DVD Reviews

Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Nov 9, 2008, 20:00 GMT

The mythical world starts a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth, so Hellboy and his team must save the world from the rebellious creatures. ...more

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a fun movie that takes you deeper into the world of Mike Mignola’s creation thanks to the visionary imagination and filming style of director Guillermo del Toro.

Fans of the comic or the first film will find plenty to love with this movie – which takes what worked in Hellboy and expands it for a film that has a larger scope and deeper plot.

Like many of the summer films (such as Iron Man), Hellboy II: The Golden Army seems made for the Blu-ray format and looks incredible. Del Toro fills his film with amazing looking creatures, vivid colors, and massive stunt pieces. All of these elements combine to give you an extremely great looking picture on Blu-ray. From the very start of the film, the colors jump out at you and at times (such as the Troll Market scenes) almost send the viewer into a visual overload.

While most of the praise can go to the film’s director (who seems completely at home in this genre thanks to movies like Pan’s Labyrinth), the returning cast also help make the Hellboy II a success. Simply put, there could be no Hellboy without Ron Perlman. The same can be said for the Selma Blair’s turn as Liz Sherman, and Doug Jones’ performance as Abe Sapien.

While the first film focused on only a few of the unique characters that make up Hellboy’s world, The Golden Army opens the floodgates. The movie is filled with elves, trolls, and nasty little tooth fairies (kids will never want to put a tooth under their pillow again).

The movie starts off with a young Hellboy hearing a bedtime story about the mythical Golden Army, and how the human world made a truce with the world of elves and other mythical creatures.

The story then jumps to the real world where it appears Prince Nuada (the banished son of the one-armed Elf King Balor) has decided it was time that truce was broken.

Nuada (Luke Goss) has returned to collect the pieces needed to raise and control the Golden Army and conquer the humans. One of the magical pieces is in the hands of his twin sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) and there is a big red roadblock standing in the way of getting to her.

Hellboy starts out the film a little tired of always hiding (in fact he is ready for the spotlight), having to deal with some domestic issues (it seems Liz wants him to do the dishes), and still adjusting to life without his father. He is also forced to deal with a new leader for the team – Johann Krauss. All the domestic issues help Hellboy seem a little happy that Nuada crosses his path, and he gets to go shoot something.

From the start, the movie never really slows its pace, and is filled with the big action sequences you expect from a comic book film, and the wise-cracks you want out of a Hellboy story.

During the movie, Hellboy and company go head-to-head with nasty tooth fairies (not the Disney kind), Nuada’s henchman Mr. Wink, and finally The Golden Army. After all that, the audience still gets treated to a big showdown between Hellboy and Nauda – which in my opinion was one of the best fight sequences of the summer.

Even though the film is a big action flick, the cast and creators make sure to fill it with some good character building moments, and give their established characters new places to grow.

Liz and Hellboy’s relationship remains a vital part of the story, and goes through a few unexpected changes. Abe finds what love feels like, and even gets a little drunk with Hellboy (you have to love the drunken musical duet).

The actors make sure that they put enough of what made the characters great in the first film, but also give the audience something new to watch.

Once again, Perlman is Hellboy. He knows the character, and fills the movie with quick snappy lines, lots of machismo, and the kind of dumb mistakes any guy would make trying to win the girl. It is impossible to think of any actor playing the character and bringing the kind of spirit and life to the role that Perlman is able to accomplish every time he is on screen.

Fans of Hellboy or Guillermo del Toro will love the bonus features included on the Blu-ray. They take fans deep into the creation of the movie and show how it was brought to the screen with commentary from cast and director; set visits (a seven part mini-documentary); a look at the Troll Market with del Toro; deleted scenes (which add some to the movie); and a look at the film’s production.

The Blu-ray release also feature the exclusive U-Control system which gives you a look at some of the concept art while you are watching the film; a look at the director’s notebook (which includes interviews and sketches) while the movie plays; and an all access look behind the scenes with interviews, and alternate takes from the film.

In addition to the features and U-Control, the Blu-ray also comes with BD-Live which gives you access a Comic Book Builder where you can select images from the movie, pick your own font and phrases, and then cut it into a comic format to send to other fans on BD-Live.

Helboy II: The Golden Army is a great follow-up to the first film. It takes the established story and expands on it. The film is fast paced, filled with action, and has all the elements for what makes a good comic book movie.

If you liked the first Hellboy, you will love this movie. If you never saw the first film, this one is still worth taking the time to watch. The movie starts great and ends with you just wanting more.