Movie Review: Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

Summing up Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is pretty easy. It's everything that the first movie was, only more so. More creatures, more weirdos, more action, more humor, just more of everything but thankfully not in an overloaded way. In other words, if you liked the first one you'll enjoy this. But this will not convert you if the first Hellboy was not to your liking.

Hellboy 2 finds the B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) but as it was left at the end of the first film. It's still a secret organization, something that Hellboy (Ron Perlman) still resents, and he goes out of his way to make the group public. Also big red and his pyrokenetic love interest, Liz (Selma Blair), are back in a relationship that can best be described as explosive, with mutual friend and fishman Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) acting as the peacemaker between them. The latest threat to humanity is a fed up elf price named Nuada (Luke Goss). Nuada is tired of watching humans drive the mystical creatures further and further underground and is prepared to fight back using the legendary Golden Army. Thus the stage is set for Hellboy to beat the crap out of monsters in another big rousing adventure.

Hellboy 2 manages to correct a few of the issues that had kept the original from being as unique as it could have been. Gone is the human character of Agent Myers who existed simply to be an unnecessary set of human eyes on the happenings of the first movie. Now the "freaks" are allowed to be the sole focus, which is as it should be. Also there's the issue of the B.P.R.D. being a secret organization, something that was never the case in the comics. In the first movie, it hit a little too close to Men In Black territory. With the group and its colorful agents becoming public knowledge early in this movie, it's an element that thankfully gets discarded. This new freedom allows Hellboy to be a bit less angsty about his situation and just be the blue collar lug he should be.

Hellboy 2 boasts the return of all the key players, even John Hurt for a quick flashback and a nice bit of narration. Ron Perlman proves again that this role, more than any other, is perfectly tailored to him in the title role. Gruff, lovable, well-meaning and more than a little rough around the edges, and thanks to the performance it never feels like a man buried under latex, just a very great and true character. The same can be said for Doug Jones, this time able to lend the voice as well as the body to Abe Sapien and also as several other quick creatures. Selma Blair gets to play Liz as a woman conflicted but overall much more sure of herself and it works better than in the last film. Jeffrey Tambor is still somewhat one-note as the much put upon bureaucrat, Manning. Thankfully we get a better sense of him as a character, so while it doesn't really give him any extra layers we do get a better sense of why he is the way he is and it makes the character less grating than before. In fact he's actually enjoyable in this entry in the series.

There are also newcomers. Johan Krauss is brought in to try and control Hellboy. He's basically just gas in an old style diver's suit but Seth McFarlane of Family Guy fame gives a stupendous vocal performance that makes his addition to the group a very welcome one. Luke Goss gives a heartfelt performance as the sympathetic villain, never failing to be badass enough to be a genuine threat yet with enough heart that you can't help but feel for him and his plight. Anna Walton plays Princess Nuala and not only supplies Abe with a love interest but gives a nice light feminine touch to the proceedings that isn't provided by Selma Blair's tough chick.

The action and effects are as solid as they were in the first Hellboy but on a much grander scale. The battle against the Golden Army especially feels wonderfully gigantic. The action and fight scenes carry much more emotional weight than was present the first time around and therefore they manage to be all the more engaging. The creature work throughout is simply phenomenal, not just in execution but design as well. The Troll Market scene especially stands out as pure imagination on a scale that is almost never seen in a big budget summer movie. There's also some wonderful humor throughout, which is thankfully never in the form of forced comic relief or bad one-liners. Rather, the humor comes from the characters, the way they relate to each other and grows naturally from the circumstances. In particular, there is a wonderful section where Hellboy and Abe drunkenly vent about their respective love interests and I challenge anybody to not laugh out loud at the wonderful absurdity of the scene.

Sadly while there is wonderful imagination on display in the creatures and characters but there's not as much originality going on in the overall story. Ultimately, when you break it down, it's still a very familiar structure for a team action movie. Squabbles amongst the team, pulling together at the end, and bucking the rules to get the job done. These and many other aspects are done well but are ultimately somewhat predictable. The story is laid out rather clearly early on and it doesn't deviate from what is expected as far as the overall events.

But while the trip in Hellboy 2 may reach a familiar destination, it's most definitely the scenic route. And the scenery is the imagination and visual splendor that is the mind of writer/director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth). That alone is well worth the price of admission. The fact that it's also a fun character piece and a decent action movie is a nice bonus. It also hints at much darker days to come if we ever get treated to a third installment.

Final Score: 4 out of 5