Review of Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) by Julia O — 15 Feb 2013

Every once in awhile there comes a movie that defies the imagination. In the 70's you had Star Wars, 80's Back to the Future, 90's Pulp Fiction. Yet until now our generation has not had that.

I mean of course you could argue that the Lord of the Rings trilogy was that movie but for Lord of the Rings was not that movie. For me that movie is Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Every scene was pure imagination.

Every line of dialogue was magical. I will not discuss the story for most of you all know the story, but rather the parts that stuck out to me. First up the drinking scene. Hellboy and his buddy Abe are getting drunk and listening to Barry Manilow.

They both have girl trouble and this their way of letting out their emotions. Since their creatures from another world this only they can do it. But the scene has to be seen to understood and truly appreciate it.

Now the final fight scene between Hellboy and Prince Nuala ranks up there in the best superhero movie fights of all time. Its like if you took the best parts from the Doc Ock-Spidey fight from Spider-Man 2 and the Darth Vader-Luke Skywalker duel from Empire Strikes Back, and the rolled them into one.

I don't want to give too much away for its the finale. Throw in some rye Romero-esque satire and humor and you have yourself a grade A+ superhero fantasy epic. On a final note I'd like to take a little bit of time to discuss the fact that Del Torro used old fashion puppets and animatronics to create the monsters and instead of CGI.

Now a days all you see is CGI and it blows. CGI Hulk, CGI, Indiana Jones. It really sucks. But here comes along Hellboy 2 with awesome puppetry. Granted there were some CGI shots but they kept to a minimum.

Overall this movie is awesome and I think it will endure even with a Big Ole BAT coming very soon.