Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Hellboy 2 - The golden army has managed to bring a breath of fresh air, and promises to be one of this summer’s blockbusters. I have to admit that I enjoyed this movie more than the first one, and I’m pretty sure it will make my DVD collection once it comes out. So, let’s talk about the subject, and the pro’s and con’s of the movie.

The beginning of the movie is a little bit awkward, because it takes the viewer to the past, when Hellboy was just a child. The central plot of the movie is introduced when Hellboy’s adoptive father tells the story of the Golden Army, which was created by the elves during the war against man. Now, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) has returned from his exile and plans to awaken the Golden Army in order to wage war against mankind. The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence is on alert, and it is up to the team from BPRD to save the world once again. A secondary plot is that of the love story between Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), and that between the aquatic empath Abe (Doug Jones) and Princess Nuala (Anna Walton). In the end, Hellboy challenges Prince Nuada for the right to lead the Golden Army and manages to defeat him in battle, thus saving the world from destruction.

Now for the pro’s and con’s. The pro’s: I have to begin by saying that I really enjoyed this movie, and it fulfilled my expectations quite well. The plot of the movie was solid and well built and the characters were developed quite well. As a plus, presenting the love story between Hellboy and Liz gave us even more insight on the relationship between them and on their characters. What I also enjoyed about the movie was the fact that director Guillermo del Toro managed to create a movie that combines action with comedy and drama. I have to say that there were plenty action scenes, where the special effects were great, there were dramatic moments as well, like that of the death of Princess Nuala. There were also plenty hilarious moments, when I was simply laughing my head off, like that when Abe starts singing and when him and Hellboy get drunk and have a man to man talk. The movie was well paced, the effects were great, and the Golden Army was especially breathtaking. All the actors did a great job, and all of these have added up into a great movie.

The con’s: well… the beginning was a little weird, because in the story about the Golden Army, the humans were depicted as featureless creatures, but then again who knows what goes on in the mythical realm. I also think that Liz’s qualities could have been emphasized more in the movie, as there were several occasions when she could have used here powers in order to create a spectacular effect. What is more, the new character which comes in, Johann Krauss (Seth MacFarlane) seemed a little weird to me, and his outfit lookedquite hilarious (reminded me of Darth Vader a little).

Overall, I think that the Golden Army is a pretty good sequel, and from the ending of the movie (Liz tells Hellboy that he is going to be a father) I think that we’ll end up seeing Hellboy 3 soon.

My rating: 9/10

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I'm not good at writing long,detailed reviews so I'll just give some thoughts.

Visually this is just fucking stunning, it's one of the most imaginative movies I've ever seen,no question. Guillermo del Toro is a damn genius! The Troll Market sequence alone is worth the price of admission, containing without a doubt the most amazing, unique and bizarre looking characters ever put to film.

The action scenes were very well done, especially the final battle with the Golden Army. Although I was slightly letdown by the Elemental sequence, as beautiful as it was, I would've liked it to last a little longer.

The performances were great all around, but Macfarlane and Pearlman own ever scene. And I loved the film's sense of humor. Hellboy's fight with Johann, and the "I can't smile without you" scene are fucking priceless.

There are some things I didn't like. The pacing felt a bit off at times. I didn't really dig the opening puppet sequence or young Hellboy. And while it's absolutely brilliant from a visual stanpoint. Storytelling wise it's competent but pretty routine.

Overall, I give it a solid - 8/10

I guess I'm in the minority but I found this thing to be terrible.

It’s a visually bizarre movie that suffers from being in constant “cartoon mode” with absolutely no depth to either the story or the characters. Nothing on screen carried any weight and the crazed visuals just seem to run together. Everything from the first frame forward screamed “bad live action cartoon” and it was reinforced throughout the running time at every turn. It seems to me like director Guillermo Del Toro has fallen in love with his bizarre CGI creature creations and has decided to forget EVERYTHING else. This film felt like a mash of Pan’s Labyrinth and Blade 2’s extra footage with all the heart and story cut out. Unfortunately, I found myself glancing at the exit sign at my theatre more then once but I’m glad I resisted the urge to bolt. I did enjoy the final confrontation quite a bit. (Not nearly enough to recommend, however.)

4/10 and a disappointment

I agree. I don't like it either.

the movie was ok, however if your looking for a real good superhero movie then theres plenty to choose from the dark knight was amazing so was iron man and the hulk was pretty good.