Director Guillermo del Toro delivers a gorgeous alternate reality for Hellboy II, but the story sometimes suffers for the sake of visual effects.
Hellboy II begins with a few sentences and still photos of backstory for Hellboy himself, explaining that he was rescued from Nazis as a young child during World War II and raised as a human despite his horns, tail, and giant stone right hand. His pedigree as Anung Un Rama, a prince of the underworld, surfaces briefly later in the film. The backstory for the movie is presented as a childhood bedtime story, with accompanying fanciful visual effects: a war between Elfkind and Humankind ended with a truce that left an indestructible Golden Army dormant until called upon by a member of royalty bearing all three pieces of a golden crown. Of course, an elf prince is unhappy with the arrangement, and the present-day action begins with his return from exile to collect the three pieces of the crown.
Much of the film rests on the relationships between characters, and some of those relationships work better than others. Hellboy is sweetly devoted to his pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz, while she is unsure about their future together. Hellboy's aquatic pal Abraham Sapien awkwardly falls in love for the first time, with all of the sophistication of a gawky teenager. Prince Nuada and Princess Nuala, the elf twins, seem to be creepily closer than siblings ought to be, and I don't just mean that what hurts one hurts the other. Less convincing is Agent Manning's ineffective blustering and whining at the beginning of the film, or his attempts to ingratiate himself with the new agent, Johann Krauss. The interplay between Krauss and Hellboy provides much of the film's comic relief, and is well done.
Fantastic creatures are everywhere in this film. Some of them are slightly reminiscent of characters from del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, but all of them are stunning. The initial action scene features the introduction of little creatures we later discover are tooth fairies, and I suspect many people will never be able to think of tooth fairies in the same way ever again. An extended scene set in an underground troll market is packed with strange and fanciful beings, and it all works perfectly. There is no doubt that this place and these creatures are real, the illusion is so complete. Even the climactic battle scene with the golden army is rich and beautiful, perhaps the ultimate expression of the steampunk aesthetic. At no point do the visuals disappoint, and at many points they demand a repeat viewing.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
You have time to watch movies?
I agree with your assessment of the script's flaws, but it didn't bother me too much, although the whole thing between humans not liking him seemed forced and didn't go anywhere.
I am curious what you mean by "weak story is a reflection of the source material more than del Toro's ability." del Toro and Mignola worked on the story and del Toro wrote the script. It's not based on any "Hellboy" storyline.
2 - Phillip Winn
El Bicho, I generally catch the late showings of films. I think it was 10pm for Indy 4, 10:40 for Hancock, 10:50 for Iron Man, and 10:30 for The Incredible Hulk, but it was "only" 9:55 for Hellboy II on Saturday night. :-)
By "source material" I simply meant that the graphic novels haven't provided the same level of rich detail that Tolkein's books have. Although I haven't read all of the Hellboy series, the few I've read haven't seemed like the sort of source material that lends itself well to very complex characterization.
In some ways, the simple-mindedness of Red's devotion to Liz is actually nice, even though it's hard to imagine any relationship surviving that sort of pressure.
I'm not sure I managed to adequately how much I enjoyed this film in the the review. In many films, plot problems or story problems ruin the experience for me. In this one, I noted them but didn't really care. It's really a blast!
I think my next movie is a midnight showing of The Dark Knight on Thursday.
3 - Phillip Winn
I need to watch this one again!