Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - Universal

A Potential Parent's Point Of View

If a film is rated '12', why would you deliberate whether to show it to an eight year-old? The classification surely outlines what is suitable.

It's amazing how many people buy their children '18' (or '12') rated video games (or films) and then complain about how unsuitable they are for youngsters. Saying that, my mum used to let me see Hammer and Universal Horrors as a child and I still turned out okay.

With regard to Del Toro's Hellboy 2, I loved it. I'm 42 and my inner eight year-old loved it too! Del Toro goes from strength to strength. This is a perfect melding of his Spanish language aesthetic with his Hollywood aesthetic. Roll-on Hellboy 3! Recommended!

Feel The Right Hand Of Doom! And Rejoice!

In the dark ages, before The Dark Knight and The Iron Man, Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy" was the the first decent comic book adaptation in at least a decade. The premise was darkly comic, the material sharply human, and the characters behaved as people who happen to be possessed with great powers, and not faceless ciphers designed to cynically push the plot forward to the next explosion.

After the high watermark of Iron Man and The Dark Knight, Del Toro returns with "Hellboy II : The Golden Army", which sees him melding his unique visual style and adept storytelling powers to a visual feast. "Hellboy II" would be the best film of the summer, were it not for the Dark Knight. Over a succinct, luxurious two hours, Del Toro masters a fine and intricate tale that borrows from ancient mythology and seamlessly matches it to a glorious imagination. The plot is classic McGuffin : Bad Guy looks for Thing With Which He Can Control The World, Hellboy tries to stop him. There's an awful lot more to it than that, of course, which is what makes it so effective.

Ron Perlman portrays probably the single best heroic character turn in filmed history. Unlike Batman, who is a deeply boring Bruce Wayne, or Reeve's equally boring Clark Kent, Hellboy is a fully fleshed out character. We're watching someone who happens to have the fist of Hell on his arm. Hellboy is a person, who behaves as real people do. Heroes aren't made ; they're born that way, wether they like it or not. And Hellboy doesn't really like it. Hellboy reminds me of me in many ways : he loves cats, and simple pleasures. He's never happier than with a cigar, or a beer, or a simple song.

"I would give her the world, and she wants me to do the dishes." he says at one point. And we all know how he feels.

The rest of the film is starkly inventive. The addition of Johan Krauss to the team provides Hellboy with a fine, and ambigious foil. Is he a baddie? Or a goodie? By fulfilling all the stereotypes of an possibly insane, officious German scientist, you half expect Krauss to turn in a tired shock twist, and Del Toro paints this ambiguity with great skill to create a character who is likable - and, over time, really quite a lot of fun to watch. Each of the characters in this film could carry a film in their own right.

There's also a wonderful scene which sees Hellboy and Abe bonding over a well known, and utterly naff singer of the 70's. The following scene, awash with super powered hangovers, is a joy to watch, as Hellboy and Abe face an enormous challenge with a stinking attack of hair of the dog. They stumble and slur, and it's far more realistic - if a film about a guy with the Fist Of Hell on his arm can be realistic - than anything else I've seen in this genre in eons. Hellboy's the kind of guy you'd probably want to know as a friend. Could you really say that about Batman or Superman?

Elsewhere, Del Toro paints the entire film in a lavish visual style. He's fast found a unique and brilliant voice, a unique cinematic vision that affects everything he does with a grotesque beauty. The Golden Army, which gifts the film its name, is a wonderful, fascinating invention. They, like the Elementals, makes you wonder why no one thought of them before. And the fight scenes are wonderful, never over complex, always inventive, never boring, nor reliant on the Uncanny Valley of alienating CGI. There's a ton of CGI here, but it looks real. The infamous Troll Market outdoes the Cantina Bar and Diagon Alley by several light years as a visual feast : it's a market where Trolls just do Troll things, minding their own business - and its awesome. Like, first time you saw the Death Star awesome. It's never showy, never overdone, it just is, and it's there to serve the plot and the plot alone.

There's gorgeous, rich and stunning set pieces, there's terrifyingly plausible villians and monsters, there's laughs galore, and there's absolutely everything you want from a Summer Blockbuster including brains. The type not eaten by Zombies. "Hellboy II" is Del Toro's best film yet, and makes me sad yet overjoyed that he's got "The Hobbit" coming next - because that means a long wait before the inevitable, and inevitably brilliant, "Hellboy 3".

ASTONISHING!!!

This film is incredable and actually outdoes the first one
the story was fantastic
and the graphics were amazing
5/5
DONT MISS IT!!!

Sympathy for the devil

I, like many people, am becoming a huge fan of Del Toro's work both in English and Spanish and having really enjoyed the first Hellboy was excited about seeing this sequel.

I saw it twice in the cinema, once in London in a special preview screening and again back at home on it's last night - and was completely bowled over both times. For someone like me who watched Ray Harryhausen creatures slugging it out on TV as a kid with his jaw open - this movie is a dream come true, Del Toro has just unlatched the top of his head and spilled his imagination onto celluloid and the result is amazing. I really liked the first one, but I love this one!

The reason I gave this review the title I did was because I can see that for some people there maybe a flaw in this movie, and that is that there are no real human characters of any consequence in it. If you exclude Liz whose pyro-abilities leave her one foot in the creature camp anyway, we are left with only Manning who is a caricature bureaucrat, black suited agents that are tooth fairy fodder and obnoxious ungrateful members of the public.

In the first movie we had Myer's, Professor Broom and even one of the Black suits was given a personality and a name - Agent Clay, if I recall; with his hair plugs.

I'm not saying that this is a bad thing - what I am saying is that the movie is pretty damning of people and their behavior - it's sympathies are much more with the magical folk - but this can make it pretty hard to hate the 'villain'. Though I think the elf prince is an great character and his first scene in what seems like an ancient chamber, until a subway train screams past, is genius - there is moral complexity here. The story is in essence a timely environmental allegory - reminding us that there are many things that the world will be a sadder place without, and that the planet has many reasons to be very pissed off with us!

I won't say anything about the incredible design work and vision - as there isn't anything to add that others haven't already said - except maybe that it really stands up to repeat viewings; I spotted so many details on my second viewing that I missed first time (like all the crabs on the legless Goblin!)

There is an obvious hint in the scene with the Angel of Death at a third movie, but whether or not that story will ever get told seems doubtful (with Del Toro signed up for about 4 or 5 other projects - Including the 2 Hobbit movies and working as producer on a stop motion version of Pinocchio, which could be amazing given the bedtime story that opens Hellboy 2). I for one would love to see a Hellboy 3.

Hellboy II....a parent's point of view

My son adored Hellboy I (and heck, so did I!), so I slipped off to the cinema to do a quick reccy on Hellboy II to decide whether he could watch it or not (he's 8 - and I'm fairly strict).

I'm not going to go into detail as to the content of the film, because that's covered very well in the other reviews.

As a parent, would I recommend that you let an 8 year old watch this? I have to say, purely on the basis of the Tooth-fairies (teeth-fairies?!) at the beginning and the absolutely amazing Death figure,no. Fabulous creations as you would expect from Del Toro, but the stuff of nightmares if you're a kid! These are escapees from Pan's Labyrinth

Other than this, Hellboy II isn't a scary movie, indeed it spills over into silliness (that Barry Manilow song was a bit bizarre!) The trademark humour is still there, but the pathos of Hellboy I is, imo, missing.

I had a lot of sympathy for the Elfin Prince and his co-horts, intent on taking out the whole human race. I think he had a point - mankind is making a bit of a mess of things! The Tree God is a wonderful creation - terrifying in its grandeur and magnificent in its death.

While I really enjoyed this film and would buy it for myself, for the moment, it will remain on the top shelf next to Del Toro's Spanish language classics and out of reach of my son for another 12 months anyway.