Movie Info
Movie Name: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Studio: Dark Horse Entertainment
Genre(s): Comic Book/Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): July 11, 2008
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Welcome to the world Hellboy!
Before known time, magical creatures and humans declared a truce and war between the tribes ended. Now, Prince Nuada Silverlance (Luke Goss) believes humanity has broken the truth and hopes to reawaken the legendary Golden Army to regain control of the world. Prince Nuada’s sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) realizes the danger that her brother poses and seeks out help in the form of Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and the BPRD. Hellboy is facing his own problems. Outing himself to the public, Hellboy finds that society might not treat him as kindly as he hoped while his relationship with Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) is also a challenge he never expected. War could be coming to Earth, and Hellboy might be the only chance to stop it.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a comic book adventure film. Following Hellboy in 2004 and two animated features Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006) and Hellboy Animated: Blood & Iron (2007), Hellboy II: The Golden Army received positive reviews and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup.
I thought I was trying out for The Witcher…
I thought I was trying out for the live-action Nightmare Before Christmas…
I liked Hellboy, but I didn’t love Hellboy. I thought it was a fun movie, but the story was hard to get the tone down. It was goofy, action-packed, and full of almost Dad-joke one-liners. Watching Hellboy after seeing the other Hellboy films, it gives the original Hellboy film more depth and makes this Hellboy even better than the first.
The story deals with old gods which is a nice change. Guillermo del Toro and Mike Mignola had looked a bunch of storylines (including old Universal monsters that would have been fun), and I’m glad the Nazi storyline has been switched up. Hellboy is out of place on Earth, and Nuada and Nuala no longer belong there either…it is a story of outsiders and how two different people can face the same problem in different ways.
I’m going to have to Princess Mononoke your ass!
The cast is good. Ron Perlman is Hellboy, and he gets the tone and delivery of the character. Selma Blair’s emo Liz Sherman is a little harder to swallow since she seems too old to have the Goth look still going for her, but I think she handles the character better here without all the melodrama tied to it. It was also good to see Doug Jones who also voiced Abe Sapien this outing (instead of David Hyde Pierce). Jones also doubled as the Angel of Death and the Chamberlain to King Balor. Both Luke Goss and Anna Walton are good as the incestual brother and sister elves and manage to bring sympathy as well. John Hurt has a small returning cameo as Trevor Bruttenholm and Jeffrey Tambor gets a new foil for Hellboy in the form of Johann Krauss who is voiced by Seth MacFarlane but acted by John Alexander and James Dodd.
Hey, Angel of Death! You move a lot like Abe Sapien…
The look and style of Hellboy II: The Golden Army is great. The look and design of the characters like the tree god and the Angel of Death are fantastic and capture the H.P. Lovecraft flavor that the series is emulating. With so many “elves” in the 2000s with Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, I have to say I like the design of the elves from Hellboy possibly the best…years of life can weather a person even if it doesn’t age them the same.
While Hellboy is decent, I think Hellboy II: The Hidden Army found its stride. The comedy, melodrama, and tone benefit from knowing the characters and how they interact together. It is too bad that a proposed Hellboy III by Guillermo del Toro never materialized. Hellboy II: The Golden Army was followed by a relaunch version of Hellboy in 2019, but I wish that the cast and crew would maybe return to finish up the storyline of this series with another Hellboy Animated film…Hellboy deserves it!
Related Links:
Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006)
