The divisiveness of Pan’s Labyrinth’s success in writer/director Guillermo Del Toro’s career can be seen by the level of interest in the two Hellboy movies. Sure, the first Hellboy wasn’t a flop, but it was an adaptation of a comic book property that is relatively new, creator-owned, and arguably indie. It imposed itself on audiences by the merit of its unique hero alone—a beast of the apocalypse raised to be a blue collar regular joe. This sequel, however, has the benefit of being directed by an Academy Award nominee. Same guy, but different levels of expectation.
This difference is made more prevalent in the tone that Del Toro decided to adopt. The Hellboy comics had always been creator Mike Mignola’s love letter to H.P. Lovecraft, taking the basics behind a superhero team and placing them in gothic supernatural situations. In the first movie, Del Toro retained some aspects of Hellboy’s brushes with horror (complete with a big bad tentacle monster right out of Lovecraft). In this sequel—perhaps feeling inspired by the reception of Pan’s Labyrinth's wonder—Del Toro drops horror and takes the film to high fantasy, ditching Lovecraft for Tolkien. This time, the menace is a rogue Elf Prince seeking to resurrect an indestructible Golden Army in order to wipe out humanity. The reason? A pact made thousands of years ago that gave humans the cities and elves the forests, but because of our disregard for the environment (again, how very Tolkien), the just-back-from-exile Prince Nuada decides that it would be better if the humans bend over.
By thrusting the movie into this world of elves, fairies and fantastical creatures, Del Toro gave himself an excuse to indulge in those character designs he excels at. One particular scene where our heroes crash the Troll Market brings the awe, as we see every inch of the screen packed with creatures, each with their own unique construct. There’s no doubt that conceptual design is Del Toro’s strong front, and it’s nice to have a movie like this where he’s allowed to let loose.
The fun of Hellboy is the character, who doesn’t behave like your typical superhero. You might say he’s Hancock without the malice, but whereas Hancock doesn’t care about how he’s perceived, Hellboy wants nothing more than to have the admiration and gratitude from the public that his heroics deserve. After investigating an attack by the good prince on an auction house, he “outs” the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense to the public just to become a celebrity.
Hellboy II is better than the first in many ways. It’s more focused, more genuine, more exciting and definitely a lot funnier. The smartest thing Del Toro did, however, ensuring the anti-climax of the first movie is not repeated, was to put the big monster fight earlier and save the cool villain for the final (satisfying) mano-a-mano.
Given the straightforwardness of the story, the film has a lot of time to just relax. In fact, the best scenes in the film are the ones where the gang are just hanging out at BPRD’s New Jersey headquarters interacting with one another—which comes across as lively thanks to the pitch perfect casting and down-to-earth characterizations. Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is as passionate about watching TV as he is fighting monsters, generally being the slob of the team. He quarrels with his pregnant girlfriend Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), pokes fun at his nerdy friend Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), and his disregard for protocol puts him at odds with both supervisor Agent Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) and the ectoplasmic BPRD newcomer Johann Krauss (hilariously and perfectly voiced by Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane faking a German accent). The film does remarkably well—perhaps more than anything else—selling the idea that despite their sideshow appearance and freaky powers, these guys are just ordinary working stiffs.
The prophesied Anti-Christ raised to become the good guy… There’s a nature vs nurture story for the ages. It’s too bad Del Toro never touched on how the religious groups respond to the news that Satan’s spawn is their savior, but he didn’t completely forget it. The ugly reaction Hellboy gets from the people he saves says it all. It’s hard out there for a hero.
The main conflict behind Hellboy is the fact that he’s destined to bring about armageddon, but he makes a choice to live his own life. Del Toro extends this to every major character, each having to make hard decisions at some point between the ultimate and personal good. Interestingly, he made them all choose the more selfish choice, highlighting again that his characters are people first, heroes second—the one thing that sets it apart from most comic book movies.
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" opens July 11, 2008 and is rated PG13. Action, Adventure, Comic Book, Fantasy. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Written by Guillermo Del Toro, Mike Mignola. Starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss.
