In 2004’s Hellboy, director Guillermo del Toro introduced us to the cinematic version of Mike Mignola’s popular comic book character, a laconic demon summoned to Earth to destroy it but who winds up working with a team of supernatural characters to save it time and again. Returning to the character in 2008 with Hellboy II: The Golden Army, del Toro brings the emotional journey - yes, there is one in this story of demons and underworlds - of Hellboy to a conclusion whose enjoyment is enhanced by, but not necessarily dependent on, the viewing of the first movie.
The Golden Army once again finds Hellboy conflicted between the role he’s reminded he’s destined to play (bringer of Hell to Earth) and the one he’s chosen to play (protector of Earth). This time his adversary is an Elf prince who’s tired of the ancient truce between his people and humans and has vowed to, you, know, destroy the surface dwellers as a result. Monsters need to be pounded by Hellboy’s big red fist, blown apart by his even bigger series of specially-designed guns and ultimately destroyed through, in true Wonder Pets fashion, the power of teamwork.
The central plot of Hellboy stopping another apocalypse is entertaining and engaging, thanks in large part to del Toro’s vividly imaginative character design and emphasis on making sure each one has a unique and interesting identity. But even more satisfying than that is the emotional journey, carried over from the first film, that Hellboy is taken on.
The stoic hero is a stock character with a long history in film and Hellboy owes a lot to his predecessors, who have saved Nakatomi Tower and performed similar feats. Usually the day is saved in a manner that not only defeats the bad guys but allows the hero to reunite with his estranged wife or disrespectiful children because the experience has taught him about what really matters.
In Hellboy’s case, his laconic “Oh crap” is a massive sarcastic understatement when he’s faced with, as in one scene in The Golden Army, a massive flower god that’s spreading itself all over Manhattan. But while he works to betray little in the way of uncertainty in situations like that, the thing that’s causing him the most pain - his relationship with the human fire-starter Liz Sherman played by Selma Blair - is always at the tip of his tongue. The fact that he can’t figure out her wants and needs continue to be the one problem in his life he can’t punch away, and that’s incredibly frustrating to him.
At the end of the first movie the narration intoned that embracing his love of Blair’s Sherman had fully made Hellboy a man. But he continues to act out in a decidedly immature way throughout the second movie. That changes, though, when he finds out that Sherman is pregnant with his child. That knowledge is, quite literally in the story, what gives him the will to live. Even though at that point he still acts first and thinks things through later, he does step up in the final showdown and embrace, if not his role as destroyer of worlds, certainly his role as the leader of the societal subset he and his cohorts inhabit.
It’s watching the evolution of the relationships between the characters, especially Hellboy and Sherman, that provides the most satisfying component of Hellboy II. The fantasy adventure is enjoyable and, like most action movies, an essential hook on which to hang that action. But unlike a good deal of those action movies Hellboy II, like the first film and the animated features that have been released in the intervening years, never loses sight of the fact that story is what keeps people engaged.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army was released on DVD on Tuesday, 11/11 in both single and three-disc editions. The two-disc release carries with it a ton of value-added content, including behind-the-scenes journeys with del Toro and the production staff, a look into the film’s marketing campaign and much, much more, including a digital copy of the movie you can download to your computer. You can read Adam Forrest’s original review of the movie here.
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