Hell Is For Children; ‘Hellboy II’ Is For Hardcore Fans
After the amazing birthday afternoon/evening I spent with my friends on Saturday I wasn’t really expecting much more … but David surprised me with an 80-minute massage at Kinara yesterday afternoon which was the PERFECT way to round out the weekend. He and I spent the afternoon at the spa and then grabbed an early dinner at Rock Sugar before heading out to see Hellboy II: The Golden Army last night:
Okay, right off the bat let me stress that I loved the movie, I think that Guillermo del Toro is an amazingly talented movie director and I would recommend this movie to any fans or potential fans of Hellboy. All that said, I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the way the story itself was portrayed. Let’s get the negatives out of the way first … I didn’t at all care for the “flashback” scene at the start of the film that showed Hellboy as a little kid. It felt really hokey and cheesy. I get that it was the way to feature his father the professor but I didn’t care for it … I did like the storybook retelling of the origins of the golden army tho. From that point on, I wasn’t really on board with the way the tale was told … unlike the first Hellboy movie, this one seemed less serious (I realize it’s a comic book movie but I loved the tone of the first movie). This one felt really … forced … and too obviously trying to be cute. Other than that, tho, I loved the rest of the film. The creatures were so cool … del Toro is such a visionary director. His creatures seem to have that George Lucas feel to them … with enough movies under his belt, his brand of creatures will be very recognizable as his own. I really liked the tooth fairies and the baby tumor — that actually made me guffaw out loud in the theater. The special effects were stunning … that Nature God that attacked NY as just beautiful. del Toro has a vivid imagination … it’s a wonder being able to see his creations come to life on the big screen.
Again, I wasn’t all that happy with the telling but the movie was very good. David didn’t see the first movie and isn’t at all familiar with Hellboy and he enjoyed it for the most part. Fans shouldn’t miss it … but new folks who might be interested should see the first movie before this one. It’s not that you need to see the first one to understand the second one … it’s just that the first one will really make you a fan, maybe moreso than just seeing this new movie might.
I still get to enjoy David’s company for one more night tonight … not sure if we’re going out at all … this will be my last week here in LA before I head off to NY and then we head off to London and Paris for my birthday trip :) Woot!
Tags: 'Hellboy II: The Golden Army'
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July 14th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I can’t wait to see this movie!! Yea, I am happy to hear you liked it! Um Hello…Paris and London? FUN!!!!
July 14th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Catching the flick tonight! whoot!
July 14th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
just wanted to say that I absolutly agree with your review of the movie, the dialogue and just the whole feel of the movie was too lovey. What was great about the first was Hellboy’s rough, hard-edge attitude and the more sinister tone of the movie, this sequel would fair much better had they stuck to what worked. But still a great movie :)
July 14th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
to long, not enough action, and toooooo longggggggg!
hb2 was a boring love story.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:18 am
I can’t wait to see it, looks beautiful.
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July 15th, 2008 at 8:32 am
I was so looking forward to the movie, but I thought it was a huge let down. Visually, it was stunning, but the dialog and character development were awful – it felt like a live-action cartoon.