Rated: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and some language. Runtime: 110 mins. Director: Guillermo del Toro Writer: Guillermo del Toro Cast:Ron Perlman; Selma Blair; Doug Jones; Seth MacFarlane ... complete cast Tagline: Saving the world is a hell of a job Genre: Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi Memorable Quote:"You have more in common with us than them, demon." ... more quotes Release Date: July 11, 2008 DVD Release Date: Not yet on DVD. Distributor: Universal Studios Official Site:www.hellboymovie.com/ View the Trailer:apple.com/trailers/universal/hellboy2thegoldenarmy
Reel commentary: ... With the shiny, exciting freshness of the Mexican filmmaker's legacy now thrown in the same tub of wash with every other summer release, we're left wondering if the forthcoming vision of The Hobbit is in good hands ... full review
Hellboy returns with a whole new host of imaginatively grotesque creatures, the usual hard-boiled everyman's attitude, and the same old blow 'em up action sequences. But whereas Guillermo del Toro's 2004 vision, Hellboy, found an audience entranced with a unique brand of wit, and an ingenious use of practical effects and costume work, with Hellboy II: The Golden Army, we're pounded into oblivion with too many of the things that made the original so effective.
We know del Toro is fascinated with fantastical creatures, as he proved in his Oscar-winning Pan's Labyrinth. But part of the allure of that film, and the same can really be said about the first Hellboy installment, was that we were seeing something new, different and innovative. His vision was truly something we'd not seen in Hollywood in quite some time. It was really special when the pale man, a particularly gaunt, skeleton-like anthropoid with long arms and eyes in the palms of his hands first appeared in Labyrinth. Not to mention many of the other creatures in that film. But with Hellboy II, del Toro is nearing over-exposure territory. The film feels like a better version of the Mos Eisley cantina scene in Star Wars, but that one that runs for the entire length of the film. It's as if we've stumbled into a make-up effects industry trade show.
That's not to say there aren't plenty of good things going on too, however. This second installment picks up with our hammer-fisted hothead (Ron Perlman), first envisioned in the comics of artist Mike Mignola, still living hidden away from public scrutiny in the bowels of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.), a clandestine bureau created by President Roosevelt to battle otherworldy powers and beings. He's a cigar-chomping, candy-loving, Tecate-drinking hulk of a man with red skin and a face that closely resembles Ted Danson on steroids. He's four years later into his relationship with his highly combustible girlfriend Liz, played by Selma Blair. They hang out with a group of other mutants including Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), an amphibian mind-reader and Johann, a protoplasmic mystic who takes form in a sort of deep sea diving get-up.
There's supernatural trouble a brewin' when it's revealed that Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), a dead ringer for Edgar Winter, plots to awaken an indestructible army of golden metal marauders put into a deep sleep centuries ago by a truce between humankind and the forest trolls. With hopes of reawakening the army, the Prince plots to unite three pieces of a mythic crown while his twin sister Nuala (Anna Walton) sides with the heroes of the B.P.R.D. Aiding Nuada in the search are Wink, a monstrous troll henchman with a mile-long mean streak, and a horde of ant-like tooth fairies with a ravenous appetite for calcium.
Game on, as Hellboy and his gang set out to stop the mayhem. Phantasmagorical elements begin to meld with truckload after truckload of TNT and CGI as the two sides of good and evil clash on both the streets of Manhattan as well as in northern Ireland. It's a very noisy film. Sure to roust those patrons in the next theater over, chuckling at Eddie Murphy's latest. There are never any dull moments but we're often overcome by the feeling of being stuck in a hellish video game with the volume pegged on 10. What happened to the independent imagination of the artist who created Cronos and Pan's Labyrinth? It seems to have been covered up with all things Hollywood blockbuster. With the shiny, exciting freshness of the Mexican filmmaker's legacy now thrown in the same tub of wash with every other summer release, we're left wondering if the forthcoming vision of The Hobbit is in good hands. I suppose so, if we're OK with mayhem over genius.
Frank Wilkins
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Frank Says:
July 17th, 2008 at 17:11
More Hellboy II quotes:
"Now you've pissed me off!"
"Lost? Not at all. Very much alive and I am here to claim what is rightfully mine."
"I will call upon the help of all the children of the earth! The good... the bad... and the worst. "
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