Hellboy 2 (Guillermo del Toro, 2008)

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tavernier · #26 Post by **tavernier** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:49 am

Armond unsurprisingly hates it.

His main complaint?

Del Toro's monster movie routines lack the freshness of hearing The Ting Tings vivify the crisis of identity that Hellboy bungles.

Well, OK then.

#27 Post by **domino harvey** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:52 am

Has a misguided attempt at hipness ever backfired so spectacularly? =D>

Murdoch · #28 Post by **Murdoch** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:57 am

Wow, he really hates Del Toro, and yet he speaks positively of Little Nicky. #-o

moviscop · #29 Post by **moviscop** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:00 am

domino harvey wrote:Has a misguided attempt at hipness ever backfired so spectacularly?

The Ting Tings scintillating new single, "That's Not My Name." Once the song's chorus begins ("They call me Hell..."), The Ting Tings make Hellboy's campy, bad = good subversiveness seem like a stack of dusty old comic books. It reveals that today's comics-movies and their easily specious Pop attitudes distance us from realizing our own identities.

sounds like the guy is making a point, not making a statement about a band or anything of the sort... they were in the soundtrack.

#30 Post by **domino harvey** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:00 am

It is fitting that with poor taste in film comes poor taste in music

bjeggert82 · #31 Post by **bjeggert82** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:59 pm

Ugh, what a disappointment. And speaking of music, Danny Elfman cheapened this movie with every last note. Has he done anything new since Edward Scissorhands?

All of the edge from the first was gone. Suddenly every character is comic relief. The movie was a flat-out comedy that didn't take itself seriously. Really surprising, because I respect Del Toro and his craft, but he's completely thrown away the tone and dynamic of the first Hellboy. All-out monsters and no humans feels lacking in humanity, no matter how cheeky your main character is...

Antoine Doinel · #32 Post by **Antoine Doinel** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 3:10 pm

tavernier wrote:Armond unsurprisingly hates it.

His main complaint?

Del Toro's monster movie routines lack the freshness of hearing The Ting Tings vivify the crisis of identity that Hellboy bungles.
Well, OK then.

I guess Armond just got a new iPod.

Awesome Welles · #33 Post by **Awesome Welles** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:02 pm

I saw this yesterday and have to saw I found it to be utterly boring. I wasn't a fan of the first really, which I thought was ok and had some nice set pieces and suffered from a poor finale but with this I just found it to get increasingly boring as it dragged on.

There are certain things you can expect, for those that haven't seen the first and discovered Del Toro post Pan's Labyrinth the film retreads some old ground by beginning in 1955 and introducing Hell Boy and giving some background on the current adventure. This was fine and even slightly amusing if a bit clunky. Skip to the present and I immediately thought it's going to be the same movie again! It wasn't because this didn't have any of the (small amount of) wit and charm of the first. Luke Goss returns from Del Toro's Blade 2 and plays essentially the same role only with way too much additional flying around kicking and flipping a weapon that I'm sure eight year olds will love but I found utterly tedious and stupid. What suprised me most was that Del Toro seems to have let the second unit make all the decisions as the films lacks any visual panache or grace - it's clunky and boring. The script is also a bit flat and doesn't make the most of it's dramatic potential. There is one good sequence towards the end

Spoiler

where Hellboy and Luke Goss duke it out on some turning cogs into which Hellboy climbs in and out constantly surprising Goss. It's good tension well directed and reminded me of Spielberg

but that's it.

EDIT: Oh and something people might want to answer when they've seen it:

Spoiler

Why does everyone turn into Caramac when they die?

#34 Post by **Finch** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:10 pm

Pity you didn't like it FSimeoni. I'm all the more surprised because the film was getting good reviews from critics whom I rate

4 stars from Walter Chaw, A- from Nick Schager, 3 stars from Jeremiah Kipp at Slant

Wasn't a fan of the original to be honest, found it entertaining but nothing more. I'm still hoping that the new film delivers for me personally. Did you get into a press screening? I thought the film doesn't open in the UK until mid-August.

Awesome Welles · #35 Post by **Awesome Welles** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:52 pm

I saw it through work at a Universal exhibitors screening. I suspect people who liked the first will enjoy this. I'd be interested to read reviews as I haven't seen any for either film, I just can't imagine what people really like about either film, both fail as action films in my opinion let alone sci-fi, fantasy, comic book adaptations or whatever you want to call them.

Antoine Doinel · #36 Post by **Antoine Doinel** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 1:40 am

Schwarzenegger vs. Hellboy

Fletch F. Fletch · Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:43 pm

I'm a fan of the first film and I thought that this one was even better. It was definitely funnier (the one liners were much better this time out) and the characters were more developed. Aside from the quick recap at the beginning (to bring people who haven't seen the first film up to speed) I liked how Del Toro developed the relationship between Hellboy and Liz and their relationship problems. Basically, Hellboy is a big, overgrown teenager and seems to have that mentality and I felt that by the end of the film he had matured somewhat. At least, as much as you can in this kind of film. Also, the antagonistic relationship between Hellboy and Johann Krauss was pretty damn funny.

There was also plenty of visual eye candy - lots of cool looking monsters esp. in the Troll market which almost seemed like Del Toro's affectionate nod to the Cantina scene in A New Hope. It was a pleasant time waster and I was never bored at any point - in fact, I found very entertaining.

Sounds like the DVD release of this is going to be pretty snazzy.

Golden DVD Plans for 'Hellboy II
Author: FRED TOPEL
[email protected]
Posted: July 11, 2008

Hellboy II: The Golden Army hits theaters July 11, but director Guillermo del Toro is ahead of the game with his home video plans.

“We start the DVD the day the screenplay gets approved,” del Toro said. “Javier Soto and I, we’ve been working on the DVD since day zero. He was there the first day we opened the offices. He has been documenting every step of the movie.”

Fans of del Toro’s previous extensive DVDs can look forward to the same wealth of material for Hellboy II.

“I like to let a very generous landscape come out for fans because I know the casual fan will never dwell into the DVD extras, really,” del Toro said. “But the kid who has no money to go to film school who wants to do short films, and do effects and do this and do that, can browse that the way I browsed Forry Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland or Starlog or Fangoria and listen and learn some of the craft.”

The model for del Toro was his director’s cut of the first Hellboy film.

“We have more content than we can shake a large stick at,” he said. “We we’re very proud of the Hellboy special-edition director’s cut, which was three discs, and we want to top it.”

However, fans shouldn’t expect a longer cut of the sequel.

“It’s the same as what I said in Blade II. All the deleted scenes are deleted because they were crappy. If you want to see them, that’s your problem. I think scenes that don’t work sometimes are good scenes or bad scenes, but they are taken out, and learning why they were taken out is very useful. As you direct and as you work, sometimes the most beautiful shot is the one that gets in the way of the storytelling, so you end up taking it out. I think it’s good schooling to know that. That crane that you spent half a day choreographing and beautiful Hitchcockian push-in, that’s the one you have to cut out. It’s nice for kids to learn that.”

The only problem may be for collectors. Since Hellboy was a Sony Pictures release and Hellboy II comes from Universal Studios, a DVD set of the two films is unlikely.

“I know, isn’t that a bitch to figure out?” he said. “I have the same concern, and I think the answer is we won’t unless someone strikes a deal that no one wants to make. I think that if at all possible I think the second and [eventual] third movie would get a package, but the first one won’t be there.”

tavernier · #38 Post by **tavernier** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:45 pm

Fletch F. Fletch wrote:There was also plenty of visual eye candy - lots of cool looking monsters esp. in the Troll market which almost seemed like Del Toro's affectionate nod to the Cantina scene in A New Hope.

I didn't know anybody other than Lucas himself calls this A New Hope - it's fucking Star Wars, dammit!

Fletch F. Fletch · Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:46 pm

tavernier wrote:
Fletch F. Fletch wrote:There was also plenty of visual eye candy - lots of cool looking monsters esp. in the Troll market which almost seemed like Del Toro's affectionate nod to the Cantina scene in A New Hope.
I didn't know anybody other than Lucas himself calls this A New Hope - it's fucking Star Wars, dammit!

heh. sorry 'bout that. I just wanted to make sure that I was clear which one I was talking about and I sure didn't want to call it Ep. IV.

tavernier · #40 Post by **tavernier** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:47 pm

That's quite alright - but I think we all know which ep. you're referring to if you just say Star Wars.

davebert · #41 Post by **davebert** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:58 pm

Yeah, I really enjoyed the film as well... I liked the original Hellboy, too. I get what the complaints are regarding the dark elf's deft swordplay, which I found boring and far less intense than the hand-to-hand fights like the one Hellboy had with the sidekick monster, but it did really have an effect on the audience: the talkative group I had behind me kept going "OH SHIT!" every time he did another backflip or whatever. It's like they've never seen a kung fu movie. Oh well.

The creatures were still fantastic, I did think the dialogue was better and the relationship between Hellboy and Liz more complex. The new gasbag character was a great character design, but I feel like the people who worship at Seth McFarlane's feet as the new king of comedy are grossly misguided.

On the whole, though, this was great matinee entertainment, and I hope the B.O. returns justify a trilogy with more doom and gloom.

Jean-Luc Garbo · #42 Post by **Jean-Luc Garbo** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:40 am

I hope a third film comes along because this one felt too transitional.

The troll market struck me as a Gaiman-esque touch a la Neverwhere.

Marcel Gioberti · #43 Post by **Marcel Gioberti** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:56 pm

What a shame that there's going to be 100 pages written on this forum, a la IMDB's fawning teenage girls, about The Dark Knight.

Hellboy II deserves a lot more love than this...

Cde. · #44 Post by **Cde.** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 12:59 pm

You can say that again.

Saw this today. Pretty damn fun. The action scenes are clunky, but functional. The tone of this film is wonderfully strange (Guillermo Del Toro continues to produce the weirdest Hollywood blockbusters out there) and the script is witty, even if it lacks some of the subtlety (it's a stretch to call it that) of the original. There are some pacing issues and the endless indulgence of the director's monster obsession is a blessing as well as a curse, but set-pieces like the forest-god sequence make it worthwhile. It is strange that for a man so gripped by fantasy and comic-book concepts and stylings he seems more interested in character dynamics than fight sequences.

I'd say this is better than the first as well as Pan's Labyrinth. Del Toro's sensibility is not a 'mature' one, so I think he does best with projects like this.

starmanof51 · #45 Post by **starmanof51** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:42 pm

Marcel Gioberti wrote:What a shame that there's going to be 100 pages written on this forum, a la IMDB's fawning teenage girls, about The Dark Knight.

Just wanted to point out that the Dark Knight thread is getting bogged down in the 30s, so its not as bad as all that. Cheer up, Marcel!

#46 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:34 am

Ron Perlman went through the full four-hour makeup routine for a Make a Wish kid.

knives · #47 Post by **knives** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:16 am

That's very sweet of him, but he has always seemed very nice.

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