Review: Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Just saw this last night and loved it. Even the opening credits has more originality in it than most of the turgid fare out there at the moment. Though the German guy's accent vas a liiiiittle too much

Yeah, the backstory bit was great. I love anything with elves, eh. I thought it was 3-4 stars, standard plot and that, Hellboy himself is great, but the CGI was the best I've seen since LotR - unbelievably imaginative - especially that forest elemental type thing, amazingly detailed and looks like something JRR would've dreamed up.

I didn't care for the fishboy-sheelf love sidestory though.

"There was more drama and care in the stop-motion intro about the Elves & Human war than in all three Star Wars prequels."

It was at that moment I knew I was going to throughly enjoy the movie. From the start. Using the wooden puppets to tell the backstory was an absolutely inspired touch.

I will be going to the cinema to see it again, and the DVD will be bought without any reservations.

I can see what you mean, even in that little screenshot. Hope there's no dancing baby.

I thought the troll with the extendable fist was awesome in the market, shaking his busted fist at Hellboy making "Why the fuck you do that?" noises. And the Tooth-Fairy getting uppity when brought back to life, "He says you are angry and not very intelligent".
And the fairies faces when the stone goddess statue is rolling at them.
Each tiny little character, no matter how slight was given a personality and emotions.
Lucas could learn a lot from Del-Toro, having a budget of trillions and using the worlds shiniest CGI doesn't make a good film. There was more drama and care in the stop-motion intro about the Elves & Human war than in all three Star Wars prequels.

The only thing that distracted me was Bros' sister, the Princess. Reminded me too much of Ally McBeal.

Actually, the Elemental was fucking excellent.

Absolutely loved it, cannot find fault with it.
From the Tooth-Fairies attack through to the Elemental and the dozens upon dozens of creatures inbetween. Fantasy summer blockbuster that doesn't patronise the audience in any way shape or form.
As the reviewer says, the characters could all carry a movie. The German Cloud dude is fantastic and I want a movie of just him - any movie where Hellboy is beaten up by locker doors shouting "Jah!" with each clump deserves respect. And the drunken singalong, the troll market, the domestic arguments between Red & Flamegirl.
Batman can brood and write blogs on myspace about how cruel the world can be whilst The Joker waggles his fingers and does the "Whooooo I'm crazy me!" as the crowds flock to The Dark Knight - give me a hungover sarcastic superhero who loves cats, beer & cigars anyday of the week.

"I'm a gonna get me Big Baby"

I loved this film - enough humour and character plot to make it believable. But, damn you Luke Goss - if I wasn't humming "When Will I Be Famous" all Saturday.

Little bit disappointed with the way the plot was wrapped up within the last 20 minutes of the film. Slightly convulted how the person that could heal Big Red, was in the same place they were headed anyway.

"I'm not a baby. I'm a tumour"

Yeah, it's lightweight. It also boasts a variety of creatures I haven't seen since Nightbreed. For that reason alone, it's a five star for me. Some moral ambiguity also raises it above standard blockbuster fare. If I was to level a personal complaint towards it, I think it could have been longer. I simply wasn't bored at any point. GDT basically is the best fantasy film maker around today. Oh a side note, I really don't like the Hellboy comics, and thought the firts movie was lacking, so it's not like I'm a raging fanboy. I just love these types of movies. :D

Was fun to watch, but certainly not five stars worth.

You gotta be quick!

Also fuck you Ali - my review was half-written!

I didn't think it was all that tbh. Not being a comic book fan there's probably loads of detail I wouldn't appreciate, but being a film fan I thought it was just utterly lightweight, and been done countless other times before in equally average films of the same genre.

I'll probably get strung up for this, but I find Del Toro massively over-rated. His style of film is highly recognisable though, which is a good thing as it's distinctive and unique, and there's definitely nothing visually lacking with Hellboy, but you get the feeling they never really put the characters "out there" and take a risk by making it a proper comedy. The dialogue was atrocious for the most part.

Also I can't get over how much Hellboy looks like Ted Danson. It's really quite distracting after a while - you jeep expecting him to end sentences with "Aww Woody", or "Aww c'mon, Larry?"

Me wantee. Me wantee velly much. Weirdly, I've had Hellboy the First on DVD for about five years and have never watched it (well, it's a US disc so involves some fussin') but I really want to. I might do it now.

Nah, can't be bothered. But I love Del Toro and can't think of anyone better to take on The Hobbit. This looks like a fun way to kill a coupla hours.