Author Topic: Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Potential Spoilers)  (Read 4464 times)

DKT

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on: July 22, 2008, 04:28:59 PM
I am a HUGE Hellboy fan.  Mike Mignola's comic for me is one of those unique pieces of fiction that has a tone all of it's own.  Is it horror?  Is it fantasy?  Is it comedy?  Yes, yes, and yes, and I love him for it (also for the way he draws, or used to draw it).  I also dig Guillermo Del Toro's work quite a bit, especially his smaller budget stuff.

I thought the first movie was fun.  It wasn't the comic I loved, but it was a nice nod to it.  I was stoked the whole Nazi thing was at the beginning, and that Ron Perlman seemed so able to capture the spirit of Hellboy.  I didn't mind the romance that was non-existent in the comic, or the studio-mandated Agent Myers.  I was just happy to see something resembling a Hellboy movie on the screen.  That said, it obviously didn't meet my high hopes for what it could've been.  It looked shinier, more like the X-Men movies, than what Hellboy looked like in my mind (more blurred around the edges, and a bit murky).

When I heard Del Toro was making a new movie, I was shocked and excited.  He was coming off Pan's Labyrinth, and he had a studio really backing him and trusting him this time, not telling him to add characters they thought the audience would be able to relate to.  I was pretty sure this new Hellboy movie was going to be completely different than the first. 

The truth is, it's not.  I like it's quite a bit better than the first one to an extent.  It's certainly more dazzling, and you can tell Del Toro's blinders were removed (witness Troll Market).  There's tons of eye candy, and no, I'm not talking about Selma Blair.  The costumes, sets, make-up, monsters, etc. are all AMAZING.  At times, I was pretty sure I was seeing London Below from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, somehow transposed in a Hellboy movie (oooo, fanfic!) and it made me almost wish Del Toro was directing Neverwhere next (but I'll take the Hobbit 1 & 2, and then preferarbly Hellboy III).

The humor and character chemistry is easily better in this movie. Hellboy and Abe Sapien have a hilarious drinking, sing-along scene.  And there's a great scene between BPRD's newest agent Johann Krauss (who is quite literally a gas bag) and Hellboy facing each other down.  (Please, God, if they make Hellboy III, give us Lobster Johnson, preferably as played by Bruce Campbell). 

Also, the bad guy in this movie is a rogue elf prince, who is actually played pretty well, and is somewhat more sympathetic than the villain's from the last movie.  However, there aren't any evil Nazi magicians, which is kind of a downer.

Despite the pretty fun characters and characterization, the plot is less than spectacular. 

But for all the good stuff, it feels very much like the first one did.  I'm not sure if it's the afforementioned shiny-hue that permeates the movie, but it just wasn't as much of a reinvention of the filed down horns as reviews and other people's opinions had left me to believe, declaring this was a movie where comic books had it's coming of age.  Like I said, for me, it wasn't.

There was something missing for me, however, something similar that was missing for me in the first film that I can't quite place my finger on.  Still, it is beautifully directed and loads of fun and is worth checking out. 


Thaurismunths

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Reply #1 on: August 01, 2008, 03:12:22 PM
I feel that I'm missing something and maybe someone familiar with the comic series can fill me in.

I've never read the comics, so Hellboy I & II were totally new to me. The first one felt like the director was being held back, that the studio was only giving him so much leash to make this 'kids movie' (having seen del Toro's El Orphanto I'm sure of it.) The interplay between the characters was a little stiff, and they didn't give the the supporting cast much depth. But I loved it all the same and was left pleasantly wanting more. Ron Perlman's immature tough guy act (throwing stones from the roof), the evil Nazis, and the Lovecraft references were fantastic.

I had high hopes for Hellboy II, and they were dashed upon the rocks.
I think they scaled down Hellboy, he seemed much larger in the first one. He was also more... grandiose. Hellboy should be, literally and figuratively, larger than life. And so should his weapons.
Del Toro gave Abe more of a staring roll, but changed nearly everything about him. Maybe this was bringing him more in line with the comic, but losing his goggles and breathing apparatus, and changing the powers his hands have really kind of spoiled it for me. Next he'll be in a trench coat skulking around used book stores. And why would he have suddenly learned to cry when some elven Calista Flockhart did the noble thing, but not when his friend and father was brutally murdered?
When did BPRD become MIB? This was a small, super-secret organization, but now they have hall and rooms and corridors full of all the unexplainable things in the world and hundreds of clean-cut agents all wearing suits and ties. And I'm pretty sure the scene with that thing on the table was taken directly from Men In Black.
Agent Johann Krauss was supposed to be a straight-laced, by-the-book, know-it-all. He came off as a potential Nazi, show-off. And the 'Luke... I knew your father' bit seemed really tacked on.. as did having him walk out on the BPRD at the end.
Why were the elves, who had agreed to live in the forests, living under the cities? Why didn't they push back against the human expansion and destruction of the world?
Half of the movie was visually stunning: Elf King's chamber, Troll Market, final fight scene. And the other half was very bland. It was as though the studio took del Toro's movie and cut in scenes that they wanted.

There was something missing for me, however, something similar that was missing for me in the first film that I can't quite place my finger on.

Darker. It should have been darker.

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DKT

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Reply #2 on: August 01, 2008, 03:28:37 PM
I feel that I'm missing something and maybe someone familiar with the comic series can fill me in.

The comic series won't help you out at all.  The characters in the comic are all the same (although the romance ing the movies is far more emphasized than it ever is in the comics...if there is a romance line in the comics).

Funny, I didn't think about the MIB connection until you said something, but you are totally right.

Half of the movie was visually stunning: Elf King's chamber, Troll Market, final fight scene. And the other half was very bland. It was as though the studio took del Toro's movie and cut in scenes that they wanted.

Hate to say it, but it was all del Toro on this one.  He was riding the success of Pan's Labyrinth and I think was pretty much given a free hand.  (Which is why there is more Abe Sapien, for instance.) 

One thing I did notice about both movies is that they really are BPRD movies, and Hellboy's the protagonist.  Like the X-Men movies are team-based, but Wolverine's the protagonist.  In the earlier Hellboy comics, the BPRD generally seems more in the background, and in the later ones, they're almost non-existent.

One thing I really dig about the comics is that they are incredibly dark, but they have Hellboy in them, who's like this gruff, blue collar, superhero.  I think you're right in that the movie should've been darker because Perlman seems to have Hellboy down pretty pat and could balance it.  But the more I think about it, the thing I think both films are missing is heart. 


shwankie

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Reply #3 on: August 03, 2008, 02:29:26 AM
I am glad they destroyed the One Ring...er, I mean that gold crown thing, by melting it in super-hot fire at the end. That was so new, and original.  ::)

I'd been waiting for this movie for something going on a year, and I was horribly disappointed. I love all three movies: MIB (first one), LotR, and Hellboy (first one). Shoving them together into a movie and slapping a "II" on the end, however, was destined to fail. IMHO, it did, rather spectacularly.



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Reply #4 on: August 05, 2008, 08:56:10 PM
I didn't read the comics either- though I've been looking for them since the first movie. I MOSTLY liked this. Then.. I got to caring a bit more about Elf dude. I seriously thought there was a possibility for depth that just WASN'T explored.  Meh and WTF.  I mean he was alllll badass.. and gave a poo about the earth.. and then waa sissy gives herself up for the cause. This movie PO'd me more then it made me happy. BUT it was pretty and it held my attention. And, I'd probably watch another sequil. But that's not really saying much. I like sequils.

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