Hellboy II: The Golden Army is once again directed and written by Guillermo del Toro, based on the Mike Mignola comics, and stars Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, and Doug Jones, returning as their characters from the first film. Nuada Silverlance, the exiled prince of magical creatures, is on the hunt for control of the lost Golden Army; the BPRD assigns Hellboy and his team to investigate the matter, all while Liz is contemplating how to tell HB he’s going to be a dad.
While the first film was well received, it wasn’t quite the box office juggernaut that Sony would have liked; considering they had released Spider-Man 2 a few months after the first Hellboy, they didn’t see much use in renewing del Toro’s contract for a sequel. Thankfully, after getting massive critical acclaim for Pan’s Labyrinth, Universal Pictures came to the rescue and bought the rights to secure a sequel, this time with creator, Mike Mignola, involved with the script. Instead of adapting one of the already established storylines in the comics, Mignola and del Toro both took inspiration from mythical folklore to craft a brand new story the film version of Hellboy.
With this extra creative freedom, it ended up being the right decision; Hellboy II: The Golden Army is both a damn good sequel, and I would put it among my favorite comic book movies. For starters, the production looks fantastic; the catacombs and troll village all feel lively, with something interesting to notice. The end fight with the titular army is exciting, if a little short. The rest of the action is better, with less CGI and more stunt work; the fight with Winkey and then the climactic duel at the end, it’s impressive that even in all that makeup and prosthetics, Ron Perlman managed to prove that being in your 50’s couldn’t stop you.
The returning cast is just as good as they were before, including John Hurt as Prof. Bruttenholm in the opening flashback scene; it also helps that the exposition for the villain’s motives, are told through a bedtime story, so it in no way feels forced. Hurt still brings that humble presence about him, and once again, makes me really miss this actor a lot more, even for the briefest of moments.
Ron Perlman as Hellboy is just as good, if not better than the first film, and this time he’s got the full spotlight. With Rupert Evans not returning, the character of Meyers was written out and definitely for the better. With the subplot of Hellboy becoming a dad with Liz, it made more sense for her to take on the human partner role, since she literally IS his partner. There's also Hellboy's dilemma of obtaining acceptance in society, and his living style affecting their relationship, so the empathy with these characters is still just as prominent. The lovable sidekick role is now also passed onto Doug Jones as Abe Sapien, this time with HIS voice and not David Hyde Pierce’s. I also love how he has his own love life problems as well, as they protect Princess Nuala (Anna Walton), giving him more development, especially with Hellboy. My favorite scene is when they get drunk and start singing their love life grievances to each other. It shows that despite having these adult creatures from beyond our world, they drink away their problems, like a couple of college kids.
In terms of new characters, the biggest addition is Johann Krauss. Unlike the first film with Abe, Johann was intentionally dubbed over by Thomas Kretschmann (Baron Strucker from Age of Ultron), but del Toro felt that his vocal performance wasn’t quite matching with the suit effects; so his voice was provided by Seth MacFarlene, in his feature film debut. I've discussed that McFarlane's humor can be very hit or miss, but he can be great under someone else's direction. While also being fluent in German, McFarlane adds onto John Alexander and James Dodd's body performances, giving Johann the perfect timing with each response, and never does his vocal performance drop into Family Guy territory (even del Toro had to be sure of that to him). Luke Goss as Prince Nuada is a vast improvement over Rasputin as the villain; much more to the point, very calculative, and definitely deadly. Major props again to Doug Jones, as the Angel of Death, in all its prosthetic glory; looking back, it really makes me wish Konami let him and Hideo Kojima make Silent Hills, considering the imagery.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a damn good sequel, and easily one of del Toro's top 5 best, if you ask me. The lore is rich and deep, the dialogue and delivery are stronger, the effects and make-up are improved, and the score by Danny Elfman is heavenly.
Rating: A
So with all the improvements towards the effects, the writing, and action, you’re probably asking, why did a third film never happen? Well, it’s sadly once again due to money. The film made double its budget, but unfortunately never saw the proper amount needed for Universal to give the greenlight on it. It also didn’t help that the film was released one week before Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, which went on to be the year’s highest grossing film; and after the disappointing returns they faced with The Incredible Hulk’s distribution a month prior, they just didn’t seem to know how to handle the genre. And despite years of fans pressuring for a third film, del Toro was unable to get a studio to greenlight a third film his way, before going off to work on a different project worth making.
Now the question that remains is, where does Hellboy go from here? Somewhere dark...and stinky...
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