Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Director Guillermo del Toro’s eye for special effects serves him well once again in the second installment of the Hellboy franchise. In this chapter, an ancient civilization who many thought had long been extinguished, suddenly rears its head and wages war on the human race. By waging this war, the mythical world breaks a long treaty with the humans, putting mankind in considerable danger. The mythical people are lead by the evil and greedy Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), who is trying to get his hands on the three pieces of an ancient crown, lost along with the civilization. Once he has his hands on the full crown, Prince Nuada controls an the all powerful golden army, and the only person left standing in his way is Hellboy, (Ron Perlman). Hellboy’s sidekicks include a hodgepodge team of half-human half-mythical beings by the names of Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), Princess Nuada (Anna Walton), and Johann Krauss (played by James Dodd and voiced by Seth MacFarlane). Hellboy’s love interest Liz Sherman (Selma Blair, whom you might remember from the horror remake The Fog), is a mutant being who can conjure fire with her thoughts, (think of a telepathic Johnny Blaze). Here is the films theatrical one-sheet, my analysis is below:
The Theatrical One-Sheet for Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Going into this movie I was somewhat skeptical about the plot and the believability of the characters. I was plesantly surprised, however, when the film appeared to have more of a plot than the trailer let on. I found the romantic relationship between Hellboy and Liz very interesting, especially considering the fact that Liz has a surprise of her own for Hellboy at the end of the film. I also cannot say enough about the visual effects that Guillermo del Toro incorporated into the film. Many of del Toro’s characters also reminded me of the characters from his other cinematic masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth. All in all I give this film 3 out of 5 stars for its surprisingly entertaining plot and stunning visual effects.
