Hellboy II: The Golden Army [Blu-ray] | List Price: $39.98
Discount Price: $21.99
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Brand: Universal
Binding: Blu-ray
Release Date: 2008-11-11
4.5 Stars: A good old-fashioned dark fairy tale [Posted on 2008-11-17]
Guillermo del Torro is one of the most visionary directors working the scene right now; watch "Pan's Labyrinth" if you have any doubts. Or watch "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." At first, it's a horrible title--kinda cheesy. But after watching the movie, you get it: This is a fairy tale, more Grimm than Anderson, with a hero who is destined to bring about the destruction of mankind. Sounds like a real trooper.
In "Golden Army," Red and his comrades must face a...well...a golden army. Actually, they must first try and stop Prince Nuada, an elf warrior who is tired of mankind ignoring and spitting on his people. He aims to raise the Golden Army from their ancient slumber, and set them loose upon the world. And only a hellspawn (that would be our White Knight) can stop him. There's just one catch: Prince Nuada is more than a match for humankind, and may even be more powerful than our beloved hero.
"Golden Army" is a visual delight: I don't even want to term the images we see as "special effects;" they are simply more realistic, more vital, than that limited term implies. The first "Hellboy" was an impressive little action diddy, but little more; "Golden Army" is a tour-de-force, a treat to the senses. The effects (I guess I have to use the word, after all) are stunning. The dialogue is quick and furious; this movie is almost as funny as it is impressive. The acting is superb; Ron Perlman, as always, manages to charm (and, let's face it, make us just a tad bit uneasy). His rapport with teammates Selma Blair and Doug Jones (who plays multiple roles, as he did in "Pan's Labyrinth") is genuine and engaging. Luke Goss, as the evil Prince Nuada, is a scene-stealer, a thoroughly menacing character; Goss manages, even, to bring a bit of nuance to the Prince, making him for of a tragic figure (as fits the fairy tale backdrop). Seth MacFarlane (yes, the "Family Guy" Seth MacFarlane) brings a bit of sly grace to the character of Johann Krauss, bringing what could have been a cliched character his own little personality.
And, see, that's the thing about "Hellboy II": nothing here is cliched. It could have been; but it isn't. Because this movie is a fairy tale: one gigantic, action-packed fairy tale, albeit one where the lines between good and evil aren't quite so discernable, and our hero is destined to be our destroyer. But that's del Torro for you: He never plays completely by the rules; he always manages to bend them to his will. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" is simply a stunner, and much more than a comic book movie, or even a sequel. This is a movie to delight and entertain...but also, perhaps, to make us think about ourselves and the world around us. It's a secondary goal, to be sure, but it's there...it's there...somewhere behind the bone-eating tooth fairies and the cat-eating trolls.
Great Movie [Posted on 2008-11-17]
Received my copy from amazon last week and is awesome. The Picture is very clear, dark areas looks great, the sound and the extras amazing. You can't cry for it, is a bargain for this price.
Hellboy II - war is heck [Posted on 2008-11-17]
I purchased Hellboy II after reading a number of the reviews at Amazon. The first flick was enjoyable and I thought the second would be better. Turns out I was wrong. The special effects were generally good and the action sequences fair to good with the fight scene between the dark elf and HB at the end the most enjoyable. The exception is the an early scene in which HB and crew try to fight off thousands of tiny fairies with single shot pistols - the only victims of the fairy mass attacks were the non-essential characters which makes the fight seem contrived HOWEVER the main problem with HBII is the dialogue which is simple and insipid and utterly lacking in imagination - the humor aims for the lowest common denominator and at times lapses into slapstick - poorly done slapstick at that. My advice - do not buy this movie before you screen it.
Glenn
An entertaining horror-comedy blockbuster [Posted on 2008-11-17]
"Hellboy II", ably directed by Guillermo Del Toro, picks up where the last film left off -- Hellboy is still working for a super-secret government agency in charge of cleaning up (and covering up) supernatural events. And he's still a rebel, blowing things up and punching folks out as the mood strikes him. Del Toro and his crew clearly had a lot of fun making this, with a flippant, what-the-heck attitude coming through in every scene. The film cheerfully references "Lord Of The Rings," "Indiana Jones," "The Mummy" and any number of action-y movies -- including Del Toro's own work, with some demons that look an awful lot like the creepy guys in "Pan's Labyrinth." The easygoing air of not taking things too seriously makes this enjoyable, although the Hellboy series still seems to be finding its legs in some ways, particularly with the characters finding their voices... Selma Blair's Liz character still seems a bit flat, and Ron Perlman occasionally seems to be phoning in his scenes, but Doug Jones steals the show as the aquatic C3PO-ish Abe, and a new character -- the ectoplasmic, half-robotic group leader Krauss -- is a fascinating addition to Hellboy's Scooby Gang. Another sequel is sure to follow, particularly since we've been given tantalizing glimpses of HB's hellish royal lineage. This installment was entertaining -- I'm sure HB3 will be fun as well! (Joe Sixpack, Slipcue film reviews)
One hell of a sequel! [Posted on 2008-11-18]
The big red man known as Hellboy (Ron Perlman) with his fellow B.P.R.D. member Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and girlfriend Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) returns for more monster hunting. This time an evil Elf prince named Nauda (Luke Gross) who lives in the underworld where fairies and other magical beings rule as he has murdered his father and has obtains two special parts of a magical crown to control an ancient army of warriors called The Golden Army who has been said to be industructable beings. His twin sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) has the final piece as she runs away with it to hide the object before he can get his hands on it. The Bearau Of Paranormal Research and Defense leaded by Agent Manning (Jeffery Tambor) with new ectoplasmic spirit creature recruit Dr. Johann Kruass (Voiced by Seth McFarland and played by John Alexander) all join forces with Hellboy, Liz and Abe to investigate the bizarre incidents that occurred in the city of New York. Once they discover a mystical underworld of magic, that's when the battle between good and evil begins as Big Red himself must stop the evil prince before humanity is lost.
A grand and spectacular follow-up to Guillermo Del Toro's brilliant and underrated instant cult horror fantasy comedy adventure "Hellboy" manages to succeeded more then the original. The man who brought you the modern masterpiece "Pan's Labyrinth" Del Toro who co-wrote, produced and directed this movie has delivered another fine film is his as he's now one of the most visionary directors in recent memory. The storyline is quite good including the acting, there's a good sense of humor like the memorable Hellboy singing along to Barry Manillow while being drunk scene. An excellent mix of puppetry, CGI and make-up effects for the imaginative creatures in this feature, a very cool prologue featuring a young Hellboy with a cameo by John Hurt and of course some heart with a moral about power & self-sacrifice with the power of love. The action sequences are also outstanding to go along with this film, now here's a rare sequel that can surpass the original and any fan of fantasy, action, horror and even the comics would enjoy this movie.
This 2-disc Blu-Ray is outstanding stuff as it features mind-blowing picture and sound that will blow you away. The Extras are incredible such as the Blu-Ray exclusive U-Control features like Concept art Gallery to view the art during the movie, Director's Notebook as it tells Del Toro notebook with sketches, notes and inteviews including Behind The Scenes tour through the Hellboy 2 set during the movie as it also views alternate takes from the movie and more stuff. There's also an Scene Explorer Google View that explore on-screen action from four different Perspectives with this multi-angel feature. There's also a two hour look at the making of Hellboy 2 called "Hellboy: In Service of the Demon", Deleted scenes with optional director commmentary, BD-Live Features including share your own comic book as you can build, publish and send your friends on BD-Live scenes from the movie as a comic, cTroll Market tour with Del Toro, Epilogue Animated Comic, disc 2 intro, DVD-Rom: Script, Print gallery and Poster Explorations galleries.
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