Hellboy II: The Golden Army

When I saw the trailer for Hellboy II: The Golden Army, I thought it looked great. The only problem was that the first Hellboy looked awful and I never saw it. But since they were done by the director of Pan's Labyrinth, which I love, I gave them a chance.

The first Hellboy, for lack of a better word, was underwhelming. I'm not going to review it here.

Hellboy II was a far superior film. Rare when sequels surpass the originals, we know, but here it is again. It seems a trend for superhero movies that the second film is better (see: Spider-man, The Dark Knight, X-men). What I think happened this time around is Guillermo del Toro was granted all the freedom in the world because of his success with Pan's Labyrinth, and he could put that to use in Hellboy II. All of the creatures in this film are so well-crafted it makes the first film seem elementary.

Yet still, we're stuck with Hellboy, far from the most interesting hero in the universe. Actually, Hellboy himself is boring and predictable. The plot is decent at best, but if you're willing to just go along for the ride, it's a fun one. But without the strange creatures populating the Hellboy universe, I'm afraid we're pretty much looking at a worse Punisher (which is close to the bottom of the barrel).

Oh, also, you can save yourself some time and go into the sequel without seeing the original. Honestly, you will miss nothing.

Rating: 5/7