I just saw the sequel to 2004s Hellboy, a comic adaptation by Guillermo del Toro who also brought us the acclaimed Pan's Labyrinth. I thought the first Hellboy was good but could have been better. It had a good amount of action and humor and not to forget - Hellboy, played by Ron Perlman. But it also had Rupert Evans as agent John Myers who somewhat seemed to play a bigger role in the story than the red guy himself. Which was OK since Hellboy still delivered all the oneliners and action you were hoping for. Still, people thought Myers didn't fit in that well and wanted the focus more on Hellboy himself. Well, in part two, Agent Myers isn't part of the crew anymore. Seacreature Abe returns as well as Selma Blair in her role as the flaming lady Liz. Joining them is a German scientist by the name of Johann Kraus (voiced by Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane) whose special ability is that he actually is made of steam and can even give live to inanimate things. Sort of. Unfortunately, no background to this character is delivered whatsoever, leaving his character somewhat empty, pretty much like the suit he wears. What are they up against? The golden Army.
Or more likely, the people trying to awaken the golden army. And by people I mean prince Nuada, the son of king Balor and brother of princess Nuala, with whom he is deeply connected. What is very well done in the movie is, that he isn't just a typical bad guy who just wants to destroy everything and kill everyone. He actually fights for a cause that in his eyes is right and is comprehendible. So he isn't just plain bad, he is just looking at the world from a different angle. And as pretty much all my friends and I agreed, he is the most detailed character in Hellboy 2.
I wish that could be said of Hellboy himself too. While there is a little flashback to his youth, he remains very shallow. Of course you can argue that in an action flick you don't really need much depth and definitely not for a character such as Hellboy anyhow, but in this case I disagree. Especially when the sequel clearly builds on the mentioned character and tries to give him depth by exploring his personal life and relationship with his girlfriend. Unfortunately, here the movie fails too, because any conflict between Hellboy and Liz that arises, is never really explained or too trivial and therefore feels too unimportant to really be a conflict to begin with. So Hellboy never surpasses the stage of delivering oneliners, which makes it hard to really get attached to this character but ultimately is so vital since the focus is much more him. And many of his lines feel too familiar from the first film.
What really made this movie stand out though were the visuals. First off, I personally would like to thank del Toro for trying to use as little CGI as possible. You can clearly tell, that whenever there was an opportunity to do something without using computer effects, it was done the good ol' fashioned way. A lot of the creatures in the film are masks or puppets. And they just look a lot more realistic. Screw you Lucas! And your army of CGI clones! Second off, the design of the creatures you see in the movie was incredible. Some of the stuff could easily have been straight out of Pan's Labyrinth. And there are so many different kinds of creatures too. The only design I did not like unfortunately, was the one for the golden army. You can see them in the trailer already so I am not spoilering anything, but to me their round shape wasn't threatening at all. We are talking about the meanest, unstoppable, brutal army that this planet has ever seen and then they look like a cross between a sumowrestler and a blowup rubber ball?!
Overall I am disappointed by Hellboy 2. Maybe because of all the great reviews it received prior to release. But then again my friends didn't read any and also said it could have been better. The movie has a lot going for it. The great visuals foremost, but when you strip that away, the plot shows a lot of weak spots. Too soon you know how it will all end. Also the pacing to me felt too slow. Like a rollercoasters that doesn't have a climax. But still, Hellboy 2 has some beauty in it and makes a decent action film, just not a great one though.
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