Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2008) Movie Review

Thousands of years earlier Prince Nuada’s (Goss) father had promised a truce between the mythical and the human world but as the human lay waste to the planet and the mythical creatures are forced out of their promised homes, the forests, Prince Nuada’s decides to declare war. With creature sightings increasing, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence (BPRD) are busier than ever and Hellboy (Perlman) sightings are increasing tenfold, much to his amusement. When it becomes clear that Prince Nuada is going to release the fabled Golden Army, an unstoppable force of legend that even Hellboy won’t be able to fight, the BPRD really has its hands full.

Hellboy is back and this time he might not have a god to fight but an unstoppable army might just put up a big enough fight to satisfy the big red demon.

With the first adaptation of ‘Hellboy’ becoming a cult classic you would have thought that Red’s second adventure would be a sure thing but when Sony didn’t pick up the option of a follow up, director Guillermo del Toro and creator Mike Mignola had to take the project elsewhere. Fortunately Universal saw the potential in a sequel and after the success del Toro’s last project ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ gained Oscar recognition, the writer/director was trusted to bring back Hellboy and the BPRD and he has done another fantastic job.

Picking up not long after the events of the first movie, ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ sees Hellboy and Liz’s relationship going through a tough time and when they fight, the whole of the BPRD knows it. What they don’t know is that trouble is brewing in the underworld, the place that the mythical creatures retreated to after the Great War between them and the humans. A truce was forged between King Balor and the humans after the king gained control of the Golden Army, an unstoppable, mystical force that would have decimated the world, if the King had not had shown restraint. Now, thousands of years later, King Balor’s son Prince Nuada sees that the human’s are breaking the truce by destroying the environment and the Earth itself and this is an act of war and he plans to release the Golden Army to purge the planet of human kind. Now Hellboy and Liz have to put their arguments behind them and join Abe Sapien and new commanding officer Johann Krauss to take the fight to the Prince and still try to keep their existence a secret from the humans. This story works because of director Guillermo del Toro’s collaboration with ‘Hellboy’ creator Mike Mignola and this makes this not just an extremely good comic book movie but a great fantasy movie in its own right.

The returning cast revel in their roles. Ron Perlman was born to play Hellboy and he eases back into the role he made his own in the previous film. Even under the layers of makeup, Perlman’s performance rings true as the big man shows a more tender and even frustrated side to Red, as his love for Liz turns into a relationship. Doug Jones gets the chance to make Abe Sapien his own character after having his voice replaced by David Hyde Pierce in the first film. Selma Blair returns as Liz Sherman and the chemistry between her and Ron Perlman is clearly evident, even though Liz doesn’t have as big a role as she did in the first movie. Jeffrey Tambor is as good as ever as the face of the BPRD who has to try and keep Hellboy a secret. There is also a nice return for John Hurt as Professor Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm in a flashback sequence. The new cast members are also good with former ‘Bros’ star Luke Goss showing that he can be a good screen villain, as he did for Guillermo del Toro in ‘Blade II’. ‘Family Guy’ creator Seth MacFarlane provides the voice for the new team leader Johann Krauss and he does a great German accent. There is also a good turn from Anna Walton as Abe’s love interest Princess Nuala.

‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ is a visually stunning, thoroughly entertaining, comic book fantasy movie. As with all Guillermo del Toro movies, he successfully mixes practical and computer generated effects, sets and backgrounds to create a fantastical vision of the human and mythical worlds. This is another fine example of how to adapt comic books to the silver screen and shows again how visually stunning Guillermo del Toro movies can really be.