Hellboy II: the Golden Army

[lookingland]

fun and fabulous ~ if you've never seen the first one, get it and watch it first; it'll help contextualize the character relationships. otherwise, this one stands on its own, storywise. lots of action, lots of fun weird creatures, alas too much cgi (but what can you do?). ron perlman is excellent again in the title role and the villain is lovely-creepy in a strange live-action manga sort of way.

two thumbs up if you dig this sort of goofball stuff.

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Comments

[amberdulen.livejournal.com]

Man, I dig goofball stuff with a backhoe. Can't wait to see this. :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

oooo! go git you some, then ~ it's primo!

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[utter-scoundrel.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite things about Ron Perlman is that he shares my man crush on Lee Marvin. You can kinda see it in some of the roles he plays.

Yeah, I'll be seeing this one.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

john has a man-crush....lalalala

sorry, i just had to. but how can anyone not love lee marvin???

i'll be innerested in your review ~ seems like some other critics haven't been too keen on it. maybe i just needed happy blow-em-up filler in my life right now.

counting down the days to X-files.

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[la-vita-nuova.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to it - been reading some of the Hellboy graphic novels too :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

ooo fun! i just love how "out there" the whole concept is. it's willing to take chances. and guillermo del toro is just a great director, i think!

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[pithhelmet.livejournal.com]

The last movie I paid to see was The Happening. I made a blind leap of faith, and crashed and burned badly. I wept at how bad it was.

I'm glad to see your positive review of HBII. I saw want to like this.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

ughhhh ~ shamalalalaLand has just been off his rocker for the last two movies. it's disheartening, really, because i think he has a really positive and interesting vision. he's just not pulling it together lately.

hope you get a chance to see HB and hope you enjoy it!

: D

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

I've never seen the first one. But I do love goofball kind of stuff. Somebody I respect quite a bit posted a review that essentially said it was a bit of a disappointment. Was there anything negative that stuck out to you? (aside from the too much CGI stuff)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

hmmm ~ i wonder what they did not like. i thought it was every bit the equal to the first one.

just too much cgi, which the first one suffered as well.

maybe they are making comparisons to the comic book? or have some preconceived notions about what it should be?

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

Here ya go... this was his review. I haven't seen either, so I have no basis of comparison.

*****************************************************************************

Eh. That's all it gets -- eh. And believe me, that's very disappointing, to say the least. I went back and read the professional reviews on RottenTomatoes.com this morning, and I'm wondering if they saw the same movie as me (My actual theory is that, in the same way they let the comedic turn of Hancock's commercials bias them against the movie's true dramatic nature, they let the Shiny of this movie convince them it was better than it is).

There were moments of pretty but most the character development fell really, really flat. I didn't get why Hellboy and Liz were together. Selma Blair could barely act her way out of a bag at times. Hellboy wasn't always likable... Abe's possible romance held a lot of potential, but was never really followed up on. I was expecting something on an epic scale, but... not so much. The singalong scene was good, I'll give them that, but the scenes that followed immediately afterward put the movie down near the new Indy movie in the rankings for the Summer.

The bad guys are never really established as being eeeevil, which is a problem. Maybe I'm a bleeding-heart liberal/environmentalist/fantasy fan, but I didn't see anything that made me think the antagonist was pure evil at heart, which made the response of the good guys seem a little out of balance. No one ever tried to explain why humanity deserved to continue to survive... that left a pretty big hole in the movie. The bad guys state their case, but the defense is never made. And so, I never at any point felt like, "Yes, we have to kick these guys' asses," which, although not necessary in all movies, is really important in an action movie. If you can't make the audience feel that, then you need to explain why the hero does (which they didn't).

Maybe this is a good thing -- it'll force me to get my expectations for The Dark knight back down into the stratosphere. Nothing is a guaranteed success, you know?

If nothing else, this movie gave me a greater appreciation of what Joss Whedon did to a certain character in Serenity. In the climax for that movie, you feel like anyone and everyone could be killed at any moment. In Hellboy II they try to take advantage of that feeling in a moment where a character is near-death, but without the set-up of someone else dying, it completely and utterly falls flat. Instead of being moved, I simply wanted them to get past the obligatory whispers of love and caring and get to the big fight. I can say with a fair amount of confidence that no one expected that character to die, and if that's the case, why do the scene at all, you know?

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

well, i don't think it was intended that the bad guys were eeeevil (the ambiguity of evil being relevant to the whole story). and the relationship twixt hellboy and liz is a gimme (set up in the first movie).

as for needing a big reason for humanity to live, i think you're digging way to too deep. love is worth keeping alive. they repeat it a hundred and fifty times.

just enjoy the shiny. i think you are totally over-thinking this one.

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

lol... I'm not over or under thinking anything, really. I just found it funny that two people I respect had such divergent opinions and I was just curious, that's all. I'll probably rent both of them and do a double header when it comes to DVD.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

p.s.

good point about Dark Knight ~ i reeeeally don't want to be disappointed with it ~

: D

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

I don't think there is any way in hell that movie is going to disappoint.

Also on the "can't miss" list is the X-Files. Oh, I can't wait!!! :-)

[gideongone.livejournal.com]

I think I'd like it and the first one. I need to see them. I always think of City of Lost Children whenever I think of Ron Perlman.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

ron perlman is great ~ i'm super happy he got this role because i have always been a fan. rent the first one and then go see the second ~ they're great campy fun, well-made, and have some interesting spiritual overtones that aren't cloying.

: D

[tillane.livejournal.com]

Can't wait to see this. Loved the first one, and Perlman is always good value - one of those actors I've seen in bad films, but who has never been bad himself. Unfortunately, because I live in that muddy backwater known as the UK, I have to wait until August 22nd before it arrives here. Thank god I've got The Dark Knight to go see in the interim... :-)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

ooooh, i am excited to see Batman this coming friday as well! i'm going to be at the movie theater every friday this month, it seems!

hope you enjoy Hellboy when it gets around to you!

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