Hellboy should go to Hell

The sequel, that follows up the 2004 “Hellboy”, bypasses the details of Hellboy’s origin story but starts with the child demon hearing a legend from his stepfather (John Hurt), a tale about an ancient warfare between humans and elves. Elves forged a Golden Army of emotionless mechanical soldiers, who easily beat up all the enemies of their creator. The army follows no one but the lord who wears the special golden crown. Then, after long years of fear and blood, there was a truce. The humans got the cities and the elves got the forests.  To ensure the peace, the crown of the Golden Army was divided into three; one part was guarded by the humans, one by the elfin king and one by the elfin Princess Nuala (Anna Walton; “The Mutant Chronicles”, 2007).
But Princess Nuala’s twin brother, the ice-cold Prince Nuada (Luke Goss, “One Night with the King” 2006) feels that humans have cheated on the deal by living in a lavish civilization full of parking lots and shopping malls. He is determined to reunite the three pieces of the crown and set the fearless army against the humans.
But all is not lost. There comes Hellboy (Ron Perlman, “Enemy at the Gates” 2001, “Alien: Resurrection” 1997), the warmhearted red demon and his sidekicks to save the day.

Terrible plot

Unfortunately, Prince Nuada’s motivation to destroy the humankind is rough and unmindful, which negligence makes the whole story uninteresting. It is supposed to be the criticism of the consumer society of the 21st century but all it becomes is a demagogic and forgettable fairy tale.
In addition, elves are famous for their beauty, which was so perfectly portrayed by Cate Blanchett in “The Lord of the Rings”. But in Hellboy II, for some mysterious reason, these should-be-wonderful creatures are pictured as scary fuddy-duddies.
Ron Perlman portrays Hellboy with a good sense of humor but even his play cannot help the stupid dialogue and the weak jokes.
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” is, at least, spectacular and includes titanic battles on the streets of Manhattan and a long Star-Wars-like scene on the troll market where all types of creatures from monsters to goblins are carefully pictured.
The shining visuals are a Hungarian success. “Hellboy II” is the first movie shot in the Korda Studio in Etyek, near Budapest.
This film is considered a family-movie. Indeed, this messy fantasy world and the catching action scenes should entertain children under 12 or adults having hangover on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Hellboy

Running Time: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating:  PG-13  for some violence and language
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