8:01AM, Jul 10, 2009
Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a $75m summer blockbuster shot through the lens of an unapologetic and visionary fantasist wishing to instil the same sense of wonder audiences in the past felt for The Wizard of Oz, Jason and the Argonauts and Star Wars. REVIEW: Guillermo del Toro's follow-up to the 2004's sleeper hit original sees the director bringing his Pan's Labyrinth style to his monster franchise.
And with these guys as audience identification, you know the other characters are going to be a world away from the cutesy aliens of Men in Black.
With Terry Gilliam-like attention to detail del Toro commands an army of model makers, puppeteers and CG artists to populate his underworld with all manner of fairies, trolls, and goblins, with as much care paid to background creatures as the main players – and another showcase for Blu-ray, yes the transfer looks rich and colourful, but the detail it reveals will have you repeatedly reaching for the pause button during the demon crammed Troll Market sequence.
While the story is strong enough to support the extended family of beasties and weirdies, Hellboy II cannot merge its ambitious strands into a satisfying whole the way del Toro managed with The Devil’s Backbone or Pan’s Labyrinth.
Fairy with attitude Prince Nuada (ex-Bros Luke Goss, intense and buffed up) declares war on venal mankind, vowing to unleash the fabled and indestructible Golden Army his human enemy.
Standing between him and his apocalyptic goal are Hellboy and his team, plus Princess Nuala (Anna Watson), the light to her brother’s darkness who realises the expensively armoured soldiers are a destructive Pandora’s Box.
But, del Toro is master of the fantastical set piece – the dance massacre of the ravenous Tooth Fairies, Hellboy’s face-off with mammoth, multi-tendrilled Tree God, a meeting with the startling Angel of Death – as well as the humanising time-out – lovelorn Hellboy and Abe’s drunken sing-a-long to Barry Manilow.
The Hobbit is next up for this now unstoppable director, but Hellboy II is sufficiently rewarding to want one more instalment and make this a trilogy.
EXTRAS:In his prologue to the special features on Disc 2, Guillermo del Toro says he sees DVD as an education on filmmaking, and the exhaustive amount of supplementary material here is a film school masterclass.
The centrepiece is Hellboy – In Service of the Demons, a two and a half hour documentary covering everything from pre-production to post-production. Focussing on the nuts and bolts practicality of putting together such a massive fantastical world, some might feel slightly short-changed by the lack of script discussions and the editing process, but the access-all-areas coverage and frank interviews with cast and crew make this an engrossing watch.
Del Toro’s commentary on Disc 1 manages to offer even more insight and detail – like David Fincher and Christopher Nolan he is a director who uses big budgets to tell personal, even autobiographical, stories - while the second cast commentary is an infectious and fun look at the film from an actor’s point of view.
Back on Disc 2, a tour through the Troll Market, plus artwork, storyboards for the opening Golden Army puppet show, a comic version of an abandoned epilogue that leaves the film open for a sequel, and deleted scenes (with commentaries), provide all the information you’d want for this enjoyable sequel.
But, back on Disc 1, Blu-ray users have a U-Control feature that when used while watching film takes the audience behind the scenes with video and concept art, so by the time you’ve ingested all the goodies here you’ll know as much about Hellboy II: The Golden Army as the big man Guillermo himself.
A devil of a good package you won't have to sell your soul to own.
FILM: *** EXTRAS: *****
A devil of a good package you won't have to sell your soul to own.
FILM: *** EXTRAS: *****
Rob Daniel
