Hellboy II - The Golden Army

UTTER_FILTH · 7 Aug 2008 at 16:00

Anyone else go to see the special preview of this on Tuesday??? It was showing at Cineworld and Odeon Cinema's..

I have to say I really enjoyed it, it's not as good as Iron Man or The Dark Knight (obviously), but I'd say a lot better than the first.. Lots of action, excellent costume design, some excellent comedy moments (the german ectoplasm guy had me cracking up) and Luke Goss' character kicks ass!!

If I was to criticise anything, it would be there was possibly a little too much comedy, but thats just me being picky..

Anyway, I'd say as long as you dont go expecting Dark Knight storyline/performance (because lets face it, thats pretty much set the bar now), it's a very enjoyable, fun film.. Well worth a look..

jackthezipper · 7 Aug 2008 at 16:01

I thought it was bad, reasonable story but too much comedy i the wrong places + it was really short.

krooton · 7 Aug 2008 at 16:03

I've only seen the trailer, but am really looking forward to some mindless special effects, action and comedy

UTTER_FILTH · 7 Aug 2008 at 16:09

I was made redundant last week, so I watched with the point of view that it was a lot better than watching Jeremy kyle, or some other **** they put on day time telly these days... lol

I wasn't really expecting a great film, just something to keep me entertained for a couple of hours, so the lack of expectation probably helped me enjoy it more..

jackthezipper · 7 Aug 2008 at 16:24

I guess I just felt there was little character developement and it was to short. To me it just seemed like a rushed main plot with one added scene (in the house with the small things) fumbled onto the side of it losesly tied in.

To be fair I don't even recall any of hellboy either.

I loved the first 10 mins of the original wit rasputin, I thought it looked fantastic then I was dissapointed.

Premier · 8 Aug 2008 at 10:37

I caught it at cineworld on Tuesday and was really looking forward to it before hand but came out a bit disappionted.

It wasn't dark enough for me they dumbed down a lot of the story line and seemed to be aiming for a younger audience than the previous film, There were some sections that there was totally no need for.

On the plus points the characters and sets where fantastic but film as a whole was lacking something.

Calabi · 8 Aug 2008 at 11:15

It was a fairy tale and I thought Hellboy was about demons and monsters. There was no bad guy, just some sympathetic guy trying to save his people. The story seemed rushed, events were compressed and too convenient. They had the cliche ending, which has been done in hundreds of movies before. At some points it was a bit too silly. But the effects and visuals were good.

Abraham · 8 Aug 2008 at 12:11

I liked it, thought if anything it's a better watch than hellboy although it's managed to be a worse film somehow. You have to go to watch it with the same attitude as it takes to enjoy Indiana Jones, just pretty low expectations for a plot but enjoy the individual scenes.
They could have made a better film out of the plot they had although it was fairly weak, but they're obviously not trying for the dark gritty market, they're trying for the tongue in cheek, a little bit silly and flamboyant (like indy) market, and i think for that it fits very well.

checjb · 21 Aug 2008 at 09:46

*Be aware, I may have placed spoilers here (by accident) if you've not seen the film.

I was hugely disappointed in HB2. I love HB1 and was expecting more of the same kind of thing but on a larger scale. However, within 2 minutes of the film starting I had a soon-to-be-confirmed bad feeling and fell into playing “Spot where Del Toro copied an idea AKA Spot the film rip-off”.
Examples:

The start story was reminiscent of the start of “The Fellowship of the Ring”, filmed with “The Nightmare Before Christmas” visuals.
The initial walk through BPRD HQ with Abe and Manning was a direct clone of MiB headquarters.
The tooth fairies were just like the small creatures form “Pitch Black”. It was also amusing that, despite the fact that they swarmed the first human agent, and despite their huge numbers, they only attacked Abe etc maybe 2 at a time. The other human agent seemed pre-naturally calm too (until he got killed).
The whole troll markets thing reeked of “Labyrinth” (the David Bowey one, not Pan's Labyrinth)
The googles were a cross between the glasses in “National Treasure” and “Sleepy Hollow”
The troll looked like a “Doctor Who” Slitheen
The rock creature in County Antrim was a clone of the rock monster in “Galaxy Quest”
The gnome(?) reminded me of Hoggle from “Labyrinth”
The elemental’s head also reminded me of Dementor’s head/helmet from “Jingle all the way”.

Overall, the whole film just seemed to have lost that dark edge that made the first film so good. Instead it felt like Del Toro was trying to bring Hellboy to a PG audience, both in tone and in terms of weak, weak "jokes". This was especially apparent during the death of elemental.
I also got the impression he was trying to impress us with unnecessary visuals (it was as if I could already hear his self-congratulatory monologues from a Special Edition DVD extra). His obsession with clockwork mechanisms also got tired really quickly.
And as for the singing… Dear God!
The main problem for me was that within 10 minutes I could see exactly where the movie was going. My wife (a huge HB1 fan) dozed off an hour in.

On the plus side, I thought Luke Goss was excellent and his combat sequences were just awesome.

I’m glad I watched the whole film through though. Now I will never be tempted to waste another 2 hours of my life.

I'm not saying I could do better (I never could) but I did expect a whole lot more from the man who gave us Pan's Labyrinth. End of rant.

-Ad- · 21 Aug 2008 at 10:56

Will go and see it on my own, as the GF and mates down here don't like films like this or the 1st one.

Toot

Deiwos · 21 Aug 2008 at 16:36

I enjoyed it. I don't think it deserved the 4 stars it got in the newspaper review I read, but I still found it very entertaining. No oscar winning performances, but good all the same.

I definitely found Batman more engrossing and an all round better film but I would still say to go watch it.

Noel Gallagher · 21 Aug 2008 at 17:18

Saw trailer in Cinema, looks 10x better than original.

Richeh · 21 Aug 2008 at 17:50

Thought it was ok, nothing special, quite short and the golden army seemed really anti-climatic and had over the top CGI.

ergonomics · 21 Aug 2008 at 17:58

much better than the original, but agreeing on the younger target audience. i was wanting more bruding from hellboy about everyone calling him ugly but instead his public battering was met with a blank look and a new scene. still worth a watch though

SixTwoSix · 21 Aug 2008 at 17:59

Thought it was much better than the first, funnier, more entertaining...more imaginative and hate to say it...but more like the source material...ok ok, more like the comics than the first.

peetee · 22 Aug 2008 at 16:33

Noel Gallagher said:
Saw trailer in Cinema, looks 10x better than original.

concidering the origional was that **** it wouldnt be hard.

I thought the first was a complete waste of time and money and felt robbed, i must say this was the feeling I got after this film, it was utter pap.

Noel Gallagher · 22 Aug 2008 at 16:33

I rarely remember the first, I knew it wasn't great though.

Snakedoctor · 22 Aug 2008 at 16:34

I thought it lacked the humour of the first one. It also seemed to drag.

V1nny · 22 Aug 2008 at 16:39

Watched this yesterday thought it was ok

loopstah · 22 Aug 2008 at 20:49

Watched it this afternoon. Though it was pretty good, about as good as I was expecting really, it is Hellboy after all.

Some good trailers before though, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Watchmen.