SummaryAfter an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Now, it’s up to the planets toughest, roughest superhero to battle the mer...
SummaryAfter an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Now, it’s up to the planets toughest, roughest superhero to battle the mer...
Del Toro is almost alone in his ability to re-create on screen the wide-eyed exhilaration and disturbing grotesqueness that is the legacy of reading comics on the page.
As he has done in all his movies, from creature features such as "Mimic" to serious dramas such as "Pan's Labyrinth," del Toro creates unforgettable images, filled with color, texture, lyricism and horror.
+Top tier production quality
+Excellent cast
+Very impressive screenplay
-No sequel to watch after this!
H2T Golden Army features a notably larger scale world for the now much more fleshed out characters to inhabit. Having come fresh from the original, the improvements in the production cost are immediately present along with the noticeable advances in CGI rendering here. It's tough to fully encapsulate in a meta review just how effective an improvement it is as a sequel but I would firmly place H2TGA into Aliens/T2/SW Empire Strikes Back territory. It is a crime against Hollywood the Del Toro Hellboy train stopped at this juncture!!
The sheer volume of amazing things that del Toro is able to mine from his unconscious and render plausibly on the screen is remarkable. Hellboy II feels pretty sequel-y, as these things go, but there's a lot in it that has no precedent of any kind, anywhere, ever. That stuff makes it worthwhile.
It definitely gives us our money's worth in the sheer volume of its imaginative fantasy creatures and it's that rare superhero-movie sequel that's better than the original.
A pretty good sequel to the first one and a decent childhood memory to me.
Though something that I kept wondering about was where was the human duce from the first one? I can't remember if the movie explains it but he wasn't really all that important anyway so I suppose it doesn't really matter.
P.S Abe is still bae (I didn't have much to say other than that)
Hellboy 2 starts off strong with a great opening. It's filled with cool looking fantasy creatures and great fight scenes. It also has a great plot. The humor though is not funny and completely kills any chance of this movie being truly great.
While the first Hellboy was a funny well acted action movie, this is a mediocre poorly acted with bad jokes movie, I was highly disappointed it was not as good as the first, an ok movie from beginning to end.
This film is the long-awaited sequel to "Hellboy", based on a comic and made in the wake of the fashion of comic-based films that has been a trend in the movies. The film continues the story of the son of Lucifer who came to live among us and defends humans from the dangers of the supernatural world. In this film, he is eager to feel recognized for his efforts, but his work and his very existence remain secret. However, he will have to prevent a war between humans and beings from the supernatural world, who want to control the legendary Golden Army.
The script is the weakness of this film. To begin with, the story told is so imaginative that it becomes absurd and difficult to swallow. There are several notable holes in the plot, which can be easily **** if you think about it. The usual clichés in adventure blockbuster are quite evident as well. But even if we are willing to accept the story told as it is, there is a void of content behind all the visual style of Del Toro and all the CGI that millions of Hollywood can afford.
The cast is good, much of it was inherited from the first film and does its job without blemish. Perlman is the highlight thanks to his talent and his chameleonic ability to transform himself into whatever he wants, film after film. The problem is that he brings little new to his character here, limiting himself to recycling the work done in the first film. Selma Blair has gained more visibility than she previously had and has done a positive job, especially when she plays with Perlman. Anna Walton is good enough but she doesn't have the space to do much. Doug Jones is a good joker able to do almost anything competently. John Alexander did a good performance too. On the other hand, Luke Goss is a villain who neither scares nor intimidates and Jeffrey Tambor has little to add to the film's positive. Finally, John Hurt's interesting cameo of honor.
Technically, the film is superb. In fact, Del Toro is a master at loading his films with a unique and striking visual style. Personally, I highlight a cinematography that uses contrast, light and shadow, intense colors and urban landscapes, and the very careful characterization of supernatural characters. In fact, the film was even nominated for the Oscar for Best Characterization, which is quite fair. The sets and costumes, as well as the choice of filming locations, are not far behind. The visual, special and sound effects are superb, and the soundtrack is discreet, but contains an excellent version of the song "Can't Smile Without You". It is really a pity that the script did not follow all this technical quality.
Production Company
Universal Pictures,
Dark Horse Entertainment,
Internationale Filmproduktion Eagle,
Lawrence Gordon Productions,
Mid Atlantic Films,
Relativity Media