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Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon
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Title: HELLBOY 2, THE GOLDEN ARMY
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Year: 2008
Reviewed: August 19, 2008
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Birthday Cake-Second Highest Rating |
[Rating Definitions]
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There are a lot of problems with "Hellboy, The Golden Army". It should be said, right off the mark, that "The Golden Army" is breathtaking and gorgeous in a visual sense. But just as Ridley Scott's cinematic masterpiece "Legend", "The Golden Army" suffers from a barely-there story, to a painfully noticeable lack of focus.
Foremost, "The Golden Army" is not a "Hellboy" movie. In the first film (which I recently re-watched) Del Toro was able to capture the Lovecraft inspired world of Mike Mignola's comic book perfectly; old gods, trapped for eons, threatening the mortal world once again, through the somewhat immortal Rasputin. Perfect and wonderful. It was dark and macabre and melancholy - for Christ's sake, some of the set pieces were done at Halloween. In "Golden Army", the Antagonist is an elf (who seems to practice the ancient art of Shaolin Kung Fu) furthermore there are hobgoblins and tree spirits, all of which are perfectly fine in Harry Potter or Middle Earth, but not in Hellboy. He's called Hellboy for a reason!
I think one of the biggest reasons the movie fails is- similar to "The Dark Knight"- it comes in at over two and a half hours. That's a long time to have ass in chair and blood clots forming in knees. If I'm expected to be engaged for over two hours there better be something -- engaging. To be quite honest, the most engaging thing about the film was the special effects, prosthetics, puppetry, and creature effects, very reminiscent of Del Toro's masterpiece "Pan's Labyrinth". To see so many heavily designed creatures and puppets, and so much beautiful make-up was wonderful and inspiring, however, after two and a half hours it just seemed a little too much. A visual feast is one thing; gorging on delectable, visual treats for hours is quite another. The very good friend, with whom I saw the movie, even pointed out a particularly jarring fade, almost reminiscent of the early Star Wars movies. And she noted, rightfully so, that it was completely unnecessary and superfluous, and actually brought her out of the film; which we all know is a very bad thing.
So yes - "Hellboy, The Golden Army" is gorgeous, but lacks a center and a focus, there is no sense of self. The world that is recognized in "Golden Army" is breathtaking, but not the world in which "Hellboy" inherently dwells.
I give "Hellboy, The Golden Army", a BIRTHDAY CAKE review.
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