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Hellboy II: The Golden Army [Blu-ray] | ![Hellboy II: The Golden Army [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KbVh7aASL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Actors: Roy Dotrice, Doug Jones, Thomas Kretschmann, Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Tambor
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.98
Buy New: $18.95
You Save: $21.03 (53%)
New (47) Used (19) Collectible (1) from $17.54
Rating:  170 reviews
Sales Rank: 251
Format: Ac-3, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: Blu-ray
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 120
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 47296
UPC: 025195047296
EAN: 0025195047296
ASIN: B001F7MSG6
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: November 11, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Universal Pictures Hellboy II: The Golden Army [Blu-ray]
Amazon.com
The feverish Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a very busy sequel that might have looked unhinged in the hands of a less visionary director than Guillermo del Toro. Ron Perlman returns as Hellboy, aka "Red," the Dark Horse Comics demon-hero with roots in the mythical world but personal ties in the human realm. Still working, as he was in Hellboy, for a secret department of the federal government that deals (as in "Men In Black") with forces of the fantastic, Red and his colleagues take on a royal elf (Luke Goss) determined to smash a longtime truce between mankind and the forces of magic. Meanwhile, Red's relationship with girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair), who can burst into flames at will, is going through a rocky stage observed by Red's fishy friend Abe (Doug Jones), himself struck by love in this film. Del Toro brilliantly integrates the ordinary and extraordinary, diving into an extended scene set in a troll market barely hidden behind the facade of typical city streets. He also unleashes a forest monster that devastates an urban neighborhood, but then--interestingly--brings a luminous beauty to the same area as the creature (an "elemental") succumbs to a terrible death. Del Toro's art direction proves masterful, too, in a climactic battle set in a clockworks-like stronghold tucked away in rugged Irish landscape. But it's really the juxtaposition of visual marvels with not-so-unusual relationship issues that gives Hellboy II a certain jaunty appeal hard to find in other superhero movies. --Tom Keogh
Stills from Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 165 more reviews...
 Let me remind you why you once feared the dark October 7, 2008
67 out of 76 found this review helpful
Guillermo Del Toro has become the new master of dark fantasy -- first with the quirky clockpunk "Hellboy," then with the Oscar-winning "Pan's Labyrinth." Not to mention forthcoming travels to Middle-Earth.
So you know he has the skills to pit Mike Mignola's scarlet anti-hero against an army of fairies and elves, and not make it silly. Instead, it's a spectacular dark fantasy full of humor, action, quirky appeal, romance, and some truly astounding special effects. But what really shoves this movie over the top is Del Toro's brilliant direction, and the stunning performance by Ron Perlman.
Decades ago, Professor Broom (William Hurt) told a small Hellboy a yuletide bedtime story about the Elf King Balor and his unstoppable Golden Army, and how the crown that controls the Army was split into thirds and divided among fairies and humans.
Well, you can't really expect that kind of power to never be revived.
Cut to current day. Hellboy (Perlman), Liz (Selma Blair) and Abe (Doug Jones) investigate a strange supernatural attack on an auction house, where the archeological curiosity known as the Crown of Bethmoora was being sold -- only to be attacked by savage tooth fairies. Turns out the crown was stolen by Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), a resentful young elf who is determined to take the world back from humanity -- using, of course, the Golden Army.
And while Hellboy chafes against strict new commander Johann Krauss (a suit filled with ectoplasm), Abe encounters Nuada's sister, Princess Nuala -- who also happens to have the last third of the crown. But Nuada will not allow anyone to oppose him as he searches for the Golden Army's location, and Hellboy and his friends must venture into a strange, ancient kingdom to stop him from destroying all of humanity.
The worst you can say about "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" is that it sticks to the formula of the demonic outsider with a dark destiny, and his continuing romantic woes. There's some retreading as Hellboy realizes anew that he'll never fit into the world of humans, because he's big and red and has horns and a tail. Okay, we got it. Next big psychological issue!
Fortunately those flaws are relatively minor ones. Del Toro is still able to spin a dark, twisted story with some truly bizarre creatures (the utterly alien, eye-winged Angel of Death), clockpunk robots, trippy underground goblin markets and a new BPRD agent who is basically ectoplasm in a suit. And for the action scenes, Del Toro does not pull punches when it comes to the smashing action scenes -- giant thrashing vines and a one-on-one duel with Nuada are among the highlights.
With all this going on, it would be easy to neglect the characters. But Del Toro packs the script with solid snappy dialogue and some poignantly romantic moments -- including some pretty startling actions from dear ol' Abe. And he also adds little moments to this epic story that remind us that these are supposed to be people -- such as Hellboy's bickering with Krauss, or Abe and Hellboy getting drunk and having a little Manilow singalong together. It's just so cute.
But what really sets this movie apart is the "children of the Earth." No flitting Victorian sprites -- these are creatures that are weird, grotesque, dangerous and immensely powerful, from nasty little tooth fairies up to vast rock monsters and plant gods. There's an alien, bizarre aesthetic to these creatures that feels wholly real, as if Neil Gaiman casually dropped a few sketches onto the drawing board.
But as amazing as the visuals are, Del Toro never neglects the characters. Perlman is perfect for the role of "big Red" -- he's gruff, sarcastic, moody, but also endearing and self-deprecatingly likable. There are more hints of his potentially dark future, and he faces some delicately-handed temptations. But Big Red's good heart is still very much in the forefront, no matter how much human beings fear him.
Blair gives a more lively performance here as a spunkier Liz, who also has some surprising developments in store. Jones is pitch-perfect as the fish-man, who experiences the first pangs of young love for Nuala, while Goss gives a chilling, whispery performance as a rebel prince who is willing to do whatever it takes -- even kill family -- if it helps him restore the fey kingdom. Pretty good villain, since he clearly isn't trying to be bad.
There's also loads of extras in this particular edition of the movie -- feature commentary with director Guillermo Del Toro, Jeffrey Tambor, Selma Blair and Luke Goss, as well as some deleted scenes also with commentary with Del Toro, a prologue to the movie, a digital script, image gallery, a "Puppet Theatre" for the opening sequences of the film, concept art, interviews, and other such stuff. Also making-of documentaries -- seven mini-documentaries that visit the set, the "Troll Market Tour" in the movie's most memorable "faerie" setting, and the two-hour "Hellboy: In Service Of The Demon." Basically, it turns the film inside-out and lets you examine its guts.
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" is a wild, darkly ornate ride through the world of half-forgotten gods and fey. While it has a few flaws, those are far outweighed by the brilliant of Del Toro's vision.
Give `em Hellboy!! July 24, 2008
27 out of 29 found this review helpful
Fans of dark fantasy movies will definitely like this one. If you take Pan's Labyrinth and add more creatures, and then give it an injection of humor, and sprinkle some Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, some Fantastic Four, and a little Lord of the Rings, and last of all let Neil Gaiman put the finishing touches, you'll probably get Hellboy II or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):
1.Humans and mythical creatures are at it again
2.One crown rules an indestructible golden army
3.Uneasy lies the head that wants to wear the crown
4.All Hellboy breaks loose after a visit from the tooth fairies
5.The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense sends a gasbag to lead the team into the bowels of New York City
6.Hellboy may be red and angry, but it's Liz (Selma Blair) who's the hottie
7.Big fights, big guns and big fun follows
8.`Twas beauty that tamed the beast
When the BPRD agents are called to take on the job of stopping rogue Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) they get a lot more than the main responsibilities listed on their job descriptions. Battling mythical creatures, disobeying direct orders, and generally tearing the place apart, our heroes never let a little adversity get them down on the way to a stellar showdown.
This is a fantasy, an adventure, a battle of good against not-so-good, and a love story, all rolled into one red hot package.
Rated: 4.5 stars
Amanda Richards, July 23, 2008
More style than substance, but what style it has July 12, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I liked the first Hellboy film, but I always felt it didn't flow right and that something was missing. Four years later, Guillermo Del Toro has got the pacing right and fully unleashes his haunting imagination, with many monsters looking like the ones from Pan's Labyrinth on steroids. They just have a strange and unique beauty about them. The troll market scene alone has so many fantastic creatures walking around I wasn't able to take it all in on my first viewing. It was nice to see puppets and animatronics used in conjuncton with CGI, rather than just all out cartoon looking freaks manifested in a computer.
Ron "Hellboy" Perlman is the star of the show yet again and seems much more comfortable this time around in portraying the big red guy. He was great in Hellboy, but he is given better lines and a lot more action scenes in The Golden Army. With his signature voice and facial structure, nobody on the planet could play Hellboy except Perlman.
The rest of the cast of characters from Abe Sapien, played and voiced by the great physical actor Doug Jones, to Selma Blair's Liz, are given more to do and are fun to watch. I even thought the new addition to the team, Johan Krauss, was interesting, although a tad on the weird side (not for this director I suppose).
There are two thing I didn't like about Hellboy II. The storyline was pretty average (although much better than the first) and the editing seemed a bit awkward at times. I felt a few scenes cut off at weird points, but these are minor flaws.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army was a visual feast that gives me hope for this soon to be Hobbit director. If Peter Jackson hand picked him, there must be something special. This flick, along with Pan's Labyrinth, proves it.
4 and 1/2 out of 5 stars
All hail the new king of fantasy filmmaking. July 12, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Director Guillermo Del Toro just keeps getting better and better. He seems to have given up making genre-straddling childhood-based horror/dramas for now and has officially supplanted Peter Jackson as THE director to look out for in the realm of fantasy film. This is a man who is redefining the genre as we know it one great film at a time. "Hellboy 2" is the perfect sequel to a solid comic book adaptation and a great way to spend two hours of your life. The visuals are amazing, the humor works well, and the characters are much more fully fleshed-out than they were in the first film. Every aspect of the first Hellboy movie has been improved upon and nearly every flaw buffed out. As a superhero flick it may not hit the heights of Iron Man, but it does lord over the impressive The Incredible Hulk.
You know the story: Nazis raise a demon during WWII, American troops intercept and adopt the little red bugger and raise him as one of the good guys, demon fights monsters as part of a top-secret task force, falls in love with pyrokinetic hottie, discovers he's destined to destroy the world, lots of a$zkicking ensues. The first film was a nice introduction to the characters with some really great visuals and cool ideas. But the fact that big red demons don't work so well in a live action medium hurt it. In fact, I'd venture to say that without the amazing Ron Perlman, the whole project would have been an exercise in futility. But Perlman IS Hellboy and he brings a lot of believability and gruff charm to a character that simply shouldn't work on the big screen. On the other hand, the two animated features suffer from no such translation issues and still benefit from Perlman's distinctive delivery so check those out for sure. Okay, round two. So here we are introduced to the story of The Golden Army, an unstoppable mechanized force used to subdue mankind during a war with the elves and other magical denizens of the world. The wise elf king ceased the slaughter and agreed that humanity may have the cities and the magical denizens take the wilds. But now mankind has left them nothing and the king's son seeks to renew the war and crush the world's population by resurrecting the legendary Golden Army. Meanwhile, Hellboy continues his passive-aggressive attempts to expose the covert Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense to the world (his handler has to bribe him with Cuban cigars), but at least he's got the girl...or does he?
Freed from the annoyance of the unnecessary human protagonist of the first film, we're now totally focused on the characters we the fans care about: Abe Sapien the Atlantean empath, Liz Sherman the unbalanced firestarter, Hellboy himself (obviously), and a new addition to the team in the form of a German poltergeist that can inhabit and animate inanimate objects, Johann Krauss, who arrives to serve as the team's field commander. This guy adds so much to the film I don't know if it would have been above average without him. Great, great character.
Fairly early on Del Toro begins throwing everything he's got at the audience. The menagerie of creatures in this film is astonishing. Do not try to count the varieties or you will miss the film. George Lucas is kicking himself somewhere as we speak; Del Toro manages to infest "Hellboy 2" with enough bizarre and imaginative creatures to fill dozens of Star Wars cantinas but I never once stopped and thought "that is totally computer generated". That's the difference between a filmmaker who truly loves his work and one who just wants to throw a bunch of cool stuff to make the audience go "wow!" before getting annoyed by it 15 minutes in. Guillermo Del Toro has built a career encompassing simple horror, supernatural coming of age drama, comic book films, and politically-tinged fantasy and has continually innovated and improved on each genre he has touched. "Hellboy 2" feels like a culmination of those styles coupled with a massive budget. The film has incredible visuals, but never forgoes character development; it has clever humor, but also genuine emotion. Perfectly balanced.
I've tried to think of a specific flaw in this film and I've come up empty. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" is a brilliant fantasy film that delivers everything one could hope for and easily tops it's predecessor. Don't get me wrong, if the idea of a big red demon with an oversized gun in one hand and a cigar in the other strikes you as unconscionably silly then this film will still not work for you. This is not "Pan's Labyrinth", this is not an art film, this is a pure goofy over-the-top comic book romp. But it's one of the best out there and there is only one man who could have made it so. Next stop for Guillermo Del Toro: Middle Earth. I absolutely cannot wait to see what he has in store for "The Hobbit".
4 1/2 stars rounded up for degree of difficulty.
Seriously, YOU try to make something like this into a believable film!
Same Great Hero, Different Deep Subtexts October 20, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Outside of Ron Perlman's bravo performance as the title character, Hellboy, in the first film, what wowed me the most (as I stated in my previous Amazon review) was the deeply theological and emotional subtexts of that film. As much as I loved Ron Perlman's even more bravo performance in "The Golden Army", it took me a while to clue into the fact that some of the deepest subtexts in this second movie are a bit different than the first film.
I don't wish to indulge in any real spoilers this early in the game, but this new film has exchanged the theological subtext for a psychological one that is just as deep.
In the first film, the question was one of what made Hellboy a truly 'human' character. The answer was the right to choice based on free will. In this new film, the related question is whether or not Hellboy can ever truly fit in and should he even try. "The Golden Army", with the beneficial switch to Universal Pictures, makes a clever connection between Hellboy and Boris Karloff in "Bride of Frankenstein". Mr. Karloff's little cameo appearance as Frankenstein on one of Hellboy's many television sets in a significant scene with Elsa Lanchester as the titular Bride nails that subtext in just a few brief moments of film time in a way that a lot of surface action in the film never could have.
The father/son subtext of the first film is still here, but buried even more deeply as John Hurt's character of Hellboy's adoptive father, Trevor Bruttenholm, was murdered in the first film. We are reminded of his character by a cameo appearance of John Hurt as Trevor 'Broom' in a flashback to Hellboy's younger years; but hasn't anyone ever told Guillermo del Toro that, in the original comics, an eleven-year-old Hellboy would nowhere be as small as the character is portrayed in this flashback. In the original comics, once he get past ten years old, Hellboy is almost full grown physically, if not emotionally mature.
Yet, there is a further connection in the new film to that father/son subtext of the original film. It's too bad that it is one that will probably pass right over the heads of that portion of the audience who haven't see the first movie. In this second movie, both Hellboy and Prince Nuada are the sons of murdered fathers. Where the huge difference lies between these two characters is the identity of the villain who commited the murder.
Once again, we have a film of deep emotional, religious subtexts lurking under a fun, exciting, quip filled surface. Watch out for a drunken scene between Abe and Hellboy. I thought I'd die laughing; but it is those deeper subtexts that make me love Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy" movies and I can't wait for the third installment.
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