Hellboy II: The Golden Army

[VinnyT]

I caught the midnight release, and the film was pretty good, but it has it's moments where you know that it's just not going to touch the first one.

Mainly, the screenplay bogs it down, even with some shining moments (and one particular line that hopefully becomes the "I Drink Your Milkshake" of 2008) the movie starts off with relationship jokes, and I was actually worried it was gonna be like National Treasure Two, but it fixes it around the ending.

So, see it if you saw the first one, if not maybe wait for the cheap theater, or DVD.

[TheRyno]

A week or so ago, I finally watched Hellboy for the first time through. To me, it was pretty good but nothing mind-blowing. So I probably won't see Hellboy 2 right away. But my big beef with it beyond that is that it looks more like "Hellboy vs Pan's Labyrinth" instead of an actual Hellboy movie.

By the way, I hope nothing becomes the next "I Drink Your Milkshake" of anything. Ever.

[VinnyT]

I meant it as in the movie catch-phrase of 2008, not being overdone and quickly boring.

Spoiler: Click here to view

I'm not a baby, I'm a tumor.

[Pepsi]

Not sure what you are talking about VinnyT. Thought it took everything great from the first one, got rid of the annoying crap, and added even more awesomeness.

I loved it very much.

[HeartlineTwist]

I really don't think that line is going to be the "I Drink Your Milkshake" of 2008.

The movie was really enjoyable. I completely forgot that Seth McFarlane was doing the voice of the new character. That made me laugh when the credits started rolling. But (this may not be fair because I'm not familiar with the source material at all) it seemed a lot like the movie delved deeply into "HEY LOOK I ALSO DID PAN'S LABYRINTH" mode. Not that that's a bad thing, but I just don't remember that happening in the first one, especially to as great of an extent as it did.

It was really good, though. Good superhero movie in the action/comedy vein of superhero movies. The inevitable third one (assuming it deals with Hellboy's destiny) is going to be REALLY interesting.

[VinnyT]

This was a new story and had little to do with the comics, so that gave Del Toro full permission to fill it with his own creations. I was kind of distracted by it though especially around the end when you just wanted to get to the final fight and they just kept shoving monsters in your face.

Spoiler: Click here to view

But the quote I'm talking about was when Strauss is talking to this baby and says "Good baby" and the baby just says "I'm not a baby, i'm a tumor." then it snuggles closer to the creature who just holds it like a child anyway. At least my whole theater couldn't stop laughing and it was the moment that the movie gained steam and got to be pretty awesome.

And Hellboy and Abe sing Barry Manilow drunk, and it is amazing.

[Gabriel]

To be fair to Del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth was an amazing film that didn't reach the audience it deserved due to the fact that it was not filmed in English.

The visuals in Labyrinth were breathtaking, and because so many people stayed away from it, I don't have a problem with him borrowing from something he created for a film that will reach a much larger audience. If anything, it will convince some people to go back and give Pan's Labyrinth a chance, which is only good news in my book.

Hellboy 1 leaned more towards horror, whereas 2 leans more towards the fantasy side of things. I've never read the comics, so it doesn't bother me in the least that he's taken source material and expanded upon it greatly.

[StevenRichardsRules]

I dunno. I liked it, but it felt like it dragged for a while with all the relationship shit.

[TheRyno]

I haven't seen it myself but everyone I know that has seen Pan's Labyrinth hated it, mostly because it was marketed towards children as a fantasy film. And the fact that most of the villains in Hellboy 2 look modeled after the styles of creatures in Pan's Labyrinth actually makes me wanna see it less.

Yes, be whisked away to a far away land where magic reigns and its cool to jack people in the face with a bottle.

[Gabriel]

I haven't seen it myself but everyone I know that has seen Pan's Labyrinth hated it, mostly because it was marketed towards children as a fantasy film. And the fact that most of the villains in Hellboy 2 look modeled after the styles of creatures in Pan's Labyrinth actually makes me wanna see it less.

Yes, be whisked away to a far away land where magic reigns and its cool to jack people in the face with a bottle.

Pan's Labyrinth was marketed to children? That's news to me. All the commercials I saw for it showed the fantasy aspects, but also made it very apparent that they were just sideplots to a story that takes place during a war.

It's a wonderful film, and one that everyone should see. Sounds to me like the people you know were expecting a children's fantasy film and got something far more complex, and they didn't like it because they wanted children's fantasy.

[The Mask of Norro]

... yeeaaaah, wasn't Pan's Labyrinth rated R? Not exactly a movie for kids, I specifically remember Del Toro saying he made the movie as a "fairy tale for adults" or something. There are scenes in that movie that would give children nightmares

[Hellfire]

Just got back from seeing it and I actually liked it a lot. I went into the movie theater with pretty low expectations due to the fact that I didn't like the first one very much for some reason. This one seemed to have more action and some pretty funny one liners. I haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth yet, but I thought that the characters in this looked different, which I liked. I'll definitely go see a third movie if it happens and I'm going to have to watch the first movie again and reassess my opinion on it.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Fuck anyone who hated Pan's Labyrinth, it was absolutely brilliant. Fuck anyone who hasn't seen it too, because they need to see it. It was one of my favourite, if not my favourite movie last year.

Anyway, I believe I need to see Hellboy II if it's anything like Pan's Labyrinth. I don't mind if there's some liberations taken from the comcs, because Del Torro seems to know what he's doing. Plus, the original, although not phenomenal, wasn't awful either, so I'll give this a chance.

I dunno when I'll give it a chance, because of The Dark Knight coming out on Friday, but I will definitely give it a chance.

Edited July 14, 2008 by Will.

[Fanku Kaibutsu]

I saw it tonight, loved it. I think it's better than the first, mostly due to Del Toro's visual influence. I'm heavily considering picking up a volume or two of the comic.

I'm intensely curious to know how anyone could've thought of Pan's Labyrinth as a 'children's' fantasy movie when all of the advertising I saw for it screamed 'twisted and dark' fantasy.

[Chris the Human]

Am I the only person on earth who thought the original was grossly overrated to begin with? I enjoyed it, but it wasn't so remarkable that I'm racing out to see this one for any reason other than it being a mindless comic book adaptation.

[Herr Matzat]

Bum Review (might contain spoils, but might also be a phantasy)

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolink...s/683-hellboy-2

[TheRyno]

Ok, well maybe it wasn't "marketed" as a children's fantasy film, but that didn't stop stupid parents from thinking it was.

From imdb.com:

After the first week movie theaters in Mexico had to place signs over the movie posters warning about the graphic violence as parents were taking small children to see it.

And this Photoshopped poster from Something Awful pretty much sums it up.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Well, then, parents are fucking idiots.

[livid]

Actually, the first bit of trailers and advertisements did indicate that it was more family-friendly than it actually. I remember seeing a preview for it in theaters and didn't actually get the gist of it was about until closer to it's actual release date.

[Skummy]

So, let's dredge this up, as I went to a pre-showing doohickey of it tonight.

I liked it. An awful lot. I didn't enjoy the first film at all, thought it was a load of sub-Spawn tosh, quite frankly, dreadful storyline and a real jarring juxtaposition of styles, never really knowing what it wanted to be, but this was the most fun I've had at the cinema in ages. It was very obviously Del Toro (not necessarily always a good thing), and parts of the film dragged on needlessly (the final battle scene, for example) or just seemed utterly superfluous, but it's easily forgotten because so much of it was just great entertainment. Aside from the dull romance between Hellboy and Liz, any scene dedicated to character development was genuinely great fun and often very amusing, and Johann Krauss was a great addition to the misfit heroes, and aside from one or two duff lines stayed consistently amusing throughout - the Three Stooges routine in the locker room being a particular highlight.

Oh, and the Hellboy/Abe singalong was hilarious, and I'm still not quite sure why.

Basically, I went in with very low expectations, but I came out damn happy with what I'd just seen. Worth seeing, no doubt. I'd go so far as to say skip the first film altogether and go straight in with this one.

Edited August 5, 2008 by Skummy