Hellboy II: The Golden Army

While we were waiting to buy our tickets for the second Hellboy my mate started talking about how he had been watching Terminator 2 for the first time in years the night before. We got to talking about how great it is and that it's like that in spite of an extremely flimsy plot that only really serves to set up the modules of action. But what modules they are, so good that you forgive the plot almost entirely for its misgivings. Why is this relevant? Well Hellboy the second is very much in the Judgment Day style of film making.

The plot involves an Elfen prince looking to resurrect some army of robots to kill mankind. Shamefully what this means is a lot of "we need to find whatchamacallit before he does as he needs it to do thingamyjiggy" story threads. It really does just act as the excuse for some stunning set-pieces, made all the more so by Del Toro's unbelievable eye and imagination. Take for instance the Troll Market, a world so wonderfully realised it deserves its own daily soap opera just to cover everyone and everything in it. Or the Forrest God's demise, up there with Wall.E's space waltz for sheer beauty. Then there's the action itself, such as the great Tooth Fairy fight at the start and the showdown between Hellboy and Prince Nuada amongst giant rotating cogs.

To put it simply Del Toro is in full Pan's Labyrinth mode when it comes to the creative side. Most of the creatures (The Angel Of Death, the Tooth Fairies) seem to have come straight from that world. So it's frustrating then that the plot at times is so lacking. Hellboy 2 brings up a problem that has been evident in Del Toro's more generic Hollywood fare. As he has gotten more successful, and thus is given more money to work with his visuals have gotten more incredible, basically because he now has the financial resources to realise some of his greater leaps of fancy. But the plots of these movies suffer, maybe Del Toro is of the position that Hollywood doesn't want complexity, or more simply he's just more interested in the visual aspect now that he can effectively do what he likes. Of course this is at odds with his smaller, Spanish productions. While they still look amazing, and are alive with ideas, so are the stories attached to them. Is it because the smaller budget reigns him in, forcing him to work more with the actual story, or some sort of Euro film ideal at work? It's difficult to say, but it certainly is evident in everything that he has done.

The thing is Hellboy 2 is a darn fine film. For all of its flimsy plotting it does get a lot right. The performances are all great, and the humour is perfectly pitched. Whereas the comic aspects of some of these movies may feel like they have been shoehorned in (Spiderman 3, anyone?) Hellboy's comic moments feel natural because theirs is a ridiculous world populated by old Scottish women who are actually cat-eating trolls, and the characters aren't Superman, they're all deeply flawed individuals trying to work out relationships ane their own place in the world. The scene where Hellboy and Abe get wasted and talk girls is maybe the best part of the entire film. Add to all this the presence of the likes of the brilliant Jeffrey Tambor and the inclusion of the Seth MacFarlane voiced German gas bloke Johann Krauss and you actually have one of the year's funnier movies. And then there's Hellboy himself, a total dick as the hero. being brought up as a human, albeit one that looks very different, has left him as imperfect as the rest of us. the fact that he straddles the two worlds at the cusp of war makes his position even more difficult, especially as he's in love with a human, even if he never does seem to do what she wants.

So it's a shame that again the flimsy scripting lets it down. The idea of how Hellboy chooses what side to fight for is underdeveloped. He was raised as a human, but humans don't accept him and yet he fights his own kind to protect them. It's an issue that should have raised some more complex thoughts and emotions than him stopping for a second before shooting anyway. And Hellboy's not the only one. Prince Nuada is a very sympathetic villian, very well played by that bloke who used to be in Bros, who actually is right in a lot of the things he says in relation to mankind. And yet for all the sadness and struggle it brings him to take the drastic action he proposes in the end he still just feels a bit like "the baddie of the week" in a Buffy episode. Mind you, he at least has some character about him which is more than can be said for Princess Nuala, his twin sister. She's little more than a device, at turns allowing Nuada to find our heroes, for them to find an item they need, or to give Abe a romantic interest that pulls him into a story that could easily have left him behind, although I'm glad he wasn't.

It's difficult what to make of Hellboy II: the Golden Army. To read this review back you'd think that apart from some aspects I didn't like it, but that is to the contrary. I found myself genuinely loving it for the most part. Visually it's stunning, from the marionette-style opening backstory of who the Golden Army are, to the desolate city underneath the Giant's Causeway. The action is great and the film is hilarious in parts, mainly thanks to some endearing characters. And it raises some grand ideas. Where it falls flat is in the execution of those, it's at times lackadaisical plot and the visually disappointing eponymous robot hordes who just aren't as terrifying as they should be. Personally I think how much you'll enjoy Hellboy 2 will come down to your expectations beforehand. If you want Del Toro in full Pan's Labyrinth mode then outside the visuals you'll be let down big time. On the other hand if you're just looking for a fun movie then this is perfect for you. It's a great popcorn movie, and yet the feeling is it could have been something a whole lot more. As it is it's equal parts brilliant and frustrating.