Reviewed by Cassam Looch
Stars Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones,
Seth MacFarlane , Luke Goss, Anna Walton,
Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt, James Dodd
Written by Guillermo del Toro
Certification UK 12A | US PG-13
Runtime 120 minutes
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
So another comic book movie enters the already-crowded summer schedule. What’s more, this one is a sequel to a film that was only a moderate success at best and boasts a central character who is as unknown in the UK as he is ugly. Does this compare to the Dark Knight? Absolutely not. It may be a sequel, but Hellboy II fails to match up in any other category.
That maybe an unfair comparison, because there are no other films out this year that match up to the latest Batman (except maybe Wall•E), but such is life. And so the prophetic words uttered by The Joker to the Dark Knight ring true once more: “You’ve changed things … forever. There’s no goin’ back!” At the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Hellboy (Perlman) and his cohorts Abe Sapien (Jones) and girlfriend Liz (Blair) continue to work for the government, fighting off weird and wonderful creatures. As Hellboy discovers a level of fame that he had previously been protected from, he comes across Prince Nuada (Goss), who has returned from exile to wage war on humans — who, he says, destroyed his homelands while his father maintained an uneasy peace. The prince needs his twin sister, Nuala (Walton), to help him unleash the titular "golden army" — an unstoppable force that has lain dormant …. until now.
Whereas other comic book heroes try to maintain a pretence of realism (see this years "rebooted" Incredible hulk as a prime example of why this so rarely works), Hellboy knows its fantasy origins. The "baby" demon from hell raised by the Nazis and then RAISED by the allies could never pretend to be realistic, and so in the hands of a visual maestro like Del Toro we’re in for a treat. The creatures are beautifully realised, but they have no place within the story. Given that the director is now moving on to make The Hobbit, one feels at times that he has taken some of the cast-offs from there and crowbarred them in here. There is one notable exception to this, and what an exception it is. The best character in the film by a long way is the superb Johann Krauss, a German scientist turned to vapour and existing in a specially modified suit. Krauss is sci-fi gold and rescues the film with his timely introduction. Elsewhere the film and relationships seem forced, and although never lacking in the action and entertainment stakes, it does feel a little hollow. A half-hearted resolution doesn’t help matters, and although you won’t regret seeing Hellboy II, you probably won’t be able to remember it in a few weeks time.