hellboy II - The Golden Army Review
Hellboy II – The Golden Army and Blade II have a lot in common. Both are directed by the inimitable Guillermo Del Toro inheriting an existing property boasting a good, some would say excellent, first offering. In both cases Del Toro employs his very specific, sprawling fantasy vision to create a sequel that bests the original in most every way. The connections to Blade II don’t end there. Just as Luke Goss played the physically and psychologically imposing Nomak in that film, Goss here inhabits the equally frightening Prince Nuada. Nuada, like Nomak, is no mustache twirling villain (even if the theatricality of both performances is unmistakable). Goss’ antagonist in both films is at least equally compelling to that of the protagonist. He has a knack for playing these outwardly odious but justifiably angry villains. Nuada and Nomak carry the depth and weight of character where even though you know they must be defeated, you can’t help but sympathize with their plight. This is how villains should be written. I’m the biggest Guillermo Del Toro fanboy you’ll ever meet and thus may be a bit biased, but is there another director with two sequels under their belt better than the original? Sequels where the director wasn’t even involved the first time around? It’s not like sequels are known for their quality. Hellboy II is just pure fun. Not unlike Wesley Snipes with the Blade character (in the first two movies, we won’t speak of the god-awful third film), it’s obvious that Ron Perlman is having an absolute blast. He was born to play Hellboy. The makeup and prosthetics smack of the OG 1990 TMNT film - viewers will quickly forget that the star of the film is a guy in a suit. He’s just...Hellboy. Ditto for Doug Jones’ Abe Sapien. Del Toro chose to work on this film for a reason. His eye for the weirdly beautiful and macabre lends itself, well, beautifully to films of this type that allow him to go nuts and take full advantage of his unceasing imagination. The CGI of this 2008 film also holds up quite well. It’s a shame that doubling the production budget at the box office wasn’t enough for a Hellboy III. Instead we got a Hellboy reboot that no one asked for (or went to see).
Hellboy II receives a score of 8/10 for general audiences and a 9/10 for Del Toro fans. It’s a feast for the eyes from first frame to last.