I never thought I’d say it, but I’m getting tired of watching movies. I’ve seen every movie in my 2008 Summer Movie List so far except The Happening. That’s a lot of movies in less than 2 months!
This week we have the latest installment from the fantastical world of Hellboy.
I was one of the odd fans of the original Hellboy. Though dark, gothic, and downright strange I found its world to be refreshing and unique in superhero-filled cinema.
The second movie doesn’t disappoint. It’s more of the same, with none of the same; if that makes any sense. It’s both predictable and unpredictable at the same time, and though a bit too long, it manages to endear Hellboy to the masses even more than before.
It’s a hard sell. Though pop culture is moderately interested in the anti-hero these days, even the least religious among us cringe at the idea of a hero who’s a demon. There are just some things that are better left alone, and Satan is one of them.
Two things make this movie work so well: Ron Perlman as Hellboy and director Guillermo del Toro. The latter is so full of creativity that even when you think you’ve got it figured out, something will sprout out of nowhere.
Though the destination of this movie’s plot isn’t a secret, the path is a complete masterpiece of imagination, the likes of which I haven’t seen in a movie in quite some time. A lot of this owes to del Toro’s vision as well as his stubborn refusal to use CG.
The characters in this film feel real in ways that we as filmgoers have forgotten. They feel real because they are real — Hellboy is Ron Perlman in an awful lot of makeup; not some Jar Jar Binks/Gollum mock-up of Perlman.
Everything in The Golden Army is much more fleshed out this time around. The focus seems to be on Hellboy and Abe Sapien, his fishy friend. The interactions between them are genuine, and both do a good job of balancing between freaks of nature and just regular joes.
I would have liked to have seen less Abe and more Liz, though. Selma Blair plays Hellboy’s ‘hot’ girlfriend who doesn’t like his tendency to leave the house a mess. She’s a funny character, and the play between her and Hellboy is interesting to watch.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t get as much screen time as she deserves. Perhaps that’s because her character is only a person who can light herself on fire. We’ve seen that before, while the odd demon fella and his fish-like friend a bit more unique.
This film also sees the addition of Johann Krauss, a gaseous entity who lives in a steampunk diver’s suit in order to retain shape and blend in with the masses. His character challenges Hellboy’s authority at every turn; and there’s nothing funnier than a ticked off demon.
The plot is a little bit thin. It’s clear from the beginning what the end result will be. This flaw isn’t all bad, though, because you spend very little time wondering about the outcome and lot more time marveling at the unique world that the movie creates.
The bad guy is a little bit LotR, a little bit Men in Black, and a whole lot of bad. An elf that has long been forgotten by humanity, he presents a very formidable foe for our heroes. Such a formidable foe, in fact, it almost seems unbelievable that Hellboy & gang are able to conquer him.
Unlike the other superheroes out there, Hellboy has a limitless world to play in. There are no self-imposed rules or expectations of what may exist in Hellboy’s world, and this really let’s del Toro run free.
Iron Man still hasn’t been challenged for the 2008 Movie Crown, but Hellboy runs a close second. Though the movie gets a bit long and probably could have been edited to be a tad faster-paced, it’s really what the movie represents in theory that makes it so amazing.
The Golden Army pulled in $10 million more on its opening weekend than its predecessor. Hellboy may have found his niche.
Verdict: A- Tilt: A
Did you see the prequel?