|
U.S 2008
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Selma Blair, Luke Goss
Running Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
Release Date: July 11th 2008
Distributor: Universal Studios
Review of the Movie
|
|
|
 |
HELLBOY II:
THE GOLDEN ARMY |
| Storyline: |  |
| Cast: | |
| Ending: |  |
Overall:
 |
|
|
It's so hard being a sequel...that's probably a sequel would have said if it were a person. Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a sequel. A sequel to the 2003 Hellboy which has lifted up the Dark Horse Comics company's prestige and put the company back on the map of battle among Dark Horse, Marvel and DC comics. Dark Horse have released several comic books which have been the source of inspiration for many notable movies, Hellboy itself, The Mask, Sin City, 300 and Pathfinder among others. And this time Gullermo Del Toro was again wearing the director hat and with previous experience in making spectacular movie like Pan's Labyrinth, the fans surely hope for an even better Hellboy.
In Hellboy II, the human world once again in great danger. It is said that a long time ago there's a war between the humans and the magical creatures (elf, ogre and goblin), caused by man's desire to expand their territory. The king from the magical world, King Balor orders the master of the Goblin blacksmith to build unstoppable mechanical Golden Army. These 4900 heartless soldiers (a kind of robot) can only be controlled by the one who wears the magical crown. The kind-hearted King Balor, however, regrets his decision for having seen human being massacred ruthlessly. King Balor eventually forms a truce between the magical world and the human world, much to Prince Nuada's disagreement. Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) finally arrives at the present time in the city where Hellboy (Ron Perlman) lives. He carries his own mission to find the missing piece of the crown and to complete the process of the destruction of mankind. Hellboy, the fishman Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), Hellboy's girlfriend the firestarter Liz (Selma Blair) and Johann Krauss (Seth Macfarlane) have to stop Prince Nuada before he brings back to live the Golden Army and at the same time our heroes, especially Hellboy, have to get used to their newly-gained popularity/notoriety.
Hellboy is still played by the seasoned actor Ron Perlman, an actor who has been appeared in 51 movies before Hellboy II and has also voiced many characters in many movies. And his 2nd appearance as Hellboy, he looks more comfortable in his make up and character. But strangely, almost every time Ron appears on screen, his dialogue and character make Hellboy feels more like a comedy instead of a superhero one. It's not a bad thing, on the contrary, it's a good thing to bring some fun to the already uninspiring storyline, at least compared to the first Hellboy. The Storyline in Hellboy II seems to have lost the wholesome touch of genuineness and pure entertainment value. I'm definitely not saying that the story sucks, in fact if you think more about it, you'll sense that it touches the up-to-date social awareness of deforestation. Nevertheless the story is far from being intense...
However, although far from being intense, Hellboy II movie is full of spectacular visual effects, and even though to me it's just a pretty make-up for a bland story, but I gotta admit...The filmmakers, Mike Mignola and Guillermo Del Toro have superb imagination in their mind, umm better make that highly creative imagination. The scenes are full of astonishingly beautiful and unique characters...but the one that appeals to me the most, is the scene where it shows the aftermath of Hellboy battling the tree-creature...drop-dead breath-taking and beautiful...
And the creatures are just whoa…!, I thought there would never be any freakier and weirder character after Hellboy himself and Abe Sapien, duh I was wrong, wait until you see Johann Krauss the new hero in Hellboy II. Finally speaking about the jokes, this superhero movie is full of light jokes, at one point Hellboy is entertaining but on the other hand, it's just not satisfying to see superhero movie that is so light in tone. Hellboy I has also some funny scenes, but it serves solely to complete the intriguing storyline and not take over the whole atmosphere.
Those are the reasons why is not easy being a sequel, particularly a sequel to Hellboy I. The sequel bears responsibility to satisfy the fans’ expectation and to be better than the first and concerning Hellboy II as a sequel, the first entry of Hellboy was much more interesting. However as a movie on its own and by overlooking Hellboy I, the truth is Hellboy II: The Golden Army is one hell of a fantastically fanciful movie.
© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com
|
| |
|
Home > Superhero & Fantasy Home > Hellboy II: The Golden Army
|
