REVIEW: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Jul. 15
"Red" returns to action in Hellboy II, this time in shiny leather pants.
After four years of waiting, Guillermo del Toro releases the highly anticipated sequel to his 2004 film Hellboy based on the Dark Horse comic book series by Mike Mignola. Hellboy II: The Golden Army is more than merely a continuation of the events in the previous film--it is drastically different from Hellboy and immensely more ambitious, drawing heavily from the fantastic imagery and inspired creatures seen in del Toro's other film Pan's Labyrinth. Hellboy II truly is a feast for the eyes, and In a time where the film world is bloated with movies based on comics, Hellboy II achieves being more than just another comic book, weaving in quite a bit more romance, comedy, fantasy, and characters than the original movie.
From left to right: Abe Sapien, Hellboy, Liz Sherman, Johann Krauss prepare to kick golden robot ass in Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
One of the Most Visually Pleasing Films We've Ever Seen
Hellboy II: The Golden Army begins back in time where a young Hellboy is being told a bedtime story by Professor Bruttenholm. The reason for this rather awkward flashback, which shows us a bucktoothed 9-year-old Hellboy in pajamas, is because this is when Hellboy first learns about the tale of The Golden Army and Prince Nuada. The army is said to be comprised of indestructible mechanized warriors, numbering in the thousands and controlled by whomever wears a special crown. The story goes on to tell that the crown is eventually split up into three pieces that are divvied up among the humans and elves, resulting in the elf Prince Nuada going into exile. The film then fast forwards to the present, placing us after the events of the original movie where Hellboy is having relationship problems with his girlfriend Liz and Prince Nuada has come out of exile to wage war on the human race.
One of the only negative things to be said about Hellboy II is the fact that from beginning to end it's seeping with romance--too much in fact. There's just so much going on in the film in terms of new characters being introduced and developed to buy into the multiple sappy love stories going on at once. This is supposed to be an action movie, remember? That said, the overblown romance in the movie doesn't plague the movie enough for it to make any real impact on the rest of the film. The rest of the movie is nothing short of mesmerizing, with action sequences that'll make your jaw drop and more of what you'd hope for in a Hellboy sequel.
Hellboy + Pan's Labyrinth = Hellboy II
There are a mind-blowing number of characters brought into the Hellboy universe, some good, some bad, and some neutral. The films original three protagonists, Hellboy, Liz, and Abe are joined by an all-new German ally, an "ectoplasmic being" wearing a Lost in Space robot-esque suit named Johann Krauss. The addition of Krauss to the rest of the members of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense works, and Krauss acts as a kind of extension of the the Bureau's director played by Jeffrey Tambor who is known for repeatedly scolding Hellboy for his behavior. One scene in particular comes to mind when talking about some of the unbelievably cool creatures shown in the film, and it's where the team of four heroes enter a troll market located underground The Brooklyn Bridge where they encounter a wide array of unique lifeforms that rival even those of the famous Cantina scene from Star Wars.
Hellboy II is a lot less dark than its predecessor--replacing some of the "horror"-type visuals and nuances of the original with imagery that's more commonly associated with "fantasy." So, if a horror/horror-themed movie like the first Hellboy is what you seek, you'll likely walk away from it feeling empty handed. But if you're a fan of the original movie or just want to watch a really fun movie with some of the coolest monsters and creatures ever to appear on the silver screen, go see Hellboy II. It's definitely not without its share of flaws and it's ending is pretty hard to digest, but all in all it's definitely worth the price of admission and takes more risks in terms of storytelling than just about every other film based on a comic book out there.
Terror Rating: 1 out of 5
Originality: 4 out of 5
Level of Gore: 2 out of 5
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Other Recommendations: Hellboy (original), Pan's Labyrinth
Tell us what you think would make a killer premise for Hellboy III in no more than a couple words by posting a comment below. The best entry will WIN these 3 prizes:
Comments
Glad to hear this movie was good. I love tough-talking, hard-boiled outcasts - makes The Frog feel welcome in the world.
Hellboy has to fight off a group of underground mutant ninja turtles. (EPIC MOVIE IS MADE)
Demons come to Earth from hell and hell boy finds they came from one of his relatives in hell.
Seeing as how I haven't seen the movie it's hard to come up with a premise for the 3rd film but here we go... Hellboy takes on his maker... He was created for a purpose and he hasn't fulfilled his destiny right? I'm sure that guy's(The Devil?) pissed off.
*spoiler alert*Hellboy, now dealing with raising his red children, must deal with the wrath of the Greek Gods
I would say a great premise for a third movie is Hellboy being reunited with his parents somehow. After meeting his seemingly happy parents, Hellboy unknowingly becomes a pawn in their grand, wicked scheme (whatever that may be) and once he learns of it, he fights to stop them.
Great entries all. Keep the entries comin'
Hellboy and co. are on vacation when a strange meteor strikes the Earth and strange hostile creatures come out and multiply
3 years after hellboys son is born he discovers that his son is the being mentioned in the proficiencies, and that his son is the one who is supposed to destroy the world. While dealing with this his wife is struck ill and he must find a way to save her before she is slowly killed by this virus. i know kinda corny but hey what can ya do.
Hellboy meets The Predator versus Aliens. Just throw those three together and whatever happens, happens.
Hellboy vs. Carnosaur. You know it'd be awesome pat. lol.
it was good not staraying far from the 1st 1 that much except with more oddly creatures
Pan's Labyrinth fuckin' rocked, so if this movie is rockin' those undertones, I am so in that beast.
Hellboy 3 would deal with that Red mofo jacking cars and shooting hoes like niko in GTA.
Hellboy 3's main villain and main fight would be Red mofo vs. Danny Trejo, Trejo beats him with ease, and pisses on his cold lifeless body while shaving his stache.
Hellboy has to fight off Hell's worst. The demons of souls who were sent to hell to suffer have now formed an army. Hitler! Mussolini! Ted Bundy! Manson! Chris Benoit!
Hellboy saves Christmas. The elves are possessed by some strange force that causes them to revolt against Santa Claus. The elves begin preparation for global domination through the crafting of demonic toys. That when the unaware victim receives the gift and opens it, they are compelled to commit great acts of evil(instantly possessed). Its a race against time for Hellboy and crew to save the world and maybe Christmas.
HellBoy must face everything he has ever killed. His biggest enemies then form into one super monster.
Hellboy the Dark Knight. Hellboy watches the new Batman and goes around pretending he is Batman.
Hellboy 3, The Philedelphia Story. After a few years of living the life. Hellboy gets AIDS and someone deliberately misplaces his paperwork and gets fired. After that an epic legal battle ensues.
Communists unleash Pandora's Box. Now Hellboy and Co. must team up with Vatican specialists in a union full of tension and doubt to save the planet.
Hellboy III, where Hellboy digs deep and becomes Hellman.
Hellboys 3 movie plot
What if Hellboys true intentions is not to save humanity but to enslave it, he is taking out anyone that interferes with his plans for total world domination. What better way to make everyone an easier target than to play the role of saviour.
So coming next year to a theater near you
Hellboy 3: The Wrath of a fallen angel.
Earths greatest defender will become its worst enemy.
Hellboy must fight Hybrid Ninja Pirates.
Hellboy 3: The Reckoning. Hellboy, the play-by-my-own-rules paranormal enforcer must team up with a by the book detective (played by Ben Stiller) to stop crime, save babies. At first, they disgust each other, but over time, they learn to appreciate. The detective comes to love Hellboy's on the fly methods whilst Hellboy admires the detectives Stillerness. However, will their combined powers be enough to stop the baddest drug-running Deadite that the Southside has ever seen?
Guest appearance of Scarlett Johansson wearing a thong.
Lonewolf, I love your script, but how would it end?
The Men in Black bust a cap in Hellboy's big red ass.
* Bloodychess
The Men in Black bust a cap in Hellboy's big red ass.
LMAO
Hellboy teams up with Ted Danson (Hellboy look-alike), after his two newly born children who turn out to be siamese twins (reincarnated Jesus and Belial from Basketcase) get kidnapped by the Bureau of Paranormal Research, out of spite for Hellboy quitting the team. Ted Danson turns out to be a double agent working for the Bureau in order to destroy him before he ends all mankind. After Hellboy undoubtedly annihilates Danson he finds out from Liz that his children were Danson's all along.
So is there a winner????
Kay. Contest is officially closed. I'm reading over the entries and giving them to Frog Baby, our judge.
Fuck, I just have to say. We here at OMGHorror have read through all the entries and this is going to be a difficult decision. Many of these kick a lot of ass. We'll announce a winner later today.
The votes are in, hoipolloi1988 wins! Congrats.
holy crap are you serious.. sweet!
so what do i do now, email you my address?
I actually really liked the romance/character aspects of the movie (but y'know I'm a girl, so I guess they were there for me), and was less keen on the action aspects, which felt sort of tired for the most part, and Nuana as a villain was just lame as hell. I think what it comes down to is that there were really two movies going on there; they didn't really jive together at all so you ended up liking either one or the other.
But we can all agree at least that the creatures and the visual spectacle were fucking spectacular. The Goblin King's "Friend" with the whole angel of death motif is hands-down one of the greatest movie creatures I've ever seen.
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