Hellboy 2: The Golden Army really came through to better the attempt of the original movie. The metaphorical lemonade of it’s direction had the same ingredients but this time the choice of execution and attention to detail made this drink not only easy to swallow but refreshing and delicious enough to warrant a second serving.
In the beginning, a truce is struck between the human and mythical world in order to stop an onslaught of mechanical juggernauts known simply as the “golden army”. The elves and trolls settle into the dark underground while the humans abuse the earth and her resources for self gain. This spawns some bitter sentiment from the younger generations of elves and a movement is made to retake the land and break the truce that had been forgotten by the greedy humans. With forces beyond human measures, the world is forced to lean once again on the mysterious Hellboy and his team of off-world misfits.
My main impression upon seeing this movie was how beautiful and believable the cinematography and cgi were. Writer/Director Guillermo del Toro took this demon by the horns and made it into an impressive 2 hour journey into fantasy. We are treated to slimy trolls, beautiful elves and freakish mutants that all seemed more make-up and flash than computer generated. The dark scenes of the underworld could have easily been ignored but they were equally impressive in their detail and beauty. There was one scene when the elves are revealed in their natural home for the first time, that gave a feeling of royalty just from the rush of colors and lighting and another which detailed moss and foliage growing amidst the city was equally as memorable.
Ron Perlman has really taken the Hellboy and transformed him into quite a character. At no time did I look at him as a big guy painted and horned for a movie role, I felt him as Hellboy the entire way through. His display of emotion, machismo and wont for acceptance is very believable and his love for Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) could easily be seen from the subtle gestures to big emotional breaks that occur between the two. The winner of the Charisma awards has to go to John Alexander for his role as Johann Kraus though. The German accent coupled with the iron clad confidence of this character had the audience laughing, cheering him on and marveling at him the rest of the time. It was hit after hit after hit with the characters and I haven’t even gotten to the sibling elves yet… I will leave this awesome pair for you to judge yourself.
All in all, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army was a solid, solid movie. It had so much emotion wrapped up into it, I could not grasp what it was that made it so good. What I came out realizing was that the movie is a tale about acceptance. Hellboy wants the world to love him for being himself, Liz wants the world to stop staring at her as a freak and Abe Sapien wants to be understood. In order for these emotions to be satiated, the necessity of love comes into play and all three of these massive hearts find it at one point and keeps the howling jeers of the “normal” mob at bay for a time. Love is at the heart of this movie and even though you will find the big red demon swinging from buildings and shooting the “big baby” into threatening bad guys, you will also see him vulnerable and more human than you can imagine.
A beautiful film, a great soundtrack and awesome direction made this comeback a worthy one. This was one heck of a sequel.
Written by Greg Dragon – who has written 365 reviews on Spicy Movie Dogs.
Cinephile and opinion writer, Greg Dragon has been a fan of movies since the 80's when Kung Fu theater was all the rage and Roger Moore was James Bond. As an opinion writer that has reviewed Box Office releases on a number of prominent websites, Greg is the founder and lead critic of Spicy Movie Dogs.
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