Kevin's Watch

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hellboy_2_the_golden_army/


Sounds good; I'm going to try to see it this week.

Though I intend to go, I'm afraid I might miss Hellboy at the theater. My wife is having surgery soon and I'll be with her during the recup. That's all we're going to be focused on for a few weeks. If HBII is still at the theater after all of this blows over I might get a chance.

It was pretty good, although there were a couple of scenes that moved the movie along too quickly and too conveniently.

I enjoyed it, though not as much as the first film. I liked that it was possible to see the villain's point of view, even if I ultimately disagreed with his actions.
(Spoilering out my next comment - it doesn't give anything material away, but might deflate one's enjoyment, and I hate when that happens for a movie I am determined to see.)

Spoiler

I didn't think there was enough discord within the group - the plot is very straighforward, and the method for eventual success is demonstrated pretty early on.

Even with those criticisms, I still enjoyed the film, and hope it is successful enough to engender at least one more sequel.

dw

Just rewatched the 1st one yesterday. That's actually pretty good comic book story! I enjoyed it a lot more than the first time I saw it. I'm looking forward to the sequel, though I'm saving my theater money for Dark Knight. Too many good movies this summer!

julie and i just saw it. loved it! julie liked it enough to ask to see the first. i do wish they had included the Torch of Liberty in the origin story though.

It was awesome.

Hellboy 2 is just another reason why Ron Perlman kicks so much ass.

City of Lost Children is another reason.

JazFusion wrote:It was awesome.

Hellboy 2 is just another reason why Ron Perlman kicks so much ass.

Definitely. Great movie!

It wasnt as good as I wanted it to be, but it wasnt as bad as I feared, Ill buy it when it hits DVD.

I was going to see it tonight, then realised we don't get it for two weeks yet. Grr.

Got Hellboy II on dvd a few days ago and finally watched it yesterday. I enjoyed it though it left me feeling a little disappointed. I can't really say why. Just seemed like something was missing and I couldn't place it.
Thankfully I can watch it as many times as I want so....

Spoiler

Question: After Hellboy cracked open Dr. Krauss' helmet and Krauss went vapor, while he attacked Hellboy with the locker doors...I would think that after getting popped the second or third time, taking one step to the left to avoid any further impacts would have been logical.
However I did smile when the fourteenth or fifteenth smack in the face produced a Hellboy shaped dent in one of the doors.

Finally watched this on the DVD I got for christmas, heh.

Good film, I like it when a fantasy story at least tries to look as though it has a fleshed out mythology behind it (implying it is often better than trying to actually explain it, too). Guillermo del Toro seems to be pretty good at this kind of thing.

Couple minor issues:

Spoiler

1. Sometimes it seems like a couple of lines of dialogue here and there would improve some places where explanation is lacking. When Krauss first shows up I get the impression you're supposed to realise what he is immediately, rather than infer it from the following scenes. Similarly Krauss' resignation at the end didn't seem to fit his established character - I could buy him havig a change of heart and letting them go after the prince, but not his complete turnaround.

2. In the scenes immediately following the troll market, Prince Nuada completely ignores his sister. He doesn't talk to her, doesn't try to capture her or take the crown fragment, just talks to Hellboy. There's barely any acknowledgement she's there.

This film is a travesty. While the first film has it's issues (too many villains/monsters and just a horrible and stupid ending), I thought it did a phenomenal job as far as art direction - it felt like a comic book story come to life. This sequel has absolutely no character depth at all, it's just an action version...kind of like, say, a film called, The Shawshank Supremacy would be. It's shallow and stupid, but it's also fun...and the villain is great. The character of Hellboy was much of what drew me to the first film. (sigh) Even pearlmen's makeup is a little different, more glossy, seems to match the overall changes. As an action/fantasy film, Hellboy II is decent, but leave your brains and hearts at the door as that's all it is.

jacob Raver, sinTempter wrote:This film is a travesty. While the first film has it's issues (too many villains/monsters and just a horrible and stupid ending), I thought it did a phenomenal job as far as art direction - it felt like a comic book story come to life. This sequel has absolutely no character depth at all, it's just an action version...kind of like, say, a film called, The Shawshank Supremacy would be. It's shallow and stupid, but it's also fun...and the villain is great. The character of Hellboy was much of what drew me to the first film. (sigh) Even pearlmen's makeup is a little different, more glossy, seems to match the overall changes. As an action/fantasy film, Hellboy II is decent, but leave your brains and hearts at the door as that's all it is.

Funny how this review starts out saying it is a travesty, then ends with "it's decent." And I didn't really expect to be Touched By A Hellboy. But I've not gotten around to seeing it yet, but I would like to. So is it decent or a travesty?

Cagliostro wrote:

jacob Raver, sinTempter wrote:This film is a travesty. While the first film has it's issues (too many villains/monsters and just a horrible and stupid ending), I thought it did a phenomenal job as far as art direction - it felt like a comic book story come to life. This sequel has absolutely no character depth at all, it's just an action version...kind of like, say, a film called, The Shawshank Supremacy would be. It's shallow and stupid, but it's also fun...and the villain is great. The character of Hellboy was much of what drew me to the first film. (sigh) Even pearlmen's makeup is a little different, more glossy, seems to match the overall changes. As an action/fantasy film, Hellboy II is decent, but leave your brains and hearts at the door as that's all it is.

Funny how this review starts out saying it is a travesty, then ends with "it's decent." And I didn't really expect to be Touched By A Hellboy. But I've not gotten around to seeing it yet, but I would like to. So is it decent or a travesty?

Personally, I thought it was better than the first one. Neither one was something I will go out of my way to watch again, but, I think they are both worth the time it took to watch them once.

The first film isn't an action film...it's more of a fantasy drama. So, umm....err, the travesty is that the sequel went from that to a straight out action flick.

Hellboy's a comic adaptation. Since action and drama are basically what comics are all about, I think it's fair to call both Hellboy films action and drama. I'm a comic collector and have been since the mid-70's, so I tend to be very critical of comic adaptations. But the Hellboy (and Mystery Men) movies have been the exception, in that I never read the comic. IIRC, Hellboy's first appearance was in John Byrne's Next Men, and I did have that issue, but I never read anything other than that one story, which I've long since forgotten. So, I got to enjoy the Hellboy movies for what they are, without any preconceptions that could have ruined it (like the costume change in Catwoman almost certainly would have, had I chosen to see it). That being said, this first Hellboy was better than the 2nd one. I think it boils down to this: the bad guys in the first movie were so nasty and evil that I thoroughly enjoyed watching Hellboy & co kick their asses. Hellboy offered me a villain whose main crime was his inability to sit idly by and watch his people fade into obscurity. He did bad things, but it was sad to watch him lose everything that was important to him as his life bled out of him. Still, I enjoyed both movies. And HB II had a ninja Elf and thousands of indestructible robots, which should never go unappreciated.

Well said.

hoping for a Hellboy III - maybe with the Torch of Liberty.