After two years from the first Hellboy movie, Hellboy II was finally released to rave reviews by both critics and fans alike. Fresh from his success from the Academy-nominated Pan’s Labyrinth, the super talented director Guillermo del Toro embarks on another fantastical journey into the world of fairies armed with a very big budget and support from Universal Studios. When it was released in malaysia recently, the super sensitive people of the censorship board have decided to keep the title intact without having it changed to Super Sapiens II: The Golden Army. They were probably hoping that the golden army would steer away people’s attention from the word hell in hellboy or simply because having the words hell and gold in the same sentence makes everything more acceptable. Well enough said, here’s what I think about the latest summer blockbuster, Helloy II: The Golden Army.
Throughout the movie, I could’t help but notice the many similarities this movie have with a few movies released over the past few years. It felt almost like a deja-vu or is it just lack of sleep (i was fresh from a night shift the day before) or is it simply, the director’s intention to pay his homage to the many fantasy movies that have somehow inspired him one way or the other? God knows.
Warning: spoilers ahead, for those of you who haven’t had the privilege to catch this movie, please refrain yourselves from reading this review any further.
Men in Black
- The scene where a BPRD agent (dressed in black and white), walked down the corridors of the BPRD HQ with Abe Sapien and in the background, more BPRD agents (more people dressed in black and white) wrestled with a giant squid and other furry creatures of the paranormal world.
- The scene where all the BPRD agents got eaten up by tooth-fairies and only the main members of the BPRD i.e. Hellboy & friends are safe. The rest of the team i.e. normal human beings without any apparent supernatural abilities got eaten up no matter how good they are at shooting the little critters.
Hero (and other gongfu movies released after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
- The scene where Prince Nuada was practising some gongfu moves using a long spear, with water dropping from above looks very similair to the opening fight scene in the movie Hero right down to the close-up, slow-mo scene of the spear cutting a drop of water in half.
- The scene where Prince Nuada fights a group of palace guards, sliding and gliding here and there with moves that looks like dancing rather than fighting looks very much at home with recently released gongfu movies.
Star wars
- The troll market reminds me a lot of the marketplace on planet Tattooine, with all sort of ugly creatures just acting ugly in the very busy lanes of the market.
Lara Croft: The Tomb Raider
- The ghost city of Bathmoora complete with its golden hall with all those spinning whatevers while Hellboy’s ass got kicked around by Prince Nuada reminds me of the spinning globes in the first Lara Croft movie.
Carrie
- Carrie burns up when she gets angry and so does Liz Sherman. Liz Sherman is no way like the Flame from Fantastic Four since he only burns up when he’s horny.
Princess Mononoke
- The forest god in this movie reminds me of the forest god in the movie princess mononoke by hayao miyazaki. After getting its head severed by greedy hunters, the forest god in the form of a magnificient stag transforms to a huge green monster like the one in this movie.
Well, don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoyed this movie very, very much that I consider watching it for the second time sometimes next week. The visual effects are simply stunning, the creatures out of this world (my favorite being the angel of death), the storyline engaging, liz sherman having hellboy’s baby, abe sapien in love with a telepathic elf princess, a handsome kick-ass elf prince that can kick legolas’s ass anytime of the day and the end of BPRD itself when all the key members including the latest addition to the motley crew, johann kraus quits the team for good.
Will there be Hellboy III? I sure think so.
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