Del Toro’s signature style, which is so hard to adequately describe, leaves one reeling. It’s gorgeously timeless, and yet of all ages.
He mixes media with a flair for the impossibly unique, creating puppets of wood and precious metals as royalty and soldiers. There is a little steam punk, Victorian pop art, Goth and Biblical imagery mixed with and not opposed to, its own contemporary high tech world.
It’s funny to see Del Toro’s ‘news’ crawl, the typed names of the towns and the times in which the action taking place, ridiculously linking it to TV cop serials and films of long ago like Se7en and Silence of the Lambs. A weird joke/throwback, complete with the prerequisite whirling helicopters in the nighttime cityscape.
We learn that a nice tempered John Hurt adopted him and filled him with wisdom before he became a US government operative – with a US accent. The kind that washes up on the shores of Scotland, no doubt.
At work in the secret government bunker, Hellboy is surrounded by fascinating hybrid characters. His best friend is Blue / Abe Sapien / Angel of Death, a fish scaly thing with David Hyde Pierce’ voice and body courtesy Doug Jones. There are endlessly diverse creatures with unusually loud squishy tentacles for no reason at all.
Their put upon boss, played with hilarious oddness by Jeffrey Tambor, is exasperated by each one of them.
Hellboy, our human-like alien, played again by Ron Perlman, is truly original, a nicely dimensional comic book character. He’s tough yet tender. He can bring any enemy to his knees, but he’s a mess around kittens.
He’s crazy in love with his human wife Liz, played by Selma Blair, herself a gifted government operative/warrior. They bicker about beer, those kittens and overwork, but love always comes through.
Hellboy has that signature ironic humor, but when he and Liz fight, tears fall. There’s a terrifically funny scene when he and lovesick Blue sit arms around each other singing silly pop pap about lost love. Comic relief for the visually over-stimulated audience.
Prince Nuada, played by Luke Goss, is a striking looking fairy individual with ghastly white skin, black stitching and decorative grooving carved into his skin, long white hair that flies as this guy kicks ass martial arts style. The hair is hypnotic. He has an identical twin sister Princess Nuala, who fears him.
Prince Nuada seeks the third piece of an ancient crown that will give him mastery over the Golden Army. Seventy times seven golden soldiers can do a lot of damage.
Del Toro brings things that unconsciously tweak our hearts – nostalgia, retro, love, our spiritual connection to nature. The kids will take it in and never know what hit them but they’ll feel longings.
Hellboy is the latest superhero to hit the theatres in this summer of superhero satiation. None is as odd as he is, and none has a more stable love life. These things are important.
The original film didn’t do terribly well, but I suspect that Hellboy II: Golden Army will make short work of a golden knockout.
The slam-dunk is Del Toro’s wild imagination, given free rein in this crazy beautiful fantasy world under the Manhattan subway system. He creates a masterpiece of visual enchantment.
Can’t wait to see his adaptation of The Hobbit !
View stills and media from Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Click Here to enter to win a Hellboy II: The Golden Army Gift Pack!!
35mm fantasy
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