Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

HELLBOY II threatens to be nothing more than your latest CGI-laden braindead Hollywood action movie, and yet it's not, thanks to the presence of director Guillermo del Toro. Del Toro has to possess one of the most imaginative minds in Hollywood and he brings a level of creativity to the movie that's sorely lacking in most genre fare getting released these days. Del Toro's imagination comes to the fore in the myriad creatures he creates for this movie, bringing to life monster upon monster with no end to the creativity in sight.

Even better, the producers have the budget to match the vivid creations coming out of the minds of this film's makers, and the special effects do not disappoint. The CGI in this movie is phenomenal, with not a single effect out of place. Having just sat through the dodgy, odd-looking chimpanzees of RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, I'm doubly impressed by the quality of the CGI in this movie (which was made with a lower budget than the ape film, it has to be said). It's an entirely visual film, one which never disappoints.

The plot, of course, is secondary to the effects, but that doesn't matter so much this time around. As usual, there's a bad guy (Luke Goss, returning as a del Toro villain after BLADE II) who wants to take over the world and who has all manner of mean and wild creations to help him in the process. Up against him is Hellboy and his companions. The return of welcome old faces is great (and kudos to the writers for giving the excellent Abe Sapien a bigger part this time around) and the new character of Johann Krauss is similarly a work of genius. Hellboy is his usual wisecracking self and Perlman brings plenty of laconic humour to the part.

The narrative pretty much leads from one wild set-piece to the next, with some more effective than others. Hellboy's encounter with the nature god is my favourite part of the film, although the run-in with the titular army at the movie's climax is also fairly exhilarating. Okay, so this isn't a great movie – the story doesn't hold up to a great deal of scrutiny, after all is told – but it looks the part and I can't dislike any movie with this level of sheer inventiveness behind it.

Fmovies: What is it about super-hero films (X-Men 2, Spiderman 2, Superman II, and likely The Dark Knight) that the best of them are always the middle chapter; the second episode? I personally have no clue, but Hellboy II is not the exception.

It's got bigger action; more heavily stylized and expansive. It has a ton more amazing creatures. It's got an even wittier script, and a much better story. It's like the director was allowed to make everything as he saw fit; his vision is much fuller this time around.

Surprisingly, this movie rocks, and was actually the first film this year I was all around satisfied by.

Thrilling sequel based on Mike Mignola favorite cult comic book creation in which Hellboy has to face again dark forces and weird creatures. Hellboy works for the US military at the Bureau Parnormal Research whose chief is John Hurt alonside the sympathetic Agente Jeffrey Tambor, the fish-monster Abe Sapien, Doug Jones, and Hellboy's love interest, Selma Blair, and other courageous agents . And he was crawled into this world in Nazi time from another dimension and battling eternally evil monsters , and chilling cyborgs. Here he takes on a nasty Elf with extraordinary power , a prince called Nuada, Luke Goss, who in order to rule the Earth breaks an ancient spell and a covenant between humans and creatures, it results in releasing the Golden Army by opening a sinister portal . The prince kills his king father, Roy Dotrice, while his twin sister Nuala, Anna Walton, flees and joins the strange and valiant team.Then Hellboy and his brave squad set out to defeat the heinous prince Nuada.

Again the central figure Hellboy, a wise-cracking, gun-toting, cigar-chomping, trenchcoated half-human with a giant right arm alongside his pregnant lover, an aquatic being and other bizarre creatures. Heartfelt horror vision by Del Toro's stock in trade. But it is really a Ron Perlman film giving panache, sympathy and bravura to his peculiar role . All in red and larger than life, he burns up the screen along with his sweetheart, Selma Blair, as the firing heroine. This action-packed, nail-biting, high-octane movie being well starred by Ron Perlman who results to be a crossover between Humphrey Bogart, A team's Hannibal Smith and Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry. Relishing these absurdities, Del Toro gets on with the business of furious amusement, fast entertainment, racking up a sequence of coruscating set pieces against elaborate, occult backdrops.

The motion picture was well directed by Guillermo del Toro, he brings nicely to life the notorious comic book, though it is inferior than the previous entry and it has excessive and overwhelming digital effects by 3D computer generator. Guillermo is a very good director who has written, produced and made a lot of films, most of them in Fantastic genre such as the Oscarized : The shape of water, Pacific Rim, Crimson peak, Blade 2 , Pan labyrinth, Mimic, Devil'S backbone, Cronos. He also has directed some episodes from successful teleseries as Troll hunters, The strain and Arcadia tales.This movie is specially appointed for comic books aficionados, being extremely necessary to see it for Guillermo del Toro enthusiasts.

The first rendition by Guillermo del Toro was made in 2004 with Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Rupert Evans, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt, Brian Steele. And another recent version in 2018 with David Harbour and Milla Jovovich

Hellboy II: The Golden Army fmovies. This is something special; when a second film in a series is able to surpass or equal to it's predecessor. It's not just because the first Hellboy was so excellent, which it was, but they handled this second film with such care and pizazz, it's almost better, in ways, than the first.

It's very rare in a saga that the second films rises over the first, which is why when I say that Hellboy II: The Golden Army was almost in every way better than Hellboy, I mean it, and for me to love Hellboy like I do, that's saying a lot. Hellboy II had everything the first had, but with bigger and better qualities. The action was superb, story line was great, and acting, directing, etc. was just as perfect.

I was entertained through the entire film and I enjoyed every minute and in the end I was left with a big smile on my face for how great this sequel turned out to be, but here again, I still think it is on par with the first because of how the first was so perfect at setting up the story from the comics and how amazingly entertaining it was as well, with all the great performances that the second had and just when I put the two films together, I honestly can not decide which is better. All I have left to say is that if you loved Hellboy, this is no disappointment whatsoever, and you need to see it right away!

I took this in at the L.A. Film Festival closing night gala and really had a great time. I'm a HUGE fan of the comics and thought that the first movie was done just right.

I think Hellboy II: the Golden Army is as good as the first movie. It takes awhile to get used to Doug Jones' voice as Abe, but once you do, you see why it's better to have the guy in the suit doing his own dialog. And Seth McFarlane does a fine job voicing Johann (although not as I had imagined him).

The design work is superior to the first movie and the humor is ratcheted up a notch. The fights are better and more thrilling and the monsters are way cool. Great use of costumes and CGI working together (something Lucas should have done more of in the Star Wars prequels) to make everything feel REAL.

I expect many won't like it as much as the first movie because the newness will be lost. This was in fact my immediate reaction as well; but after a few days I realized I was just as excited to see it again as I was the first one.

The story isn't as grandiose as the first Hellboy, and the overall pace and build have a few problems.

*POSSIBLE SPOILER* There is also a tad too much time spent with the many love stories (one of which works better than the others - Liz and Hellboy), but they all play out well. And an AWESOME flashback that had me grinning from ear to ear.

PLEEEEEASE let there be at least one more Hellboy movie!!!

Del Torro's imagination is a beautiful thing. He has created some of the most fascinating creatures that traditional Hollywood doesn't have the guts or inclination to ever assemble. I would take Guillmero Del Torro in the director's chair any time any place, but Hellboy II shows that he is not without his flaws. Ron Perlman who is terrific as Hellboy doesn't have anything truly interesting to say or do, the world around him is magical but the plot isn't.

Hellboy is the most unique character to appear in your comic book shop. The mythology and the character are such the opposite of the main stream and to Hellboy II's credit so is this movie. Ron Perlman doesn't deliver catch phrases or gun down bad guys for the sake of doing so. He is an interesting character but he is overshadowed by this lackluster plot and the world around it. I felt as if we didn't see enough of Big Red or maybe we did we just didn't get to see the most of the talents. Del Torro constantly wants to remind you that he directed Pan's Labyrinth because visually the creatures look like they were leftovers from that film. I don't mind this per say but these characters just don't have much to do, they are there really to look at rather than them having significance. Visually I can't complain about them because they are amazing but they serve little purpose to the story.

The plot is really the weakest thing this movie has going for it. I felt it took too many liberties against the original concepts of Hellboy. Hellboy is a creature alive in our world, Del Torro tries to tell us that our world is nothing more than a division of fantasy and reality. Well we spend too much time in the fantasy that we forget the fact that this Golden Army is a threat to reality. The villain Prince Nuada is weak, we don't see any method to his madness other than the fact that the plot dictates that he be the antagonist. In the first film and to a lesser degree this one we were given details about why Hellboy has faith in humanity and would chose not to serve his purpose. It's interesting because we are given glimpses of what could have been something that could have added real teeth and tension to the story, for the first time Hellboy is tempted by evil, weakly tempted but tempted nonetheless. This mental struggle could have given our actors the chance to show their talent but instead the filler between the action scenes is just okay at best.

I didn't hate Hellboy II I just think it needed some beef in it's story. Del Torro has shown us he is a master storyteller but this time he didn't focus on the story it's self. I would recommend this film but I know Del Torro can and has done much better.