Review of Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) by Dan — 13 Sep 2008

Apart from the visuals which were quite impressive as we've come to expect from Guillermo's films, this movie was a real let-down. The CGI was, for the most part, impressive and the design, make-up,and props etc.

were great. I found some of the sets a bit dull and uninspired though. The action was adequate, exciting in places, but nowhere near as fast paced or exhilarating as many other films of the genre. Now on to the really bad stuff.

I found most of the performances by the actors in the film to be fairly flat, even Ron Pearlman's. The muffled, sometimes barely audible dialogue was so cheesy and juvenile it was almost unbearable (apart from a few mildly amusing one-liners).

The heartfelt moments in the film felt so contrived, I felt no connection with the characters whatsoever and really found myself cringing with embarrassment throughout many scenes. The movie had no real structure but was really just a bunch of scenes strung together and badly at that.

I thought many of the scenes were also quite pointless and had gaping plot holes. Also, considering the plot of the film, I found it lacking any real moments of drama, or any grand, awe-inspiring set-pieces.

Overall, a visually engaging but two dimensional film that will probably fail to touch audiences on any real emotional level which is what a great, even good movie should hope to do.