Hellboy II - The Golden Army

[JMichaelRoddy]

Go support Guillermo tomorrow and see Hellboy II tomorrow. It is awesome!

[Inkfink]

Me and the kid are makin' plans to see it tomorrow! Watched The Director's Cut Hellboy the other day to get up to speed. Can't wait to see the follow up!!!

The website is pretty awesome too: http://www.hellboymovie.com/

[Jim Bertges]

I saw it last night and enjoyed it thoroughly, but much more for the character development and emotional content than the story or special effects. The effects were seamless and wonderful, but they suffer from what ruins most "effects pictures" these days--there's just too much! When there's so much wonderful stuff to look at, it tends to lose its wonder. I found it much more interesting in  the intimate moments and the relationships between the characters. Hellboy is the Quasimodo of our age, but he actually gets the girl. I like that.

Also there were a number of clips of our favorite monsters playing on Hellboy's TV sets. And did anyone catch the John Landis tribute?

[Toy Ranch]

It was a very fun movie to see, and really well-done.  We all enjoyed it a lot. 

[Inkfink]

We had a great time watching this! Del Toro pulled in elements from Pan's Labyrinth which meshed welll with the direction Hellboy headed in the Mignola's comics. I hope they do a third installment. I'd be cool to see Lobster Johnson movie done 40's style ala Indiana Jones.

This has been one jam-packed summer for movies! I can see how viewers can get desensitized with all the SFX!

[Crazy1van]

I have to wait till the 1st of August to see it, but it's high on my list (higher than Dark Knight).  I was convinced when I saw Pan's Labyrinth that Del Toro envisioned that dark fantasy to be kin to the world of (movie) Hellboy, if not exactly the same.  I'm glad that this vision 'pans' out further with this latest chapter.

[chrisnurse]

I really enjoyed it, but mourned the fact that it was a greater leap away from the comics than the first. But I guess movies are movies and comics are comics!

[Crazy1van]

I thought the fantasy elements were too overpowering; Hellboy is an action hero with a horror theme, but this seemed like a twisting of the X-Men, with the muties being hated by the people they fight to protect from the other muties that hate the people because they are hated and feared.

Sorry, I just expected better.  Visually the movie was a blast, and I will get it on DVD, but it could have been so much more.  The first one was.

[tv horror]

I loved it and not because of the Northern Ireland slant (which got a loud cheer here in Belfast ). It looked good and the characters were played nicely, the only faults were the references to other movies.  Star wars, Lord of the rings and Relic other than that go see it on the big screen.   

[chrisnurse]

Did anybody notice the "SEE YOU NEXT _ _ _ N _ SDAY" poster gag? A nice little homage to Landis.

[Crazy1van]

I did see the marquee for the Landis classic metafictional flick.  I didn't really think of Relic when I saw the film though.  I suppose the box with the ancient monsters in it may be similar, but it did not feel like anything was borrowed, to me anyway.

[Inkfink]

I picked up the special edition of Hellboy II: The Golden Army DVD and the special features makes this a great buy! Guillermo Del Toro's commentary makes the movie even richer (nods to Harryhausen, Bernard Hermann, Universal Monsters) and the lengthy production documentary shows the gargantuan amount of creative work that went into the making of this movie. This was a gourmet meal for this monster movie fan!!!