Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
"Let this remind you why you one feared the dark."
Dir. Guillermo Del Toro Rated: PG-13 Run Time: 2 hours
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In my post on Hellboy (you can read that here), I mentioned that I didn’t really remember the second movie, but I remembered liking it. Now, having re-watched it over the past week, I can easily say that Hellboy II: The Golden Army is one of the most imaginative comic book movies I’ve ever seen. Every inch of the movie drips with character, color, and innovative creature design, and while the first movie was also a fantastic comic book movie, Guillermo Del Toro’s star had risen considerably in the 4 years since its release, and it shows: the budget is larger, the reins are off a bit, and we are given a far more expansive look at the blend between our world and the fantasy realm than the limited view we got in 2004’s Hellboy.
It’s been a year since the events of the first movie, and Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Liz, and the rest of the BPRD continue to investigate and suppress the paranormal. Liz and Hellboy continue to have problems in their relationship, and Abe is forced to keep Liz’s secret that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, the Prince of the Elves, Nuada, is attempting to gather three pieces of a crown that allows one to command The Golden Army, an indestructible mechanical force.
Nuada has a twin sister, Nuala, but the two share more than splitting from the same embryo. Their relationship is empathetic, in that they know each other’s thoughts, feel each others feelings, and experience each other’s injuries. They are essentially two halves of the same person. Nuada is power hungry and ruthless, while Nuala is a force for good. To kill Nuada would be to kill Nuala, and there’s another problem: Abe has fallen in love with Nuala. How do you defeat someone who will not stop their pursuit of power until they are dead, but their death would also mean death for someone you love? Those pesky feelings are always getting in the way.
Hellboy, Liz, and Abe continue to form the emotional core of the movie, but the relationship between Nuada and Nuala is also touching. They do truly love each other, and Nuada will never hurt Nuala, and vice versa. Of course, hurting one would be hurting themselves (which becomes important much later), but the love never feels selfish or self-centered. Nuada is not evil, he simply wants to restore the elves to their former greatness, but naturally he becomes corrupted by power, but he is also fiercely protective of his sister. At one point, when she makes a decision that would spell doom for him, you can tell his heart is truly broken. Nuala does not want her brother to die, but not simply because it would mean her own death, but because she desperately believes that she can make him see reason, and is willing to sacrifice herself for the prosperity of the greater good. Families, amIright?
The family dynamics at the heart of the story are wrapped in an absolutely jaw-dropping aesthetic packaging. It seems like every 30 seconds or so we are meeting some new creature or being introduced to a new aspect of the world, like the carnivorous tooth fairies (who are essentially piranhas with wings), the Kaiju-elemental forest god (in a scene that feels reminiscent of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man scene in the original Ghostbusters), or the Daigon Alley-like troll marketplace under the Brooklyn Bridge, Hellboy II is, for lack of a better descriptor, a feast for the eyes for the entirety of its runtime. It also features Seth McFarlane’s best performance to date, as the 1950’s sci-fi robot inspired Johann Krauss.
I’ll wrap up quickly by saying that Hellboy II: The Golden Army absolutely rules. It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s emotional, and it’s all handled with a sense of joy that can often feel missing in movie-making. Watch it!