Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008/Theatrical Film Review)
Starring
Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Luke Goss, Doug Jones
Directed
by Guillermo del Toro
Review by Dante A. Ciampaglia
Critic’s Rating:
6 out of 10
There
should be little doubt after “Hellboy II:
The Golden Army,” released nationwide July 11 2008, that filmmaker
Guillermo del Toro is the heir apparent to Jim Henson. The paper-skinned creatures with eyes coming
out of strange places, desperately contorted features, and bodies seemingly
sculpted out of nightmares that have become emblematic of del Toro’s vision
thanks to their appearance in “Pan’s
Labyrinth” are rooted in the tradition of Henson and other creature
creators, like Ray Harryhausen and Stan Winston. del Toro deployed these creatures to
excellent effect in “Pan’s Labyrinth,”
and in “Hellboy II” he builds off of
and expands his palate of the fantastic with characters that range from waifish
elf royalty to slug-like goblins to some sort of lanky underground creature
with a city on its head (that also doubles as a crown).
While
watching “Hellboy II,” it’s
difficult to not draw comparisons to past fantasy films, like “Labyrinth,” “The NeverEnding Story,” “Legend,”
and “Return to Oz.” Like Henson and the others, del Toro roots
his fantasy in the real and utilizes nature and elemental objects (trees,
rocks, water, fire) to connect the impossible to the already existent. This makes del Toro especially equipped to
handle the “Hellboy” franchise—the “Hellboy” world is entirely predicated
on the fantastic and supernatural intruding on, interacting with, and existing
in parallel to the everyday.
In “Hellboy II,” a disgruntled elfish
prince, Nuada (Luke Goss), unhappy with the outcome of a long-ago war between
his people and humankind, vows to reclaim the Earth by awakening the mythic
Golden Army, a 4900-strong battalion of mechanical and indestructible death
machines. Of course, goblins play a role
in this, too: A goblin created the Golden Army, and there is a secret
underground Troll Market hidden at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. Naturally, it’s up to the rambunctious
Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and his crew from the US Bureau for Paranormal Research
and Defense (BPRD)—including the amphibious Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), the fiery
Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), and newcomer-to-the-“Hellboy”-series Johann Strauss (voice of Seth MacFarlane), a wraith
kept in a suit reminiscent of a century-old diving apparatus—to root out Nuada
and prevent the awakening of the Golden Army.
We could
spend the entire 110-minute running time picking out sight and creative
references that del Toro is making to not only Henson but the entire pantheon
of creature makers and fantasy storytellers that work in a similar vein. At the start of the film’s climax, for
example, Hellboy, Abe, Liz, and Strauss are on a lush seaside cliff in Ireland
looking for the hiding place of the Golden Army. Out of nowhere comes a goblin that looks like
a flea-market centaur: his upper-half is old, withered goblin, but it’s
connected to a lower half that is a rickety old cart filled with junk and
clangy pots and pans. After being
promised a soon-to-be useless trinket, he guides our heroes to the where the
Golden Army is located by summoning a rock creature that doubles as an entryway
to an underground lair. This is classic
Henson, with the added benefit of 21st century whiz-bang.
The work
of del Toro and his creature shop—which is essentially a series of notebooks
the filmmaker uses to sketch and detail his creations—in “Hellboy II” ratchets up the series the obligatory couple
levels. The film is firmly rooted in the
established fantasy film tradition, as well as in the still-evolving del Toro
filmography. And if “Hellboy II” were just about watching
cool creatures run rampant in the movie theater for two hours, it would be a
smash success. Unfortunately, there is
also an action picture to be had here, and del Toro’s seeming inability to
conceive, pace, and direct a sustained blow-‘em-up action movie is as prominent
as his visionary creativity.
If we go
back to “Blade II,” del Toro’s first
big-budget foray into the action genre, we’ll notice eerie parallels between
that sequel and this second “Hellboy”
installment. There is a civil war raging
in a human-hating species (in “Blade II,”
it’s vampires; here it’s elves) that causes some members of that species to
form an uneasy alliance with humankind.
In both films, an errant son of the species’ leader, angry with Daddy,
goes off the reservation to claim his place in the world by butting heads with
the humans. (Interestingly, in both “Blade
II” and “Hellboy II,” the whiny
troublemaker is played by Luke Goss.)
And also in both films, the off-the-rails son has a sister that sides
with the humans (Nyssa (Leonor Varela) in “Blade
II,” Nuala (Anna Walton) in “Hellboy
II”) and ends up sacrificing herself to save humanity at the cost of the
love of one of our heroes.
Certainly
the plot skeletons of “Blade II” and
“Hellboy II” are by no means unique,
but it is interesting that in the two sequels del Toro has directed he has
relied on the same plot to tell his story.
This problem of story conception with “Hellboy II” can be easily overlooked—the images we’re given by del
Toro utterly glue us to our seats for the entire movie. What can’t be, though, is how uneven the film
is.
“Hellboy II” begins as this story about
the balance of humans and nature, how humans have upset that balance, and how
the radical aspects of nature are coming to reclaim their place on this
planet. del Toro can be fairly blunt in
this eco-message, but he never wraps it in the obvious: there are no massive
super hurricanes or the coming of a new Ice Age or anything like that. Instead, we’re presented with fantastical
creatures from the forest that stand in for natural disasters and who are
raging at the sloppy way they and their homes have been treated and disregarded
by mankind. If Mother Nature exists in “Hellboy II,” she would quite literally
be a mother—and a really creepy looking one, at that.
Yet for
as deft and inspired as this is, del Toro all but drops it after a loud set
piece where Hellboy fights a giant killer beanstalk. After this scene, a different “Hellboy II” kicks in, one that’s meant
to satisfy the unable-to-think fanboys who want nothing but stuff blowing up
real good. Not only does this make what
to then is an interesting action movie senseless, it shines a light on all of
the film’s flaws. The worst of them is
that what propels the movie forward—Nuada’s plot to revive the Golden
Army—plays out as merely a reason to show elaborate and poorly-paced fight
scenes, a shallow contrivance to keep throwing money on the screen, when it
finally reaches its conclusion. I won’t
reveal more than that so as not to be a spoiler, but just know that when a key
piece of information is revealed we’re able to see the end of the movie hurling
at us a mile away.
Action
movies aren’t meant to be brain busters, that’s true. But Guillermo del Toro isn’t Michael
Bay. And thank goodness. The cinema can’t afford to keep giving time,
resources, and screen space to directors who think quality is measured by the
glow of a CGI explosion. del Toro isn’t
that type of filmmaker—he’s a talented creator that, when given the proper
material, can do interesting and compelling work. He doesn’t brand us over the head in an
attempt to make us confront relevant social issues (dictatorial governments in
“Pan’s Labyrinth,” for example, or
Earth’s flailing environment in “Hellboy
II”); we’re lulled into dealing with these issues by being presented with
the fantastic (an underground creature that eats fairies, a dying race of elves
hiding out in a goblin market). But this approach only works when it’s carried
through to the end of the film.
That
doesn’t happen in “Hellboy II.” It’s a fine piece of creature creation, and a
worthy entry into the pantheon of uneven fantasy-adventure films. When the credits roll, though, it’s still a
very flawed work by a gifted storyteller unsteadily looking for a balance
between his voice and some sort of dedication to the voice of Hellboy’s
creator, Mike Mignola. The Guillermo del
Toro who created “Pan’s Labyrinth”
is exciting, vibrant, confident—everything that the filmmaker who shows up
behind the lens on “Hellboy II”
isn’t. The sooner del Toro retires the
awkward Hollywood action director side of his creative persona, the sooner del
Toro can grow into an elite filmmaker—and the sooner cinema can be the better
for it.
For more
on Hellboy, you can try the following coverage of the first film on Blu-ray and
the first animated work to hit DVD:
Hellboy (2004) Blu-ray
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5507/Hellboy+–+Director’s+Cut+(Blu-ray)
Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5230/Mike+Mignola+Animated+Features:+Hellboy+Animated
