| Hellboy II: The Golden Army | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Guillermo del Toro |
| Produced by | Lawrence Gordon Lloyd Levin Mike Richardson Joe Roth |
| Screenplay by | Guillermo del Toro |
| Story by |
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| Based on | Hellboy by Mike Mignola |
| Starring | Ron Perlman Selma Blair Doug Jones Jeffrey Tambor Luke Goss Anna Walton John Hurt Seth MacFarlane |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
| Cinematography | Guillermo Navarro |
| Editing by | Bernat Vilaplana |
| Studio | Dark Horse Entertainment Lawrence Gordon Productions Mid Atlantic Films Relativity Media |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 11, 2008 |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States Germany |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $85 million |
| Box office | $160,388,063[1] |
Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a 2008 American supernatural superhero film based on the fictional Dark Horse Comics character Hellboy, starring Ron Perlman and Selma Blair. The movie was directed by Guillermo del Toro and is a sequel to the 2004 film Hellboy, which del Toro also directed. Perlman reprises his role as the eponymous character. The film was commercially released on July 11, 2008 in the United States and Canada by Universal Pictures.
Contents |
In Christmas of 1955, a young Hellboy is told a bedtime story by his adoptive father, Trevor Broom, involving an ancient war between Man and magical creatures, all started by Man's greed. After years of battle and defeat of the magical creatures' forces, the master of the goblin blacksmiths offered to build an indestructible golden mechanical army for King Balor, the one-armed king of the elves. Influenced by his son Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), Balor ordered the building of this Golden Army. Soon the humans attacked again but the Golden Army devastated them so mercilessly that Balor forged a truce with the humans to stop the bloodshed: Man would keep his cities and the magical creatures would keep their forests. Nuada did not agree with the truce, and left in exile. The magical crown controlling the army was broken into three pieces, one piece going to the humans and the other two kept by the elves, so the Golden Army could never be used again.
In the present, Nuada declares war on the humans. He collects the first piece of the crown from an auction, massacring all at the site by unleashing tooth fairies onto them, and kills his father for the second piece of the crown. His twin sister, Princess Nuala (Anna Walton), escapes with the final piece. Meanwhile, Hellboy is having relationship issues with his girlfriend Liz, and trouble accepting that their organization, the B.P.R.D., must remain a secret. During a mission to investigate the massacre at the auction, Hellboy allows himself to be revealed to the world. In the commotion, Abe Sapien discovers that Liz is pregnant. Furious about the public unveiling, the Bureau's superiors in Washington send a new B.P.R.D. agent, the ectoplasmic medium Johann Krauss, to take command. With Krauss in charge, the team tracks the tooth fairies to the troll market, an enormous merchant city hidden under the Brooklyn Bridge, to search for clues. Abe stumbles onto Nuala, who has obtained a map leading to the Golden Army, during their search, and quickly falls in love with her. She is brought under B.P.R.D. protection following an attack by Nuada's sidekick, the troll Wink, and an elemental forest god, both of which Hellboy kills. During the elemental fight, Hellboy is questioned by Nuada whether it is right to fight for the humans when he too is perceived by humans as a monster.
Nuada tracks his sister to the B.P.R.D. headquarters using their magical bond, which causes them to share wounds and allows them to read each others' thoughts to an extent. Nuala, sensing her brother's arrival, throws the map, along with the canister in which it came, into a fire and hides the final piece of the crown within one of Abe's books. However, the real map is on the canister. Meanwhile upstairs, Abe and Hellboy become drunk together and sing "Can't Smile Without You", by Barry Manilow. Nuada kidnaps his sister and critically wounds Hellboy with his spear. Unable to remove the spear shard, Liz, Abe, and Krauss take Hellboy to the location of the Golden Army, hidden in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. They encounter a Bethmoora goblin, and he brings them before the angel of death, who has been waiting for their arrival. Though warned that Hellboy will doom humanity if he lives, and that she will suffer the most from it, Liz pleads for Hellboy's life. Amused by her choice, the Angel removes the shard from Hellboy's chest and tells Liz to give him a reason to live. She reveals to Hellboy that he's going to be a father, and he recovers.
The goblin leads the team to the resting place of the Golden Army (revealing that he is the builder of it), where Nuada awaits them. In exchange for Nuala, Abe gives him the last piece of the crown. With the crown reformed, Nuada awakens the Golden Army and orders them to kill the team. After a seemingly victorious attack on several of the mechanical soldiers, the group watches in shock as they magically repair themselves. Hellboy challenges Nuada for the right to the crown, and Nuada is forced to accept, since Hellboy is a member of Hell's royal family (he is mentioned as "Son of the Fallen One", since his father was a Prince of Sheol). Hellboy defeats Nuada and spares his life, but Nuada tries to stab him when Hellboy turns around. Nuala commits suicide to stop her brother: the dying Nuada tells Hellboy he will one day have to choose whether humanity or the magical beings must die out. Abe rushes to Nuala and psychically tells her his feelings for her—and cries after previously implying that he cannot smile, or cry—before she and her brother turn to stone and die. Liz then melts the crown, shutting down the Golden Army forever. As the team leave the underground compound, Tom Manning reprimands them for their actions. To his surprise, Hellboy, Liz, Abe, and Krauss all hand over their belts and announce their resignation from the B.P.R.D. (though Hellboy keeps one of his guns for when the world needs him again). As they walk away, Hellboy contemplates his future life with Liz and their baby. Liz stops and corrects him, saying "babies", surprising him with the fact that she is pregnant with twins by holding up two fingers.
In May 2004, following the release of Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy the previous month, a sequel was announced by Revolution Studios with del Toro returning to direct and Ron Perlman reprising his lead role as the titular character.[13] The director sought to create a film trilogy with the first sequel anticipated for release in 2006.[14] Revolution Studios planned to produce the film and distribute it through a deal with Columbia Pictures, but by 2006, Revolution had gone out of business. In August 2006, Universal Pictures acquired the project with the intent to finance and distribute the sequel, which was newly scheduled to be released in summer of 2008. Production was scheduled to begin in April 2007 in Etyek, Hungary (near Budapest) and London, England.[15]
Director Guillermo del Toro explored several concepts for the sequel, initially planning to recreate the classic versions of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Wolf Man.[16] He and comic book creator Mike Mignola also spent a few days adapting the Almost Colossus story, featuring Roger the Homunculus. They then found it easier to create an original story based on folklore, because Del Toro was planning Pan's Labyrinth, and Mignola's comics were becoming increasingly based on mythology.[17] Later, Del Toro pitched a premise to Revolution Studios that involved four Titans from the four corners of Earth—Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth—before he replaced the Titans with a Golden Army.[18] Mignola described the theme of the sequel, "The focus is more on the folklore and fairy tale aspect of Hellboy. It's not Nazis, machines and mad scientists but the old gods and characters who have been kind of shoved out of our world."[19]
Del Toro released Pan's Labyrinth in 2006, and the film earned multiple Academy Awards, providing the director enough clout to begin production on Hellboy II.[2] Guillermo del Toro began filming Hellboy II in June 2007 in Budapest and concluded in December 2007.[20] The film was the first American production to shoot at Korda Studios in Hungary, then newly built outside Budapest.[21] The creature shop was led by the company Spectral Motion,[22] and Filmefex contributed work in makeup and prosthetics. The latter company designed a creature for the troll market scene and built several statues and full-sized replicas of the Golden Army.[23]
The soundtrack was composed by Danny Elfman, also includes All I Wanna To Do Is Rock by the Alternative-rock Scottish band Travis. The end credits song is Noir by Red Is For Fire, composed by Ben Isaac.
Hellboy II opened on July 11, 2008 in 3,204 theaters in the United States and Canada.[24] The film ranked first at the box office, grossing an estimated $35.9 million over the weekend, outperforming the opening of its predecessor Hellboy, which had opened with $23.2 million.[25] The opening was the biggest of Guillermo del Toro's directing career.[26]
According to CinemaScore, audiences gave the film a B grade.[26] The demographic for Hellboy II was mostly male, and the age distribution for moviegoers below and above 25 years old was evenly split.[27] Outside of the United States and Canada, Hellboy II had a limited release on 533 screens in Mexico, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, grossing $4.6 million.[28]
In its second weekend in the United States and Canada, Hellboy II's box office performance dropped 71% to gross $10.1 million, a larger drop than its predecessor, which dropped 53% in comparison. The sequel's larger drop was attributed to the significant opening of the Batman film The Dark Knight.[29] As of September 9, 2008 Hellboy II has grossed $75,986,503 in the United States and Canada. The film came top in the UK and Ireland box office charts upon its release on August 22[30] and earned an additional international gross of $84,401,560 bringing its worldwide total to $160,388,063, meaning it has currently outgrossed the first film by nearly $53 million, and has yet to open in at least one country.[31][32]
In addition to television spots showing scenes from the film, humorous adverts were also aired depicting Hellboy appearing on Ghost Hunters; being interviewed by James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio; playing video games with Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) from Chuck; visiting the set of American Gladiators; auditioning for a high school event; and hosting a public service announcement with a cat.[33]
Hellboy II: The Golden Army was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 11, 2008.[34] For the DVD, there is both a single-disc and a 3-Disc Special Edition (not available in the UK).
The single-disc edition includes the movie and a very limited selection of special features. Available on the one-disc edition is a "Director's Notebook" section, in which pages of Del Toro's famous notebook are reproduced, showcasing design sketches and annotations by the director, as well as "video pod" segments in which he explains these designs and concepts further. The segment is available in the three-disc edition in the "pre-production vault", which also includes other galleries. The three-disc special edition includes two audio commentaries (one by Del Toro and another by members of the cast), six deleted scenes, several featurettes, a full-length documentary, and image galleries. Though not added into the movie after credits due to budget cuts, a comic-style of the Zinco Sequel is added to the special features, serving as a prologue to the third Hellboy movie. The third disc contains a digital copy.
Hellboy II received generally positive reviews from film critics.[35] As of February 15, 2009, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 87% of critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average score of 7.1/10, based upon a sample of 196 reviews.[36] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 78, based on 35 reviews, gaining a better critical reaction than the first film.[35]
Michael Rechtshaffen writing in The Hollywood Reporter said Hellboy II was an uncompromised vision of Guillermo del Toro's imagination. He said that with the director given free rein, the film came across as an amalgam of the best moments from his previous films, only with better visual effects.[37] John Anderson of Variety wrote of a rococo precision to the visuals that exceeded that of the first film. He cited del Toro's "clockmaker's preoccupation with detail" and ability to blend state-of-the-art technology with more classical visuals as the reasons for the film's success.[38] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said that the plot did not often deviate from its comic-book traditions, but that del Toro staged the action "brilliantly". He said that while the visual effects deserved recognition, what made the film so exciting was the personality they were imbued with.[39] Chuck Wilson of The Village Voice said that del Toro was on autopilot, but that he and his Pan's Labyrinth crew, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro in particular, staged the steady stream of action set-pieces expertly.[40] Mike Goodridge of Screen International wrote that del Toro had retained the B movie tone of the first film, saying the film managed to avoid the self-importance of The Incredible Hulk and the Batman film series and that del Toro was simply a "great storyteller" providing a "good time".[41] Stuart Levine in Premiere praised the visuals and "beautiful" set-pieces, but said del Toro's script fell a little short of his direction.[42] Alonso Duralde writing for msnbc.com said it represented a backwards step for del Toro, saying that despite several creepy sequences, the film was a return to the muddled storytelling and pretty visuals of his pre-Pan's Labyrinth films. He said del Toro's screenplay lacked energy or momentum.[43] However, Peter Bradshaw, of The Guardian said almost the opposite was the case, as he thinks "it is a crackingly enjoyable and exciting sequel, with something that the memory of Pan's Labyrinth might have entirely erased: a sense of humour." Noting that "this spectacular movie seethes and fizzes with wit and energy, absorbing and transforming influences such as Ghostbusters and even Harry Potter and the secret world of Diagon Alley."[44]
John Anderson said the film would be "almost unthinkable" without Ron Perlman in the lead role, saying the film was more successful than its predecessor mainly due to the more deliberately amusing tone and the "drily ironic" title character. He said the only weak link was Luke Goss' "unimposing" villain.[38] While praising the general banter between Perlman and Blair, Stuart Levine said the nonchalant Hellboy exhibited insufficient growth as a character, and that Jeffrey Tambor was largely wasted in his role. He agreed that Goss' villain was weak as written, with no tangible menace.[42] Helen O'Hara of Empire said the character was only let down by a lack of screentime in which to give him enough dramatic weight, and that Goss did "a perfectly good job".[45] Owen Gleiberman said Perlman was more assured than in the first Hellboy, funnier and more cantankerous. He said the entire ensemble had "an appealing, outsize grandeur" about it.[39] Mike Goodridge said the film carefully developed the character relationships,[41] and Chuck Wilson said that other than the title character's penchant for chewing cigars, he was otherwise "uninteresting".[40] Alonso Duralde wrote that the "sitcom-ish" character dilemmas were uninteresting, saying that Perlman and Tambor's performances were regularly let down by the script. He said that Blair's performance was possibly the first bad one he'd seen by the actress, and that while Jones was "brilliant" physically, his vocal performance was inferior to David Hyde Pierce's in the first Hellboy film.[43] Michael Rechtshaffen called Perlman "terrific" and said Blair's brooding portrayal was effective.[37]
Michael Rechtshaffen concluded that Hellboy II was less focused than the first film, but that it played "faster and looser" and mostly a "wild ride".[37] In a positive review, John Anderson's main criticism was a sequence set in Northern Ireland, which he called the least interesting and most conventional segment of the film.[38] Chuck Wilson said the film "didn't have much on its mind", but that it would amaze children and amuse adults,[40] Stuart Levine said the film was worth viewers' time,[42] and Alonso Duralde said Hellboy II was "limp and unengaging".[43] Owen Gleiberman surmised that the film was "derivative yet... dazzling",[39] and Mike Goodridge concluded by praising the filmmakers' skill at creating a film that, despite featuring "stunning" action sequences and creature effects, still found time for character development and a fulfilling story that expanded the franchise's wider mythology.[41] Peter Bradshaw suggested that "'Visionary' is a word too easily applied to fantasy movies, but it sticks easily here."[44]
The film appeared on some critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Rene Rodriguez of The Miami Herald named it the 5th best film of 2008 (along with The Dark Knight),[46] and Stephanie Zacharek of Salon named it the 10th best film of 2008 (along with Iron Man).[46]
IGN named Hellboy II: The Golden Army Best Fantasy Movie of 2008, also receiving the same honor at the 2008 Scream Awards. At the end of 2008, Rotten Tomatoes listed the film as Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy in their 10th Annual Golden Tomato Awards. It was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Makeup, but lost to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Hellboy II: The Golden Army has won Best Horror for the Saturn Award.
| Year | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Best Visual Effects | Hellboy II: The Golden Army | Won |
This story by Mike Mignola and Guillermo del Toro with art by Francisco Ruiz Velasco was published as a special promotion for the film by Dark Horse Comics in one-shot comic book Hellboy: The Golden Army (January 2008) with three variant covers;[3]
In his introduction film director del Toro affirms his and Mignola’s admiration of Velasco’s “clean, propulsive narrative, draftsmanship, and artistic skills” and states that the intention of this title is to treat the film’s opening narrative as a mini-epic and give the artist the opportunity to tell it with unlimited budget and shooting time.
In the story Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, caring for the young Hellboy at Douglas Air Force Base, New Mexico on Christmas Eve 1944, relates the story of the Golden Army from the film’s opening prologue, which he describes as the first tale ever told, as a bedtime story that he ends by saying one day Hellboy may find out if it is true.
Hellboy II: The Art of the Movie (June 18, 2008, ISBN 978-1-59307-964-2) by Guillermo del Toro and Mike Mignola with art by Sergio Sandoval and Franciso Ruiz Velasco looks into the film's evolution, from early concept art and diary sketches to photos of the final props, sets, and includes;
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (June 18, 2008, ISBN 978-1-59307-954-3) by Robert Greenberger is the official novelization of the film.[47]
During its initial theatrical release in North America, a video game set within the Hellboy universe was released around the time that of the movie entitled Hellboy: The Science of Evil for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and Xbox 360, released on June 24 in North America and August 15 in Europe. Despite its close release date, promotion alongside the film and featuring voices of the same actors, the game is not a direct movie tie-in with the plot not being related to that of the film but instead follows an original story where Hellboy investigates Nazi operations in Romania under Herman von Klempt, an antagonist from the comics.
Included as a special feature on the DVD is an animated comic that foreshadows the events of the next film.
Del Toro has expressed interest in a sequel, saying, "I think we would all come back to do a third Hellboy, if they can wait for me to get out of Middle-Earth, but we don't know. Ron may want to do it sooner, but I certainly know where we're going with the movie on the third one."[48] On May 30, 2010, Guillermo del Toro dropped out of directing The Hobbit. On June 25, 2010, del Toro speculated that Hellboy III might happen after his next project. The screenplay has yet to be written.[49] However, in 2011 del Toro stated "there are no plans at all" about a third Hellboy,[50] and Mike Mignola said the director's busy schedule might prevent him from ever doing the film.[51]
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