Tweet
Released by: Universal Studios
Released on: November 11, 2008.
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Cast: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, Seth McFarlane, John Hurt
Year: 2008
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
When Guillermo del Toro's first attempt at brining Mike Mignola's Hellboy from the printed comic book page to the silver screen proved a success, it came as a surprise to no one that a sequel would soon follow. Hellboy and his fellow members of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development (or, B.P.R.D. for short) had plenty of adventures in the comics that inspired the film so it only made sense to make a second film and thankfully del Toro and star Ron Pearlman, in the role he was born to play, were brought back on board.
The film begins when a young Hellboy insists that his father read him a bedtime story one Christmas Eve. He tells him the tale of the Golden Army and how a magical world created 'seventy times seventy' soldiers to wage war on whomever they saw fit. Fast forward to the modern day and we see the adult Hellboy (Perlman) getting into an argument with his pyrotechnic girlfriend, Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) about their lifestyle. Hellboy's partner, Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) knows that Liz is pregnant with Hellboy's kid but Hellboy himself is completely unaware of this. When the man in charge of the unit, Agent Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor), sends the team out on their next mission, he insists that Hellboy be discrete this time around and try to stay out of the public eye but things soon go sour and before you know it everyone in the B.P.R.D. is on TV and instantly famous in and around New York City. Manning gets bumped and a new man, a German named Johann Krauss (Seth McFarlane), is brought in to oversee B.P.R.D. operations.
Their investigation leads them to a troll market hidden away to humans underneath the Brooklyn Bridge that in turn eventually leads them to Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) and her brother, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), a pair of middle earth types who have been living away from humankind for ages now. Prince Nuada, however, is ready to change that scenario and take back what he believes is rightfully his and in order to do that he intends to resurrect the Golden Army to use as he sees fit, all the while Abe falls head over heels for the kindly Princess…
Stylish, slick and lots of fun, Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a big budget monster mash with a heart. The romantic subplots give the characters a bit more depth than they would have had otherwise and as such, we're able to have enough sympathy for them and their plights that we can actually care about them here. Not that the film is sappy or overly sweet, but there are a couple of more tender moments here where key characters deal with their emotions and their own humanity or lack thereof. Perlman is once again fantastic as Hellboy - he's tough, gruff, smart alecky and he absolutely looks the part. His back and forth with Agent Manny, deftly portrayed by Tambor, is largely responsible for much of the film's effective comic relief while his relationship with Liz adds heart. Doug Jones is once again excellent as the quirky Abe Sapien while the addition of Seth McFarlane as Johann Krauss adds additioanl 'weird' to the mix - it all works. This is a very well cast film.
Del Toro keeps the action moving quickly, ensuring that there's plenty of spectacle to oooh and awww over. Typical for the director's work, there's a big Lovecraftian influence on many of the monster designs, something that del Toro was wise to carry over from Mignola's source material. There's plenty of monster on monster combat and action scenes aplenty, all of which are shot with a keen eye for detail, composition and color design. The film looks and sounds terrific and while it may not be the deepest picture you'll ever see, it's all 'big' fun. A Hollywood spectacle blockbuster of a picture? Absolutely, but del Toro makes it work. The film retains its edge thanks to his unique visual style and atypical casting choices. Here's hoping we see a third picture sooner rather than later…
Video/Audio/Extras:
Universal's 1080p AVC encoded anamorphic 1.85.1 transfer is fantastic. There are no problems with compression artifacts or edge enhancement nor are there any issues with print damage or heavy grain. The color scheme is beautifully rendered here and it's great to see the reds look so lush without them bleeding or looking over saturated. Detail levels are very strong except for some moments where it's obvious that the focus has been played with for artistic effect. The aquatic blues that are used in many scenes have a nice, cool tone to them while the black levels stay strong and deep throughout the entire film. Amazingly enough, shadow detail stays pretty strong throughout and really, there's not much to complain about here. The picture quality is uniformly excellent.
The best way to enjoy the film is by selection the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track though standard definition French and Spanish dubbed tracks are available in standard definition DTS 5.1 Surround Sound. Optional subtitles have been included in English SDH, French and Spanish. The 7.1 track on this Blu-ray release is reference quality. It's a very aggressive mix that makes excellent use of the rears and surround channels to throw effects at you from every direction during a few scenes. On the flip side, the quieter moments have a nice subtlety to them that goes a long way towards ensuring that those more emotional moments have the right impact. Dialogue is clean and clear from start to finish and bass response is very strong. The sound effects and the score sound terrific and there aren't any problems at all with hiss or distortion.
The array of supplements, ALL of which are in standard definition for some reason, starts off with a commentary track from Director Guillermo del Toro. You can really hear the man's enthusiasm for the project and for filmmaking in general as he talks about what it was like bringing this project together, what he likes about the film and the characters and what it was like working with his cast and crew on this fairly ambitious and effects laden film. If that commentary track weren't enough, a second one is included with cast members Jeffrey Tambor, Selma Blair and Luke Goss. This is a solid track that gives us some perspective on the film from a performer's point of view. The three talk about their characters, plot points, their experiences on the set, working with del Toro and Perlman (who is conspicuously absent here) and the like. It's interesting stuff and it compliments del Toro's commentary quite nicely.
Up next are a few short but interesting featurettes starting with the Troll Market Tour With Guillermo del Toro (12:22) which is exactly what you think it is - a behind the scenes look at the set used for that visually impressive scene in the movie. The Animated Zinco Epilogue Comic (5:14) is a very cool animated bit that effectively sets up a third film in the series while the Production Workshop: Professor Broom's Puppet Theatre (4:41) featurette starts with an introduction from del Toro before showing us storyboards and effects technology. Del Toro actually provides a brief optional commentary for this material, just as he does for the Deleted Scenes (5:04) of which there are six in total. These are mainly scene extensions and none of them really change the film much at all, though they are fun to see here.
Universal's really well designed U-Control functionality allows you to use your Blu-ray remote to explore a few different picture-in-picture style supplements: Scene Explorer: Schufften Goggle View, Director's Notebook, Set Visits. There's some interesting material in here, particularly through the Director's Notebook and Set Visit features that bring up some pertinent clips that explain how and where the particular bits of the feature were shot. The U-Control software allows you to go back and forth between whichever part of the program you want to use, so you can spend quite a bit of time exploring this material.
Also exclusive to the Blu-ray release is an interactive Comic Book Builder feature that allows you to create your own Hellboy comics and share them online via Blu-ray Live technology. This same technology also allows you to access online content and chat rooms as well as a sneak peek of the upcoming home vide debut of Wanted. Disc One also includes some production art and production still galleries, some of which contain some very cool Mignola artwork.
Disc Two, which is a standard definition DVD, starts off with the insanely in-depth documentary, Hellboy: In the Service of the Demon (2:34:51). This mammoth featurette essentially follows del Toro all the way through production and then into post-production and we get a really detailed look into his creative process and what it's like to make a film of this magnitude. Aside from the standard behind the scenes material we also delve into budgetary issues, scheduling difficulties, make up and effects techniques, and much more. Del Toro does make for quite an interesting subject and his passion and love for genre filmmaking is rather inspiring - he just comes across as a very intelligent and likeable man.
Also included on the second disc is a 'Digital Copy' option that lets you watch the feature on your iPod or other portable device, a still gallery of marketing materials and some nifty animated menus.
The Final Word:
While it would have been nice to see the In The Service Of The Demon documentary in HD, Hellboy II: The Golden Army receives excellent treatment on Blu-ray from Universal. It looks great, it sounds even better and the movie is a blast.