Hellboy II: The Golden Army

If only all the studios farmed their blockbusters out to their best directors. Following on from Ang Lee’s Hulk and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, who wouldn’t want to see a disaster film by Paul Thomas Anderson or a Shane Meadows aliens movie?

Thankfully, one particular match-up is a reality. When Universal turned to Guillermo del Toro to make something of their Hellboy franchise, he was the relatively unknown though undoubtedly creative director responsible for the horror films ‘Cronos’ and ‘Mimic’.

Since the first Hellboy film and the wonderful Pan’s Labyrinth his stock has risen, but the old studio tendency to play it safe when choosing a director for a blockbuster film could still have reared its ugly head. In contrast, the next Terminator film is to be directed by McG, a man seemingly lacking in a surname and responsible for Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and The O.C.But the Hellboy films demand imagination and Del Toro has that in bucketfuls. In this second instalment, he has again opted to go beyond the creation of a movie; Hellboy II is its own world, populated with so many memorable characters as to embarrass other directors.

As in the first Hellboy, the plot is important but a whole raft of background knowledge isn’t required and the audience could feasibly skip the first one and go straight to this (though the question remains - why would you want to?) The mythical world is starting a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth; only Hellboy and his team stand in their way.

The comic book from which this derives is clearly the first source of inspiration, but even more so than in the first film, Del Toro has used this as a jump-off point for his own imagination. Anyone who has seen Pan’s Labyrinth will have been struck by his ability to create jaw-dropping creatures and Hellboy II is full of such beasts which seem to have been plucked from a childhood nightmare – Del Toro’s subconscious laid bare on the screen.
Surprisingly, he has also crafted an extremely loveable main character, appearances notwithstanding. Ron Perlman, in the role of his career, provides a very modern superhero, full of insecurities but still able to step up to the requisite superhero moments. He also supplies much of the film’s humour which acts as a necessary counterpoise to the startling action sequences.
In the summer of Batman, he may get overlooked. But just as with the caped crusader, Hellboy has reinvented the summer blockbuster, the comic book film and the studio system in one fell swoop. Now, if only they could get the Coen Brothers to do that Terminator film.

Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Luke Goss, John Hurt  
Certificate: 12A
Runtime: 120 minutes (approx)
Release: 20th August 2008

Alistair Kleebauer