HellBoy 2: The Golden Army

I have decided to forgo the usually "I love Comic books and Superhero movies" opening and just get right to it.

The movie opens with Hellboy as a kind of awkward 11 year old boy with his father reading him a story about the eventual truce between the human world and the creature world. We see the story with the best use of Puppetry I have ever seen in a movie. The movie then shoots to present day where the prince of the creature world, a ninja elf named Nuada (Luke Goss) has come to Earth, killed a bunch of people and stolen 1/3 of a crown needed to control the Golden Army. The Golden Army is an indestructible army created by tree goblins. They feel nothing, need nothing and serve one purpose- killing. Hellboy (Ron Pearlman) and his crew are called in to figure out what happened. The crew is experiencing some growing pains though, because Hellboy and his girl Liz are fighting and Hellboy is tired of being hidden. He wants to be out in the world. When it happens though, it is obvious the world is not ready for that. Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), one of Hellboy's crew, finds the princess Nuala who is afraid of her twin brother because she hold the final 1/3 of the crown and when Nuada killed their father to get the other 1/3, she knew he was crazy. Abe falls in love with her and wants to keep her safe. Hellboy must risk everything to try and find Nuada before he calls on the Golden Army to destroy all of mankind.

By now everyone who loves movies knows that Guillermo Del Toro is kind of a dark fantasy wizard. His creature designs are out of this world amazing and he loves creating a deep mythology surrounding his movies. Hellboy 2 is no different. In fact, if I had a complaint it would be that I wanted more time with some of the creatures. The Elemental God that turns into a gorgeous field of flowers upon death was so breathtakingly gorgeous and creepy that I wish I had got to spend more time looking at it. The Angel of Death who is reminiscent of a creature from Pan's Labyrinth, only gets a few minutes of screen time as well, but that character could have possibly changed the entire future of the franchise, should this franchise continue. Then there is the Goblin Market (not to be confused with Christina Rossetti's poem of the same name). The Goblin Market is a total potpourri of inventive creatures that brings back vision of Star Wars: A New Hope. Del Toro obviously has a love of old style costumes, make up and prosthetics and doesn't really pack on the CGI characters, which is kind of an awesome change of pace.

Then there is Ron Pearlman's Hellboy. Pearlman is so in tune with his Hellboy that it makes it such delight to watch. he is funny and nasty, but also has a soft side and Pearlman really brings that out. His Hellboy is not as laconic as the comic Hellboy, but he had made Hellboy his total creation. His chemistry with Liz (Selma Blair at her hottest) is really excellent even if the love story does get in the way a bit. Seth Macfarlane provides the voice of the crew's newest member, Johann Krauss, a German entity. He is merely a soul in a space suit, who can inhabit anything. It is an interesting creature and I hope he comes back if a third one is made.

Del Toro is more than just an inventive creature designer though; he knows how to tell a story and he knows how to make us gain sympathy for everyone. Yes, Nuada is the villain, but in the end we understand his plight. He is worried about all of his world disappearing. Maybe he goes about it the wrong way, but ultimately he just wants what is best for his world. It is hard to really think of him strictly as a villain. When we see how beautiful and interesting the species of his world are, we kind of worry that they will go extinct as well and that is saddening. Del Toro also knows how to pack a comic punch as evidenced by a slapstick scene seemingly inspired by The Three Stooges involving some lockers. Also a scene with Hellboy and Abe drunk and singing inspires plenty of laughs.

Hellboy 2 is a bigger (see the climatic fights) and louder (see the scene where they shooting at everything) movie than Hellboy, but that is the Hollywood Way. I do not have a problem with it because it is incredibly entertaining and imaginative. Watching it gave me full faith that Del Toro can do the Hobbit with no problems and really has a bright future. It is an exciting movie and a nice way to tide me over until The Dark Knight!

Final Grade: B+