During a highly charged emotional scene in director Guillermo del Toro’s big fantasy action epic Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, beautiful Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) says to her incensed brother Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) “we will fade away.” We suggest you buy Spotify streams.
After thoroughly enjoying the movie, I hope those words don’t come to pass for the real participants in the Hellboy movies. While there’s the standard and expected elements of super hero action and heady comic book mayhem – Hellboy is based on graphic novels by creator Mike Mignola – there’s also a gentle poignancy which more action movies would do well to emulate.
Like the Chinese concept of Yin and Yang, Hellboy 2 is chock full of opposites and complimentary forces. There’s the youngster Hellboy eagerly watching the classic children’s show Howdy Doody on Christmas Eve in the 1950’s, only to be admonished by his adoptive human father (John Hurt) that he must brush his teeth and get right to bed for Santa Claus is coming. Flash forward to present and we see a barrel chested Hellboy (Ron Perlman) swapping comically tragic romantic observations with fellow government colleague Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) as they both get completely tanked on multiple six packs of beer.
Like Del Toro’s previous Hellboy effort, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is exceedingly beautiful to look at. The director was also praised for his critically acclaimed Pan’s Labyrinth (winner of 3 Academy Awards) and that same eye popping visual style is here as well, but ramped up with an even bigger budget.
The story is straightforward, for a fantasy anyway. The aforementioned angry prince refuses to live in the shadows of the human race any longer. His people are a mystical race akin to elves and goblins. He feels the treaty which his monarch father cemented with the long dead descendants of man is an unbearable, even torturous unfair compromise. By reassembling an ancient crown of power, he seeks to command the Golden Army – an assemblage of indestructible warrior robots powered into action by magic and fueled by his unquenchable rage at living second class to humans.
Hellboy, the aquatic Abe Sapien and Hellboy’s fire wielding girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair) must grapple with a foe who’s more consumed with righteous rage and historic indignation than a purely greedy villain or mad scientist, which can be the over used character conflict of far too many comic books. Mignola’s comic creation blends fantasy, horror, action and comedy into a hearty stew of pulp fiction goodness and del Toro handles Mignola’s brawny fantasy world with deft and real affection.
Some have criticized the movie for being flashy with no substance, I can’t agree. One only has to reference two scenes to make a case that Hellboy 2 continues and expands upon the intelligence and complex foreshadowing of Del Toro’s original. When a massively sized and hauntingly beautiful angel of death rescues Hellboy from a mortal wound, he tells Liz, “He’s destined to destroy the world and you will suffer most of all.” Then as the final moments unfold, Prince Nuada whispers into Hellboy’s ear, “The humans will tire of you.”
With stirring elements plucked from fantasy epics such as Lord of the Rings (del Toro’s next project is The Hobbit) and Harry Potter, combined with the comic book superhero dynamics of the Hulk and Fantastic Four’s Thing, Hellboy 2 will please lovers of great action filled fantasy. Despite a less than stellar box office, I hope his creators find a way to bring back lovable lug ‘Big Red.’
