When a renegade prince from the mythical world starts
a rebellion against humanity, it's up to Hellboy to stop him. ACTION/FANTASY
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Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)Written and Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Starring Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Selma Blair, Seth MacFarlane, Jeffrey Tambor, Luke Goss, Anna Walton, Brian Steele Sequel to 2004's Hellboy Based on characters from Dark Horse Comics Oscar Nominations - Best Makeup |
Hellboy II: The Golden Army is just as good as the first film, if not more so. It ups the creature effects substantially, allowing Guillermo del Toro to show off his talents with a mythical realm of elves, goblins, trolls, and all sorts of bizarre creatures. Ron Perlman continues to own every scene as the title character of Hellboy, although this time he has an equally charismatic villain to match wits with.
The villain for this sequel is the elven Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) who wants to unleash the invincible Golden Army upon the world to take it back from humanity. Goss delivers an excellent performance that hearkens back to his role as Jared Nomak in Blade II (also by del Toro). He plays Nuada as an almost sympathetic character who has been betrayed by humanity and wants only to allow his own people to rule the lands that are rightfully theirs. The backstory that leads up to the events in the film is worthy of a film in its own right. I am very glad that Rupert Evans did not reprise his role as Myers. He was the most boring character in the first film and his replacement, Johann Krauss, is a great addition to the team. Krauss is a German ghost voiced by Seth MacFarlane who helps up the comedy factor and provide some good one-liners for Hellboy. This film helps further develop characters we grew to love from the first film, mostly Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), who goes through a bit of an emotional journey of self-discovery through the film. Overall, it astounds me that this franchise has not been given a third film. The first two are virtually flawless and continuously entertaining to watch. |