Hellboy II: The Golden Army (12A)
Hellboy and his team must save humanity from the creatures of the mythical world, who intend to reclaim their rule over the Earth with the aid of the powerful Golden Army.
Guillermo Del Toro directs his second installment based on the graphic novel series created by Co-writer Mike Mignola. Returning cast members Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, John Hurt and Jeffrey Tambor are joined by Luke Goss (Blade II), Anna Walton and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane as the Voice of Johann Krauss.
2004’s ‘Hellboy’ was beautiful, exciting, witty and carefully constructed to be a worthy tribute to the imagination of Mike Mignola and the world he created. Guillermo Del Toro (director of Blade II and Pans Labyrinth) certainly seemed like the wise choice, with his visually stunning style and penchant for the macabre. Hellboy II: The Golden Army is no exception in that respect. So why then is the film so disappointing?
The very clear and present answer is the script. Credit for the story goes to both Guillermo Del Toro and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. Therefore I suspect the key to this tragedy is that the screen play was written by Del Toro alone. This means that no matter what the original story might have been, the screen adaptation can alter it beyond recognition (especially if the person writing it is also happens to be the director).
The plot meanders and looses its way at times and the dialogue is passable to atrocious. Possibly some of the film’s apparently crucial, more tender moments are lost in Del Toro’s translation. One of the film’s sub plots seems to be to remove the obvious sides of good and evil and cast questions over the human race’s worthiness to rule over the Earth, probably to relay a ‘green’ message. But these elements are, like so many moments within the story, rushed over in a hurry to the finish, leaving them ineffectual and requiring the audience to stretch their disbelief further than necessary.
So, why confounded? As said, the film looks superb and has some incredible creature effects and sequences. Guillermo Del Toro’s repertoire proves that he is quite capable of making a master piece of a monster movie and most prestigious of all is his landing of the directorial role for The Hobbit, due to be released in 2011. All of which begs the question, what happened and will it happen again?.....
