Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a 2008 comic book film based on the fictional Dark Horse Comics character Hellboy. The film is directed by Guillermo del Toro and is a sequel to the 2004 film Hellboy, which del Toro also directed. Ron Perlman reprises his role as the titular character. The film was commercially released on July 11, 2008.

Synopsis

 When a truce between humanity and an invisible realm of fantasy is broken, destruction threatens the Earth. A leader from the realm, Prince Nuada, defies his bloodline and summons an army of creatures to lay waste. Hellboy (Ron Perlman) must confront Nuada and his army, being backed by his team members from the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense: Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and Johann Kraus. The team travels between Earth and the fantasy realm, battling fantastical creatures. Hellboy is faced with a choice, following the life he knows or pursuing a life of unknown destiny.

 

Production

Development

In May 2004, following the release of Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy the previous month, a sequel was announced by Revolution Studios with del Toro returning to direct and Ron Perlman reprising his lead role as the titular character. The director sought to create a film trilogy with the first sequel anticipated for release in 2006. Revolution Studios planned to produce the film and distribute it through a deal with Columbia Pictures, but by 2006, Revolution had gone out of business. In August 2006, Universal Studios acquired the project with the intent to finance and distribute the sequel, which was newly scheduled to be released in summer of 2008. Production was scheduled to begin in April 2007 in Budapest, Hungary and London, England.

Writing

Director Guillermo del Toro explored several concepts for the sequel, initially planning to recreate the classic versions of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Wolf Man. He and comic book creator Mike Mignola also spent a few days adapting the Almost Colossus story, featuring Roger the Homunculus. They then found it easier to create an original story based on folklore, because Del Toro was planning Pan’s Labyrinth, and Mignola’s comics were becoming increasingly based on mythology. Later, Del Toro pitched a premise to Revolution Studios that involved four Titans from the four corners of Earth—Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth—before he replaced the Titans with a Golden Army. Mignola described the theme of the sequel, “The focus is more on the folklore and fairy tale aspect of Hellboy. It’s not Nazis, machines and mad scientists but the old gods and characters who have been kind of shoved out of our world.”

Filming

Del Toro released Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006, and the film was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, earning the director enough clout to begin production on Hellboy II. Guillermo del Toro began filming Hellboy II in June 2007 in Budapest and concluded in December 2007. The film was the first American production to shoot at Korda Studios in Hungary, then newly built outside Budapest. The creature shop was led by the company Spectral Motion, and Filmefex contributed work in makeup and prosthetics. The latter company designed a creature for the troll market scene and built several statues and full-sized replicas of the Golden Army. 

Cast

Ron Perlman as Hellboy, a demon who works for the government organization Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). Guillermo del Toro described the character’s dilemma in the sequel, “[He] has always fought on the side of humans, but this [destruction of fantasy] pushes his buttons to reconsider.” In the sequel, Hellboy is armed with an enormous new gun called “The Big Baby”, which fires flare-like bullets.

Selma Blair as Liz Sherman, a pyrokinetic member of BPRD and Hellboy’s girlfriend. Blair described her character as more engaging in the sequel, “In the first one she was afraid to take a step. She was completely a zombie, not wanting to own up to her power and having the memory of what she’d created in her life… I was really eager to come and play Liz with a little more vibrancy.” Blair also had short hair for her role, avoiding long hair from her portrayal in the first film, which she felt “brought her face down”. The actress emphasized Liz Sherman’s growth in the sequel, “She’s looking to the future much more, and things are happening in this one that she has to buck up… I think you’re dealing with a lot knowing this young girl that we last saw as very damaged, and now she’s with this guy, and all these people around her, I think, we’ve really had to step up a strength, and a confidence in her so that I don’t look like the little baby kid sister tagging along.”

Doug Jones as…

…Abe Sapien, an aquatic empath who works for BPRD with Hellboy. Jones said of his return to the role after the first film, “He’s been an absolute treat for me to play this time. He’s written with so many different colors and levels and there’s a love interest… And his buddy time with Hellboy is more concrete and his brother/sister time with Liz is even better.” Jones believed that Abe Sapien became “the brains, the intellect of the team” while Hellboy protects his character because he is still “kind of innocent”. The actor pointed to his character’s adolescence with love,”His love life is something that’s never been tapped into before… So just like a 13-year-old with his first crush, this is how you’re going to see Abe this time. A portion of him. Will this affect his decision-making powers?”

…The Angel of Death, a female angel with androgynous characteristics. Jones explained his portrayal, “The script refers to the angel as a her and that’s what I do. I think she has feminine qualities, but she’s not totally a woman either. And that’s okay. I like characters that keep you guessing.”

…The Chamberlain, the door keeper for the Elfen king of the Underworld. The creature is long, gangly, eight feet tall, and wears silk and velvet robes. It also has long, spindly fingers, which filmmakers mobilized with servos and which Jones wore as extensions of his own hands.

Luke Goss as Prince Nuada, the Elf Prince of the underworld. Goss was originally cast as the mutant vampire Jared Nomak in del Toro’s 2002 film Blade II, and the director approached the actor to be cast in Hellboy II. Goss trained with swords and spears for six to seven months for his role. He and Anna Walton also learned ancient Gaelic from a dialog coach for their lines. Goss did not perceive Nuada as evil, explaining, “It’s issues, his people, he’s part of what he truly believes. I don’t think, really, he’s so deluded… [He] is driven by an ethic that was instilled by the person he has problems [with] his father, and inevitably, that leads into the conflict with him and Hellboy.” Goss also noted that his character admired and revered his twin sister, portrayed by Anna Walton. He said of the prince and the princess, “There is an incestuous relationship that’s not maybe overly obvious to everybody, but some people hopefully will pick up on the fact, certainly from my direction towards her.”

Anna Walton as Princess Nuala, the Elf Princess of the underworld and Nuada’s twin sister. She is described as “very light” while Nuada is “very dark”, creating a yin and yang dynamic. She elaborated on the incestuous tones between her character and Prince Nuada, “He’s the dark side and she’s the light side and they’re pulled apart and pulled back together again, and she’s trying to get away because she knows there is something she has to do. He can’t let that go and they can’t really do anything without each other so it’s a really interesting thing.” Her character also forms a relationship with Abe Sapien, and Walton noted their similarities, “They are both slightly lost souls and they understand each other.” Walton spoke of her character’s sense of purpose, “She feels very strongly about what she has to do in the film, and then her absolute connection and love for the Earth and what we are given. That’s what she’s here to protect… Her relationship with her brother, and how he is almost a part of her but she has to break away and will do whatever it takes to stop him from achieving what he wants to achieve which is the mass destruction of mankind.”

Seth McFarlane voices Johann Kraus, while actors John Alexander and James Dodd wore the suit. Kraus is a German psychic whose ectoplasmic being is contained in a suit after a botched séance. Originally, filmmakers planned to create a computer-generated version of the glass fishbowl helmet, but with the cost being prohibitive, they created an actual helmet. To ensure the invisibility of the actor’s head under the glass, perspective and mirror tricks were used. The helmet was controlled by two puppeteers, so the heavy contraption had to be shared between Alexander and Dodd. The character was originally voiced by Thomas Kretschmann, but he was replaced by McFarlane.

Brian Steele as Mr. Wink, a giant cave troll who was originally conceived by Guillermo del Toro. Wink was sculpted by Mario Torres, and the costume was worn by Brian Steele. In the film, Wink’s right arm has a giant metal fist. The fist was designed by filmmakers to be made of heavy plastic to stay light enough for motors to operate the mechanical fingers. The fist could also be physically detached and used as a projectile without any computer-generated imagery used. Steele also plays a different troll, the Map Shop Owner, and Fragglewump.

Other cast members include:

• Jeffrey Tambor as Tom Manning
• John Hurt as Trevor Bruttenholm
• Roy Dotrice as King Balor, the Elf King of the underworld

Reception 

Hellboy II has received generally favorable reviews from film critics. As of July 9, 2008, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 88% of critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average score of 7.0/10, based upon a sample of 32 reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 79, based on 30 reviews.

Michael Rechtshaffen writing in The Hollywood Reporter said Hellboy II was an uncompromised vision of Guillermo del Toro’s imagination. He said that with the director given free rein, the film came across as an amalgam of the best moments from his previous films, only with better visual effects. John Anderson of Variety wrote of a rococo precision to the visuals that exceeded that of the first film. He cited del Toro’s “clockmaker’s preoccupation with detail” and ability to blend state-of-the-art technology with more classical visuals as the reasons for the film’s success. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said that the plot didn’t often deviate from its comic-book traditions, but that del Toro staged the action “brilliantly”. He said that while the visual effects deserved recognition, what made the film so exciting was the personality they were imbued with. Chuck Wilson of The Village Voice said that del Toro was on autopilot, but that he and his Pan’s Labyrinth crew, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro in particular, staged the steady stream of action set-pieces expertly. Mike Goodridge of Screen International wrote that del Toro had retained the B movie tone of the first film, saying the film managed to avoid the self-importance of The Incredible Hulk and the Batman film series and that del Toro was simply a “great storyteller” providing a “good time”. Stuart Levine in Premiere praised the visuals and “beautiful” set-pieces, but said del Toro’s script fell a little short of his direction. Alonso Duralde writing for msnbc.com said it represented a backwards step for del Toro, saying that despite several creepy sequences, the film was a return to the muddled storytelling and pretty visuals of his pre-Pan’s Labyrinth films. He said del Toro’s screenplay lacked energy or momentum.

John Anderson said the film would be “almost unthinkable” without Ron Perlman in the lead role, saying the film was more successful than its predecessor mainly due to the more deliberately amusing tone and the “drily ironic” title character. He said the only weak link was Luke Goss’ “unimposing” villain. While praising the general banter between Perlman and Blair, Stuart Levine said the nonchalant Hellboy exhibited insufficient growth as a character, and that Jeffrey Tambor was largely wasted in his role. He agreed that Goss’ villain was weak as written, with no tangible menace. Owen Gleiberman said Perlman was more assured than in the first Hellboy, funnier and more cantankerous. He said the entire enemble had “an appealing, outsize grandeur” about it. Mike Goodridge said the film carefully developed the character relationships, and Chuck Wilson said that other than the title character’s penchant for chewing cigars, he was otherwise “uninteresting”. Alonso Duralde wrote that the “sitcom-ish” character dilemmas were uninteresting, saying that Perlman and Tambor’s performances were regularly let down by the script. He said that Blair’s performance was possibly the first bad one he’d seen by the actress, and that while Jones was “brilliant” physically, his vocal performance was inferior to David Hyde Pierce’s in the first Hellboy film. Michael Rechtshaffen called Perlman “terrific” and said Blair’s brooding portrayal was effective.

Michael Rechtshaffen concluded that Hellboy II was less focused than the first film, but that it played “faster and looser” and was a “wild ride”. In a positive review, John Anderson’s main criticism was a sequence set in Ireland, which he called the least interesting and most conventional segment of the film. Chuck Wilson said the film “[didn't] have much on its mind”, but that it would amaze children and amuse adults, Stuart Levine said the film was worth viewers’ time, and Alonso Duralde said Hellboy II was “limp and unengaging”. Owen Gleiberman surmised that the film was “derivative yet… dazzling”, and Mike Goodridge concluded by praising the filmmakers’ skill at creating a film that, despite featuring “stunning” action sequences and creature effects, still found time for character development and a fulfilling story that expanded the franchise’s wider mythology.