Hellboy II is a wonderful movie in a fantastic universe with dreadfully beautiful monsters and ugly heroes. The latest special effects masterpiece by Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro has Hellboy, played by Ron Pearlman back as the son of the devil, reluctantly saving a world that doesn't know he exists from a prince the world had forgotten about centuries ago. (Again, I really should do the summaries, that was really good, uhh, anyway) Hellboy is joined by some really interesting characters. The first, is Abe, a part fish lookin' guy, who is the brains of the operation, you have the new leader, Johann Kraus (voiced by Family Guy's Seth McFarlan) and the least interesting character, the hot (I mean really hot) Liz, played by Selma Blair.
Now, onto the dissection of the movie. For some reason, this movie had amazing looking special effects, incredibly interesting characters and an interesting story, and somehow managed to leave me wondering what was on TV after the credits ended. I was once again left, saying "mehh" at the end of this movie, when it could have been so much more.
The good part of the movie, besides the aforementioned special effects and characters is Ron Pearlman. He is perfect in the role, and has truly found the character that took him some time to grab in the first movie. The storyline has some really interesting things such as a troll market, Wink, the one-eyed monster bad guy and the villain, who is truly a great badguy, and one worthy to challenge Pearlman's Hellboy.
The bad part of this movie is how they leave all this really interesting material on the table. I never read any of the comics this movie is based off of, and after watching this movie, I feel like I would have to, to understand everything. Every time they come across something interesting, such as the market, or the badguys, or even the culture of the underworld, the bond between Abe, and the Princess, and, especially Hellboy, himself, they just move on, to the next interesting character. Another problem I have is in the character of Hellboy, himself. There may be a small spoiler warning, here! There is a point in this movie, just like the first movie, it is said Hellboy will be the end of mankind, he will bring about hell on earth. Again, just like other interesting information in this movie, it is skipped over. I think that is pretty important. I have a hard time cheering for the hero, when he will be the one who kills all mankind. So, is it true, or isn't it; I don't know, but knowing one way or the other would drastically effect the outcome.
This movie is worth the rent, simply for the incredible looking characters. There is some good comedy, mainly with Hellboy proving why they call him a boy, and not Hellman. There is a couple of great fight scenes, that were immensely done. If it weren't for the parts that felt like they were left on the cutting room floor, this movie would be a must own. There is only one more thing I need to ask. Selma Blairs character, Liz has the power to create fire in varying intensity, which shows she has a lot of power, despite the weak portrayal Blair delivers. So, why, with all that power does she need a big, bad ass gun? I mean, come on!
Anyway, after all that, I give it a 7. Worth a rental, a bonus if it's free!
FUN FACT: Seth MacFarlane based the voice of Johann Krauss on Jeremy Irons’ character from Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995).
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