No secret: I love del Toro. I loved Pan's Labyrinth. I loved Hellboy. And now ... I really liked Hellboy II.
You can only expect so much from a comic-to-movie where the main character is a huge, weird, funny red guy with horns. That said, del Toro's imagination takes you right along with him. You really start to believe that Hellboy and Abe and Liz could exist in our world. Which is the magic of the movies.
It's been a few (weeks) months since I've seen it (I never got around to finishing this review!), so I'll just go with what I can remember. The plot is pretty straightforward. Long ago the elves and humans were tearing each other to shreds fighting over Earth. The elves, in their will to win, created an indestructible army (with the help of the trolls/goblins, of course) that caused so much death that King Elf couldn't take it, and he made a deal with the humans where the elves got the forests - where they would stay - and the humans got the cities - where they would stay. The backstory is all laid out in the opening scene flashback with boy-Hellboy and Papa Professor. It's a pretty cute scene.
Flash forward and the Elf Prince thinks living in the forest sucks, and he's decided to take back the Earth by unleashing the wrath of the indestructible army his father forged way back when. Of course, before he can do that he needs three pieces of a the crown that activates the army (a safety device, if you will).
Who can stop him? Why, Hellboy, that's who. And Abe. And Liz.
Here's what happens: chasing; humor, including a drunk Abe and Hellboy; a fight in a weird otherworldly (del Toro-ish) underground market; sword fighting; Liz having second thoughts about having Hellboy as her lover; Prince Elf getting the crown; army activated; Hellboy saves everyone.
It's funnier than the first one. There is one weird scene where some of the message of the movie is simply spoon-fed to the audience - the Prince Elf at one point unleashes a giant tree on the city and Hellboy must kill it to save everyone in its path from destruction. Prince Elf plays on Hellboy's outcast status (which the film has kindly highlighted for the viewer) to make Hellboy hesitate, think he might be more like Prince Elf and less like the humans he is saving. He wonders about his place in the world - being from Hell and all, this is to be expected - all the while balancing a baby (a metaphor?) in one hand and killing the tree thing with the other. The dead tree aftermath scene is a classic del Toro visual - everything the tree touched during the fight is now blanketed in this beautiful green grass and tree stuff is floating down from the sky like snow. If you review Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth you will see that both of them have a "snowy" scene that I find to be beautiful cinema; they are beautifully framed and shot.
It's still a comic book movie with a predictable plot line, but it's funny and entertaining and Hellboy is gruff but sweet. Liz is hot and Abe is lovable. I think the ending was a little better managed in this one as compared to the first one.
Rating: *** and a half.
