Hellboy II: The Golden Army

[Pumpkin_King]

Originally Posted by soberman

Batman movies, as I said, were in the state Hellboy finds himself in presently, right down to the animation parallel. However, as time went on and people in Hollywood realized that Batman was an iconic figure, and that the public responds to the darker, noir-ish facets of the chatracter and his psyche just fine, as these were all fascinating aspects to both him and his mythos, and served the character well. Subsequently, we no loger have to cringe as Mr. Freeze threatens to "kick some ice". Thank God.

Comparing Hellboy to Batman is something I've done myself in the past. I just hope that HB doesn't go down the same road that Bats did. As much as I like Mr. Burton, he dragged Batman through the mud around the second movie.

Originally Posted by soberman

The only negative review I've seen so far came from Christian Science Monitor, which cited the film for being too loud, "on-steriods", "fetid", etc. - cramming too much of a good thing into one film. This view totally flies in the face of posters here who claim it is "slow" in places. I myself think the truth lies between the two, and that the film is paced rather well. If anything, I wish it had more so-called "slow" moments of character exploration. Being a freak myself, and a sick-twisted one at that, I would have enjoyed the chance to comisserate.

Everyone in my family hated those slow parts, especially the one part...midway through, with the singing? Everyone hated that, but I loved it. It was so delightfully weird that I couldn't help but laugh in the face of the strangeness. Not to say it was out of place; it was put in at the right time, it was just a weird scene in-and-of itself. I guess I'm a freak, too.

[Frank'n'stay]

I don't think that we're freaks! IMO, we all just enjoy a little bit of character development. Characters develop in deferent ways, and one of the main ways Red develops is through humor.

I suppose that I want to see this movie after all...

[Dartheyegouger]

I thought Hellboy II was a huge let down. I thought the first one was OK, and was amazed at what Del Toro did with Pan's Labyrinth, so maybe I was expecting a little too much. However, I don't think I was. To start off, the script was terrible, with no new character development, even for Johann Kraus who was a new character (for the movie). The plot in Hellboy II made no sense. So Nuada wants to kill all of mankind because they forgot about him? That's it? The movie probably would have been better if they actually used a story from the comics. The only positive things about this movie were the monster designs and the fight between Hellboy and Kraus.



I want my 2 hours and $10 back.

[The Conqueror]

I liked it. It was filled with everything I want in a movie.

[Tiberius]

I finally got to see this and though it wasnt what I would expect with an occult focused comic, it was really entertaining and well done. Since I have recently played alot of Changeling (Whitewolf RPG) alot of it hit really close to that (the troll market, the different creatures, the elves, etc) and had a great changeling/faerie feel to it. So as far as supernatural investigation goes, I really loved it.

[soberman]

Originally Posted by Dartheyegouger

I thought Hellboy II was a huge let down. I thought the first one was OK, and was amazed at what Del Toro did with Pan's Labyrinth, so maybe I was expecting a little too much.

I've been a fan of GdT since Chronos. I think a better comparison to HB would be the severely underrated Blade 2.

To start off, the script was terrible, with no new character development, even for Johann Kraus who was a new character (for the movie).

I think the director's cut will alleviate this, but I thought the relationship stuff with Red and Liz that survived was nice.

The plot in Hellboy II made no sense. So Nuada wants to kill all of mankind because they forgot about him? That's it?

No, because they were forgetting about him and his world- the pact they made wherein the humans got the cities and his knid got the forests, but we were encraoching upon the forests in the name of capitalist progress.

The movie probably would have been better if they actually used a story from the comics.

Welcome to the world. Where would Star Trek be now if they had just once commissioned a film based on any one of a large number of best-selling novels? William Gibson wrote a script for an Alien sequel once, but it was never made? Hollywood is, as I've said, a strange place.
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now playing: nothing

[johnny139]

Still haven't seen this (or the first one), but I'm just popping in to say that tonight at 8:00 PM and 9:30 PM, Cartoon Network is airing the two animated movies, Sword of Storms and Blood and Iron. They're great movies, the latter moreso than the former, and most of the movie cast returns to do the voicework. Ron Perlman as Hellboy himself, of course.

So, if you have nothing better to do, tune in.

EDIT: Oh, we have threads for both of them... well, rather than bump, I'll give a link for those who want to comment: Sword of Storms; Blood and Iron

[boom]

I finally saw this with my son today and we both dug it. The action was cool, especially the final battle with the Golden Army and the Elf prince (whatever his name was).

Spoiler Alert!

I especially loved Hellboy and Abe singing that Barry Manillow ditty in a drunken stupor. I'm sure most didn't, but I thought that it was just goofy enough to be funny .

A good afternoon dalliance.

[NecroBlade]

The singing was hilarious, but the pacing around that scene really ruined it for me. I couldn't think anything but "This is going sooooo sloooooow, and they chose to break it up with some comedy??"

I absolutely loved the Golden Army/Prince Duel scenes. But it was too slow in the beginning and too much of a comedy, IMO.

[Agent Minivann]

I saw this over the weekend. I enjoyed it. It was not as good as the first. Hellboy just didn't have the charm he did in the first one. I got a kick out of the drunken ballad and the locker room scene. I was disappointed that they didn't really go to the Giant's Causeway, not even a CG one.

OK, the complete geek in me totally wants to see the elf prince take on Darth Maul in a fight to the death.

[Ugly-Caco]

The movie was great overall. I haven't read the comics (which gives my opinion less credit) but what I don't like in the movies is that Hellboy is pampered in the field. I don't like the MIB/Krav Maga Agent side kicks. Maybe in part 3 it wouldn't be this way since they went rogue.

Kickass film and its better than the first one IMO.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Boy was this film fantastic!
If time allows, I always go back and watch a second viewing of an enjoyed film with the commentary. Del Toro was immensely pleased with this film and I totally agree. It was a solid adventure film that left behind the gore and grimness of the Hellboy I.
It was also good to get passed the origins of Hellboy and the other characters the first film had to set up.

The golden army sequence at the end was fantastic.
I stopped following the comic as I was displeased with the writing, so I never got to know Krauss's character that well. Does he come off the same in the comics? I remember reading the issues when he first arrived and don't recall his personality as it is in Hellboy II.


The prince makes me think how cool an Elric film would be!