Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Dark Horse’s Hellboy was the perfect shakeup needed for the comic book genre as it knew how to be different from the formula you’ve expected from DC & Marvel. With the first film working out critically & financially, there was no doubt a sequel would be welcome with open arms.


PLOT


2008's The Golden Army begins in 1955 where Professor Broom/Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt) shares a story towards his adopted son, Anung un Rama/Hellboy or Red for the holidays. Long ago, there was an ancient war between humans and magical creatures. King Balor (Roy Dotrice) wanted to remain victorious and hired a goblin to create an indestructible mechanical army that would do just that. The first use of the Golden Army leveled humanity as he knew it, which only made the king regret his actions. This led to a truce with humans where he split the army's crown into pieces and gave one to them, keeping two for himself, keeping the army dormant, and the creatures would remain hiding in the forests. The king's son, Prince Nuada, did not believe in this truce, thus exiling himself until he feels his people needed him most. Fast forward to the 21st century, the story is proven when Nuada and his troll accomplice Mister Wink steal the piece from the humans, before summoning a ferocious horde of tooth fairies that constantly feast. This does get the attention of the BPRD and Hellboy is sent to investigate alongside Elizabeth Sherman & Abraham Sapien. Liz is able to wipe them all out, but it inadvertently costs her boyfriend to go public with the world after spending decades trying to hide on his father's behalf. Tired of his recklessness, the government sends a new agent to look after him which turns out to be an ectoplasmic medium, named Johann Krauss. When briefly possessing one tooth fairy corpse, they search for the troll market to be hiding under the Brooklyn Bridge. As they search for who bought them, Abe aka Blue encounters Nuada's twin sister, Princess Nuala who is hiding from her brother after killing their father for the second piece and is trying to keep him from accessing the third piece she has, as well as the map to the Golden Army. Just as Hellboy finds out Nuada is who bought the tooth fairies, he defeats Wink who finds the princess. As they take her under the agency's protection, Nuada retaliates by sending an elemental forest god. Red does defeat it, but felt conflicted doing so since the prince reminds him he was driven into hiding and most of the public doesn't accept him. This even leads to Liz wanting to leave HQ for a while, unready to tell him she is pregnant with his baby, which she didn't find out until Abe did unintentionally with his empathic powers. Blue even falls for the princess due to sharing similar abilities and shares these feelings with Red. Before he can ever tell him Liz is pregnant, Nuada invades HQ due to magical twin bond he has with his sister. When she refuses to surrender the third piece, he stabs Red with a spear shard, demanding the piece to be given to him if his friends want him to live. Abe is unable to remove the shard on his own due to it magically getting closer to the heart everytime he gets close to it itself. He does also find the third piece that Nuala hid in a book from Broom's library, but hides it from fellow agent Tom Manning who would rather let Red die than risk awakening the Golden Army. Out of sympathy, Johann joins Liz & Abe to Golden Army’s location in Northern Ireland as the map reads, to save their friend. At the doorway, they meet the same goblin that made the army and takes him to the Angel of Death that can remove the shard. The said Angel reminds Liz that Hellboy is destined to doom humanity if he lives, but she still pleads for him to live. He removes the shard with ease and instructs her to give him a reason to live disappearing. With no choice, she tells him he will be a father if he lives. Upon announcement, the love of his life recovers. The goblin then takes the group to where Nuada awaits and Abe instantly gives the prince the final piece of the crown, knowing Red & Liz have done the same for each other. As the prince awakens the Golden Army and orders the group to be killed, Red and Johann do their best to fight them off before realizing they are indestructible indeed as they rebuild themselves with each injury. Hellboy then challenges Nuada for the right of commanding the army and as a member of Hell’s Royal family, the prince has no choice but to accept. Luckily, the protagonist pulls off outsmarting him long enough to take the crown. Refusing to submit, Nuada tries to attack with a dagger, but Nuala sacrifices herself & her brother simultaneously for the greater good. As Abe tells her how he feels before she dies, Nuada tells how Red will have to eventually choose who will die between humanity & the creatures. Liz then melts the crown to deactivate the army’s power for good before they all leave the cave. Manning tracks them down, only for all four of them to resign from BPRD. As Hellboy contemplates a future life to have as a family man, the film ends with Liz revealing she’s carrying twins.


THOUGHTS


With whatever studio in charge to produce that turned about to be Universal instead of Lionsgate, the only thing that mattered about this sequel being made is writer/director Guillermo Del Toro returning to helm this unique supernatural setting. And for that, this one is just as fun. With a bigger budget, we get what is peak production and costume design with the various creatures that surround this world and the Oscar nominated makeup is a knockout because like before, everything is surreally believable. You’re already stunned with seeing beings like the physique of Mr Wink or a bookkeeper that has a castle shaped head, then it gets breathtaking seeing the Angel of Death. The icing on the cake then goes to all the VFX for the tooth fairies, the forest god, the titular army and seeing Johann in his ghostly form. What I really enjoyed most here besides the soldi editing done for the few action scenes, I’m always drawn back to this movie as a whole because it does a great job in telling us there are grey areas of good & bad and self acceptance matters more than gratitude from others. This is the big case from two sides of the coin who have their paradoxes on how they should move forward in what they think is good. Ron Perlman still has us enjoy Hellboy as a whole because he rightfully feels confused on not being accepted by the public after all he’s done, yet knows genocide towards them doesn’t solve anything and he keeps sticking to the morals his dad taught him. He has his doubts because he can’t guarantee if they’ll change his mind, but follows through being a protector because it’s all he knows instead of the destroyer he was born to be. What truly motivates him to stick to this path are his inner circle that cares for him deeply. Selma Blair still makes Liz interesting in her given time because her love for him is bigger than ever now that they’re official. While she is different from him due to her desire to be organized, she knows he’ll do alright in being.a parent alongside her, thus taking the same risk he did for her. They quit together because they know they would want their babies to see the world for themselves rather than see it from afar. And although we never got a follow-up on how parenting worked out for this couple, I’m sure they’ll be better than they expected. Moving on, Doug Jones is still great as Abe because he is at his most gentle despite partaking in some of the action. He falls in love for the first time and doesn’t know how to respond appropriately, thus thinking it was valid for him to risk the world for it the way his friends did. As much as I would be glad he feels something that made him a bit happy, his actions weren’t worth it and he does the right thing quitting too because he wasn’t gonna continue representing people that weren’t appreciating him or his friends. I mean Jeffrey Tambor really pissed us off with the over the top hard ass for not realizing he’s willing to sacrifice one ally who was most loyal and could’ve destroyed the world had he not been raised right. Luckily, there was someone else that was willing to notice his heroic efforts. With Seth Macfarlane as the voice over and both John Alexander & James Dodd, Johann was his own scene stealer because he was most knowledgeable and used it in most compassionate sense. That was enough for him to see that despite being reckless, Hellboy still cared more than people presume, thus quitting as well. On the other side of the coin, Luke Goss made Nuada a compelling villain because he believes he’s doing right by what’s left of his people to restore whatever power they once had. He was too comfortable being superior and after spending decade seeing humans at their worst, he still feels he’d be doing a favor to be a merciless leader compared to his dad. He calls himself Silverlance because he genuinely thinks his actions are the silver lining the world needs. Thankfully, his sister didn’t share the same opinion. Anna Walton was a standout as well because as Nuala, she is her brother’s polar opposite because she’s instead gentle & assertive which is why Abe is enamored with her when they meet and I’m sure she saw that in him too. Her death is sad because as she much as didn’t want to kill herself & her brother, she knew she had to stop him no matter what and knowing he’d never stop with his goal, she felt it was the only way. It does suck for Abe because he’s likely not gonna meet anyone like her, but at the very least, he’ll always remember him fondly. With the fact that humanity will still go through many cases of possible damnation, I will not doubt Hellboy will always be the unique protector no matter how much people will doubt him and his family. This movie was so much fun, but there were so many things that confused me upon rewatching where I prefer the first film. For instance, how has no one in the subway ever noticed Nuada do his training? If he killed anybody who did spot him, that should be noted. The same can be said on how no one has ever stumbled the king’s quarters  before if it’s so easy for his son to find it. Heck, it’s so random that Red encourages the cats to roam about while Liz is on fire. It even feels a little dumber he doesn’t notice the remains of what the tooth fairies had when they took the first step inside. I also don’t see the point of the tooth fairies not roaming around NY if all they do is eat. Moving on, it was totally on Wink to not keep his eye on Nuala. I know he was helping the prince take on those henchmen but if he knew she had the last piece of the crown, she was way more of a priority. And personally, Krauss should’ve just done his thing to open the door while Hellboy was arguing with the troll. I would also agree with many that Nuala should’ve stopped wearing the Royal Seal bracelet if she didn’t want someone like Abe to spot her. Also, Red could’ve sent the baby back to its mom if he wanted it safe. If anything can be dumber than that, I’d point out how the public chooses to criticize him when he just saved the city. While I do respect Red for listening to Abe on not hurting the prince, but it’s totally stupid that none of the other agents bothered trying for the greater good. Now, would it really be a false equivalence for Abe’s love for Nuala to be comparable to Red & Liz when it comes to letting the world end just to save who they love? Abe only knew her for a day whereas the latter couple have been together for years, so it doesn’t feel fair for him to defend his case when the unconditional love he seems to feel doesn’t match the way it should. Lastly, when exactly did Liz find out she was having twins? It would’ve not hurt to see her have a private ultrasound because it never seemed like she had the time to figure that out. Ignore this, then you’ll have a blast like before. In short, Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a fun sequel that was clever enough to keep its creative formula intact within new territory. If you enjoyed the first one deeply, I’m positive you’ll dig this as well.