Saturday, August 30, 2008

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY (2008) - August 30, 2008
A mostly enjoyable sequel, featuring some really impressive action set-pieces that easily exceed anything from the first one. However, outside of the action scenes, this is definitely a big step down from the original. It's missing that certain spark -- it's hard to put your finger on it, but it just doesn't feel as fun as the first one, despite the fact that it's clearly trying to be. It probably doesn't help that it's a tad on the overblown side; though Hellboy and his team were fighting supernatural monsters in the first one, it was mostly grounded in reality. This one has no such grounding, finding the team in increasingly fantastical settings. Guillermo del Toro's visuals are as inventive as ever, but the film itself definitely falls short of the original. **1/2

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