. All of the monsters were just interesting to look at. You could see the costume directors and make up people just having fun with it. I guess Pan's Labyrinth paid off. With the costumes I must mention the set designers too to avoid a riot. They did just as well and the whole film is very beautiful to look at. Worth the price of admission and the staying awake till midnight.
Many of the monsters also looked and acted so real, the acted like humans. Particularly Hellboy, he seems so human, he makes jokes, he messes up, gets drunk, gets hurt (not that easily), even does a bad singing. However, he is a good guy at heart and makes him that much more likable.
What would Hellboy be without the great Ron Perlman playing him?* Ron's acting is some of his best and I hope he never stops. Another honorable mention goes to Doug Jones (thankfully doing his own voice now) and Seth MacFarlane (yes, that Seth MacFarlane,) doing a great german accent as Johann Kraus. The only one who even did remotely close to bad was Selma Blair who overacts her role a bit.
To sum it up, Hellboy II is a pinnacle of comic book film making funny and action filled. Perlman shines as Hellboy backed up by a good plot, great set designs, and perfect costumes. I'll be seeing it again, soon, with more people and more Hellboy merchandise in my room.
Rating:
* del Toro seems to agree with me saying that if Ron doesn't play Hellboy, no one will