Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Year: 2008
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss, Anna Walton, John Hurt, Jeffrey Tambor, Seth MacFarlane


This is the much anticipated sequel to the first Hellboy film also directed by Guillermo del Toro, and most of the original cast have returned as well. For those of you who aren't familiar with Hellboy, here's a quick lesson: he's a child from hell brought to our world by a Nazi follower back in 1944, and was looked after by Professor Broom (John Hurt), who leads the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). In the first film, an adult Hellboy was successful in killing the same man who brought him to Earth and protecting humanity from evil, but his surrogate father Professor Broom was killed.

In this sequel, we begin in 1955 when a young Hellboy listens to a story by his father about a war between man and the elves many centuries ago. The war came to a truce in the end, with man agreeing to live in the cities and the elves shall live in the forests. Cut to present day, where the elven Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) returns from exile to reclaim the earth that his father had given up in honor of the truce. He kills his father and attempts to acquire the three pieces of a special golden crown that will give him control over the indestructible Golden Army, which he plans to use to take over the planet.

Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and his buddies from the BPRD, pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), aquatic empath Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and new member Johann Krauss (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) who is made up of gas that enables him to control inanimate objects of any kind, are called in to stop Prince Nuada's dastardly plans. To do so, they have to protect his twin sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton), who holds the final piece of the crown. Along the way, the team deals with all sorts of problems, including being outed by the press which doesn't go well with their handler, Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor).

Director del Toro once again delivers a film that gives equal measure in terms of action, drama, humour and visual excitement. This time he has brought a bigger set of monsters and creatures that would rival George Lucas' Star Wars universe. But unlike Lucas, del Toro is a better writer in terms of creativity and realism. He manages to inject more depth into his leads and give them more human credibility. You'll laugh as you watch Hellboy and Liz argue and blow up their room literally, or watching Hellboy and Abe get themselves drunk as they listen to Can't Smile Without You while pondering their ill-fated love stories. Classic indeed.

But not to be forgotten of course, is the action. There are many to behold as the BPRD battle fairies, monsters and gigantic plants to save the earth from destruction. del Toro and his production team have certainly outdone themselves in creating a surreal world that is both dark and intoxicating.

The cast perform up to expectations thankfully. This film faces the risk of the visual wow factors overwhelming the characters but luckily the cast stand out in making themselves memorable. Perlman plays the unlikely hero effortlessly, you'd think that he is like that in real life. Blair, Jones, Walton and Goss lend great support too. Goss in particular gets to do more this time around compared to del Toro's other film Blade II.

My only gripe however (yes there is one in fact) is the idea of what Nuada is fighting for. He tells Hellboy that the latter is more in common with him than humankind, and that he shouldn't be protecting them. Nuada fights to reclaim the earth from the greedy men of the earth who do nothing but suck it dry. True indeed, the people fear Hellboy and the BPRD, and the question of whose side they should be on is only skimmed on slightly. If only del Toro had given this argument more time, it would have made a considerable impact at the end of the film. The absence of this made the ending quite hollow.

But then again, perhaps making a fun summer movie is what del Toro and company were aiming for. And for that, they certainly delivered. (4/5)