Review of Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) by Amheretojudge — 20 Jun 2019

When was the last time you enjoyed a song in a commercial film, you will leave the screen humming, in love.

Hellboy: The Golden Army Del Toro is good. Simply good. The writer and director, Guillermo Del Toro, is back on the franchise andWhen was the last time you enjoyed a song in a commercial film, you will leave the screen humming, in love.

Hellboy: The Golden Army.

Del Toro is good. Simply good. The writer and director, Guillermo Del Toro, is back on the franchise and smartly, the last time. After compromising aplenty in the first installment, Del Toro is set loose and a beat of his own drum in this chapter. And going full "nerd", if I can, he has sprinkled so much of mythology in this comic book world that he might as well had started from the scratch. And comes with theses fantasies, is one particular scene to drool over. And in here, similar to George Lucas's Star Wars cantina scene, Del Toro is flexing his muscles and opening the box that, I think, came from his basement in his house.

He cannot hide his love. In fact, it is more intimate than The Shape Of Water itself, since there is more room in this world to roam about, he is sticking out branches with wit and guest appearances every now and then. He ups the ante on the previous chapter's questioned action sequences, with fast forward techniques and brilliant editing. But, that is not all. The sword fight might as well be distraction.

Walk through a huge battle scene that comes in the middle of the film. His action isn't particularly action. It is a decision. Del Toro deciding to live up to the size of the banner and commercial cinema as they call it, and not compromising the art behind the razzle dazzle. And so is Ron Pearlman, put with the same decision making issue, a pivotal scene in the film and for the arc of the character. He isn't punching his way out of that antic, there is shame, depression, politics and ethics involved in that scene. Eradicating a problem isn't the problem, the problem is dealing with the aftermath result that takes a toll on him, on Hellboy.