*** Official HELLBOY 2: The Golden Army Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.

All HTF member film reviews of "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army" should be posted to the Official Review Thread.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

 

[JonZ]

Heres James Bs review.

He has alot of good things to say about it but has a problem with the end. Minor spoilers with a link in the review to discuss the problems more indepth.....

ReelViews Movie Review

 

[jvasilatos]

Kroenen was such a cool villain, he'll be missed in this one!

JV

 

[Kachi Khatri]

Just before catching this HB-II, check out the following animated prologue which fleshes out the backstory for the sequal.....


Video Hellboy 2 - Prologue - Guillermo, del, Toro - Alice Video Share Your Videos

 

[Quentin]

James B is dead-on about the two cheats at the end. Thing is, I think they could have both been easily dealt with.

Still enjoyed the film, but it does start slow.

My biggest problem with the HELLBOY films though, is that I never get a sense of personal stakes. None of the major characters ever feels in danger or like they might lose something. It may stem from HB's overall cockiness. They try to threaten HB's life in this one...but, it doesn't really work.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

He's dead on with ONE. Nuala and Nuada. The other can be explained away with ease (the crown has to be linked to be destroyed - I made that up, but whatever). They are cheats to allow for character moments, not for narrative cohesion, so I forgive them.

I LOVED the designs in this film. The Golden Army soldiers are spectacular, the puppets at the beginning come from out of Mignola drawings, and the edges and margins are crammed with beautiful looking designs. The film is a feast for the eyes.

 

[TravisR]

According to Box Office Mojo, it made $13 million yesterday and came in at #1 so it looks like my dire prediction was wrong.

Unfortunately, I probably won't get a chance to check it out until next weekend.

 

[Malcolm R]

Not a bad film, but it seems to rip off so many other established franchises that it's a little distracting:

--the beginning with the war between the humans, elves, ogres, and goblins seems right out of LOTR, not to mention the all-powerful crown (a big ring) that grants ultimate power to the possessor. Personally, I was waiting for the "fellowship" to journey to a volcano to toss in the crown.

--as mentioned in some other reviews, the Troll Market seems like the cantina scene in Star Wars or Diagon Alley in HP).

--Also, Seth McFarlane, instead of creating an original character voice for Krauss, seems to simply be mimicking Jeremy Irons from "Die Hard with a Vengeance." I was sure it was JI until I the credits rolled.

I also have to agree with James B's two points, mentioned previously. But so many films today seem to employ such similar lazy, nonsensical scriptwriting. If either of those issues were handled in a logical manner, there wouldn't be much of a movie, apparently.

And I don't even know how the interspecies sex/reproduction between Red and Liz is supposed to make sense. And apparently she's having twins, so I'm sure we'll get one li'l Red and one li'l Liz in HB3.

 

[Ray H]

I didn't really get that at all. Other than the German accent, I didn't hear any of Jeremy Irons' distinctively rich voice in Johann Krauss.

 

[Edwin-S]

The scene where the BPRD head man is complaining to Abe about "Red" looks like it was cribbed directly from Men In Black. The humans struggling with the creatures in the background immediately reminded me of MiB.

 

[Ray H]

I also thought of MIB as well. In fact, the first film sort of reminded me of MIB (secret government agency fighting off crazy creatures), but that scene in the BPRD seemed pretty darn similar.

A few of the inconsistencies with the first film irked me a little. For example, why was the BPRD HQ moved from Newark to Trenton and yet it looked virtually identical? And why not bring back Meyers (or why have him in the first place - actually that's obvious, but still)? Why does Liz have orange flames around her as opposed to the blue flames from the first film?

Oh, and the cross species thing between Liz and Hellboy did bother me a bit, but since none of the characters had a problem with it, I figured I'd just go along with it.

 

[Edwin-S]

Regarding orange versus blue flames. A possible explanation could be that in the first film she in neurotic and out of control; therefore, the blue flames help to reinforce the image of an out of control personality: burning as hot as an acetylene torch.

In this film, she is more centred and confident. She has control of herself and is comfortable with her power. The orange color to the flame could signify that she has become more stable and in control.

It doesn't mean that she is any less destructive when she uses her power, but in this film she actually does have to work at building up to a high level of destructiveness. In the first film, anything could set her off and she had very little control over it.

 

[mattCR]

I really disliked this, actually. The look of it was great, and some of the sequences were good. But the tone of the story was all over the map. The bad guys presented one of the goofiest situations ever. I mean

Was I the only one thinking 'kill the sister' early in the film, the moment we knew what happened to one happened to the other? Or make her comatose or something? And at the end, isn't that basically what happened?

The big problem I had was a problem that seemed to contradict the first movie. I haven't read the comics, so no comment there. But in the first movie, he was given the choice to fulfill his evil destiny or.. and then he broke that and thus, became a man on his own.

And then this:

In the middle section of this film, in the scene with Liz and the Demony/Angel thing, it's just laid out there that yep, none of that in Movie 1 mattered, he's still the one who destroys the world (????)


If that's the case, why bother?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I thought the younger HellBoy looked like Eddie Munster in red with a tail and 1 & 1/2 horns sticking out of his forehead.





Crawdaddy

 

[Patrick Sun]

I thought young Hellboy was played by Freddie Highmore. Hah!

 

[Ray H]

I haven't read the comics either, but from what I got out of it, Hellboy is destined to bring about the apocalypse. It's as simple as that. In the first film, Rasputin tries to get him to do it, knowing the prophecy. Hellboy refuses. But it doesn't change the fact that he's still destined to do it eventually. It can be argued that they should've let Hellboy die, but Liz acted out of love and I'm sure the whole fate vs. free will thing will be agonized over in Hellboy III as Hellboy tries to stop the destruction of the world, knowing that his actions may as well be what brings it about.

 

[Andy Sheets]

I thought the movie was pretty good but I have to admit that the "fear and hated by those they save" aspect was irritating. It was my least favorite thing about the first film (in the comics, it's not an issue because the U.N. awarded Hellboy "honorary human" status in the 50s and he operates openly without issue) and here they went and made it the whole theme of this installment.

I can't be the only person who watched Nuada's scenes and thought Del Toro should be directing an Elric movie instead of The Hobbit

 

[JonZ]

I saw this last night and Im seeing it again with a couple friends today.

First reaction is that it was disappointing. Its fun, but not much more. Alot of the humor fell flat and I thought there were some pacing problems.

About the 2 plot holes - I noticed both as I didnt read the spoilers until this morning.

The first one. When we see the nose bleed, you know how its going to end. That one actually doesnt bother me so much because I can buy not wanting to off yourself unless its you see no other choice.

The second one with the crown bothers me more. Yes it could have been destroyed at anytime, but what also bothered me is how easily Liz was able to melt a magic item.


"The film is a feast for the eyes."

Visually I thought this was SO impressive. With 2 exceptions, I thought the FX were nearly flawless. Liz fireFX and the shot of Hellboy falling towards the car. I wish more directors would use silicon suits. Nuada's beast, visually it really made a difference over completely using CGI for that creature.

IMHO a nice step up from anything Ive seen in a live action film before. I cant think of another film that so beautifully blended FX and live action. In all honesty, I was awed by how this film looked. Not just the design, but with how well FX and live action looked together. It was amazing to see.

This really should be seen on the big screen because IMHO its one of the amazing films ever made as far as FX go.


And Rays explaination to Matts spoiler is pretty much correct. Remember when they were using he special glasses to see things as they really are. When Abe looks at Hellboy he sees the crown and horns. In the comics Hellboys destiny and purpose has come up a few times.

 

[Bob McLaughlin]

Hey, how about some Barry Manilow?! (That scene had the audience in stitches!)

I agree on the points that were made about some of the more derivative scenes, but overall I was entertained by this movie and I would like to see it again. There are some things that don't stand up to close scrutiny and I was expecting a little more at the end...
It would have been more satisfying to see them defeat the entire Golden Army on their own terms of brute force, rather than defeating them on a technicality, which is basically what they did
Overall I would recommend anyone see it who likes del Toro, action, monsters, special effects, etc.

 

[Will_B]

The interplay between Hellboy and Liz was good as usual, and I did enjoy the film somewhat, but, it has become tiresome the way these kinds of movies always end with a big battle on a studio soundstage.

Granted, nearly every part of this film was shot on a soundstage, but you know what I mean -- an elaborately created indoor environment that is obviously a soundstage is par for the course for this kind of film. Tomb Raider had its model solar system, for example, and the same thing here.

Why can't someone come up with a better last act for these films? Something less obvious. Something more dramatic, rather than just simple action?

Also unoriginal was the Troll Market (same market as the BBC's Neverwhere), and yeah, I also thought the SteamGuy was Jeremy Irons.

I enjoyed the new voice of the FishGuy. Much better than the guy from Frasier, simply because the guy from Frasier sounded too much like the guy from Frasier.

Also, on a purely dramatic point, I think that Liz would have been much, much more upset about Hellboy's decision to "out" her (when he outed himself), since she was so fragile in the last movie. Even though she was more in control now that a couple years (?) had passed, suddenly being held up to ridicule again would have been psychologically devastating for her, yet this was treated very superficially.

I think I enjoyed the animated feature in which Hellboy and the team visited a haunted house a bit more than this movie, but, to be fair making a cartoon is probably a lot easier.