Certificate
12A/12
Number of Discs
2
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States of America
Director of Photography
Guillermo Navarro
Costume Designer
Sammy Sheldon
Production Designer
Stephen Scott
Reviews
Los Angeles Times - [A]live with fantasy and invention. To see this film, beautifully shot by Guillermo Navarro, is to truly feel you've entered another world, filled with nightmarish things both unimaginable and indescribable., Empire - There is plenty of action [...] Del Toro's fondness for the macabre, and for clockwork, colour this film in a way that's instantly recognisable., Hollywood Reporter - With writer-director del Toro given free license to go where his singular vision takes him, HELLBOY II plays like Guillermo's Greatest Hits with even hotter visual effects, The Guardian - HELLBOY II is a movie that's a tingling boost to the senses: and that sense of humour is such a stimulus to the other five., Entertainment Weekly - [A] hard-driving psychedelic action-movie fantasia [...] del Toro stages all of the action brilliantly [...] Dazzling., The Times - With Hellboy II, the comic-book blockbuster has finally grown up ù without giving up the fairy-tale wonders of our youth., Variety - There's a precision to the visual ornateness of HELLBOY II that exceeds even that of its predecessor, Sunday Mirror - Fantastic [...] The action film of the year
Consumer Advice
Contains moderate fantasy violence and infrequent strong language
Additional Information
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY begs any number of referential mash-ups to be used as description of its outlandish tonal and stylistic qualities. It's a little like a romantic and sophisticated live-action Ninja Turtles movie imbued with a cracked version of H.P. Lovecraft's monster storytelling. It's a feature-length version of STAR WARS's Mos Eisley Cantina mixed with a scrappy, proficient passion for creature design reminiscent of Ray Harryhausen. It's also kind of director/co-writer Guillermo del Toro's HELLBOY (2004) wrapped in a blanket of his PAN'S LABYRINTH. This sequel is all these things, but none of them can accurately capture the singularity of a movie which, in some ways, stands alone in its ability to capture the crass and literary luridness of reading a comic book. It's filled with gross creatures bursting with humanity, dark poetry, and slapstick comedy; in one scene, an argument between Hellboy and Johann Krauss, a formless gas contained in a mobilized suit, escalates to the point of Tom-and-Jerry-like violence.
As Hellboy himself, a heartfelt anti-hero who regularly eliminates supernatural threat as an agent for the U.S. Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense alongside girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair) and comrade Abe Sapien, Ron Perlman again embodies the role with the kind of pathos and humour that one can only expect from a horned, red-skinned Hell-spawn who loves kittens and acts like a hardboiled detective who happens to watch TV and drink a lot of canned beer. HELLBOY II's rather interesting antagonist, Prince Nuada, isn't just an evil dude. In the mold of the complex villains typically found in Hayao Miyazaki's animated fairy tales, his intentions of restoring control over Earth to an Elvish race by regaining the key to unlock the indestructible Golden Army are at least based on a legitimately noble sentiment before megalomania kicks in.
Movie/TV Title
Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army
Composer
Danny Elfman
Executive Producer
Chris Symes
Sound source
Dolby Digital
Screenwriter
Guillermo Del Toro
Editor
Bernat Vilaplanao
Voice
Seth MacFarlane
