Hellboy II Reactions

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I think this is the first time we've ever agreed on anything.

Yes, it was possibly THE stupidest thing they could have done, in light of TDK's buzz and the simple fact that Batman's just a bigger name than Hellboy and probably always will be. And now the fate of the 3rd film is in peril all because of this one very bad move on the studio's part.

Exactly, it was simply an idiotic move on Universal's part, the middle of August or maybe Halloween would have been a MUCH better release date and would IMO have got the movie more money.

 

[broblacksteel]

I liked the first hellboy better, the tone and story moved well. The sequel had too much comedy, i felt like it was going in the direction of sp3 with the director throwing in too many things HE thought were cool. Anyway the fights were amazing (GREAT use of stunt doubles...i really hope the fanboys did NOT think that was ron or luke doing all those moves), TDK knight could learn a thing or two from the fights in hellboy 2. (smh at the fights in TDK....)

 

[Bubonic]

I finally got around to seeing this movie and I was blown away.

The creatures were breathtakingly awesome.
The battles were epic.
The acting was mostly great.
The story was solid enough.

It was heavy on humour but I still think it was much more successful in that aspect then the FF movies or Ghost Rider.

The beginning was a bit weird with the kid's imagination render of the story, and I hated the kid. I guess he was told to act like a stereotypical goody too shoes 50's kid, but I thought he sucked and was glad it was the last I saw of him.

 

[SuperG]

I have to say I was disappointed with Hellboy II, as there were a number of flaws with the movie:

1) The plot. The initial set-up of the story worked well, but then everything stopped and we were shown an hour of the BRPD dicking about at HQ, which had nothing to do with the story; then in the last five minutes Del Toro must have thought 'oh crap, I better finish the story now' which resulted in a very quick ending with very little gravitas.

2) There was no challenge for the characters. Everything was too easy for them. In an epic adventure, such as the trailer depicted, you expect the characters to encounter problems which they must solve. The slapdash ending had none of this, I will now re-create the ending:

"Oh look at this map...he has gone to Ireland."
*cut to Ireland*
"We are in Ireland, oh look a goblin! Do you know where the evil guy is?"
"Yes and I will take you to him, but first I must take you to see an awesomely designed creature for a pointless twenty seconds of dialogue."
*cut to evil elf and Hellboy fighting for ten minutes*
"...she is dead. Let's destroy the golden army now."
"I'm preggers."
THE END.

3) The characters and the script was poor. (Maybe Del Toro should leave the English dialogue to someone who can speak the language, as that might have added some depth to the flimsy script?) I will present you with a couple of examples:

Firstly, when Abe fell in love with the Princess instantly:
"Let me touch your hand.."
"OK."
*they touch*
"...I think I love you."
This was TOTALLY out of character for Abe, he is supposed to be logical, rational and intelligent...not desperate.

Secondly, when Krauss tried to stop them taking the plane:
"Do you have authorisation to take the plane?!"
"Hellboy is dying."
"...I once had a wife who died. Ah, what the hell...let's take the plane."
It was such a sudden, fickle change of direction for such a stubborn, logical character that it didn't make any sense, and just seemed like poor writing.

4) The huge battles which were just excuses to show off Del Toro's wacky creatures. An example of this is the ten-minute battle with the forest elemental, which starts off by having the evil dude throw a bean into the drain...
The troll market irritated me, as it just seemed to be another excuse to show off designs.

The CGI was good, but that should only be a small part of a movie...it is the acting, plot and script with bring the life to a film. I think the 'bad acting' was more likely down to a bad script.

 

[Pluto]

very impressed. anything directed by him is tops.

 

[bubbadoom]

Super G - you better watch HB2 again, I think you missed a few plot points. Johann does not go to stop them from taking the plane, he goes to help them take it. He make the decision before that scene, when he first looks at the little bag with his dead wife's wedding ring in it! The dialogue with the Angel of Death is far from pointless, that sets up the entire third film.

 

[Not_Sane]

it sounds like Super G has a stick up his butt, he didn't really give this movie a chance.

 

[Knightsaber Priss]

I've watched Hellboy 2 and I have to say it is much better than the original, which I incidentally loved. I certainly hope that Guillermo Del Toro can make Hellboy 3 and round out his Hellboy movies. This franchise is a vastly underrated franchise. It trumps anything hacks like Michael Bay can churn out.

 

[SuperG]

I LOVED the first movie, that is why I was so disappointed with this one. Alright, I misunderstood about Krauss, but the Angel of Death was pointless, as it told us nothing we didn't know already. Except for the thing about Krauss, all the points of my argument are completely valid!

 

[bubbadoom]

Maybe when [or if] we see HB3, the comments made by the AoD will make more sense...

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I have to say I was disappointed with Hellboy II, as there were a number of flaws with the movie:

1) The plot. The initial set-up of the story worked well, but then everything stopped and we were shown an hour of the BRPD dicking about at HQ, which had nothing to do with the story; then in the last five minutes Del Toro must have thought 'oh crap, I better finish the story now' which resulted in a very quick ending with very little gravitas.

2) There was no challenge for the characters. Everything was too easy for them. In an epic adventure, such as the trailer depicted, you expect the characters to encounter problems which they must solve. The slapdash ending had none of this, I will now re-create the ending:

"Oh look at this map...he has gone to Ireland."
*cut to Ireland*
"We are in Ireland, oh look a goblin! Do you know where the evil guy is?"
"Yes and I will take you to him, but first I must take you to see an awesomely designed creature for a pointless twenty seconds of dialogue."
*cut to evil elf and Hellboy fighting for ten minutes*
"...she is dead. Let's destroy the golden army now."
"I'm preggers."
THE END.

3) The characters and the script was poor. (Maybe Del Toro should leave the English dialogue to someone who can speak the language, as that might have added some depth to the flimsy script?) I will present you with a couple of examples:

Firstly, when Abe fell in love with the Princess instantly:
"Let me touch your hand.."
"OK."
*they touch*
"...I think I love you."
This was TOTALLY out of character for Abe, he is supposed to be logical, rational and intelligent...not desperate.

Secondly, when Krauss tried to stop them taking the plane:
"Do you have authorisation to take the plane?!"
"Hellboy is dying."
"...I once had a wife who died. Ah, what the hell...let's take the plane."
It was such a sudden, fickle change of direction for such a stubborn, logical character that it didn't make any sense, and just seemed like poor writing.

4) The huge battles which were just excuses to show off Del Toro's wacky creatures. An example of this is the ten-minute battle with the forest elemental, which starts off by having the evil dude throw a bean into the drain...
The troll market irritated me, as it just seemed to be another excuse to show off designs.

The CGI was good, but that should only be a small part of a movie...it is the acting, plot and script with bring the life to a film. I think the 'bad acting' was more likely down to a bad script.

Your post gave me a good chuckle because it's sooo true.

 

[SsM]

One of the year's best movies, and definately the one with the best imagination. Perlman was on Fire, we had a better villain, and most of all the action was a huge improvement. I mean HUGE.

I didn't really see him as a villain or at least.. his motives weren't villainous.... The Prince was my favorite character and he had an admirable cause. [BLACKOUT]The human race disgraced the treaty, They're destroying the earth. I would be pissed too.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[zanos]

I was definately entertained by the film. It looked amazing and really put so many films with bigger budgets to shame. The only issue I have is the ending which didn't exactly leave a very good impression for a sequel.

 

[Not_Sane]

^??? I though the end left a very good impression for a sequel. if they do a third it sounds like it could be dark.

 

[strikezone89]

^umm the only thing the ending showed us was that hellboy is going to be a dad and maybe the sequel will show the kids being born... how do u get that it could be dark?

 

[Not_Sane]

The whole thing about Liz. She was told she would suffer the most. I have a feeling that you wont see kids in the future. Plus I was reading some where that Del Toro said if he did a third he wanted it to deal with destiny, the Angel of Death said that it was his destiny to destroy the world, so i'm just guessing that the next should be dark.

 

[Buslady]

NUFF SAID

HILARIOUS....





"I like cats..."

TDK can go roll over, I'm so sick of overhype of Batman...it's brain drilling and boring. If Batbrains can ride a really silly looking, unrealistic motorcycle with big fat tires then HB can shoot little tooth fairies with the Sam. red could probably beat Bats with his wits...and that ain't saying much.

 

[Jack Ups]

Im a big HB fan and i was dissapoined with HB2.
Batman was a much better movie,writing,acting mostly everything apart from the conceptial.

Im really not looking forward to HB3 if there gonna be kids in it.
And Batman wouldent need to fight Hellboy, he'd probs fall through a floor like he always does in the comics.t:

 

[TheTrickster]

Mimic?

 

[TheTrickster]

I have to say I was disappointed with Hellboy II, as there were a number of flaws with the movie:

1) The plot. The initial set-up of the story worked well, but then everything stopped and we were shown an hour of the BRPD dicking about at HQ, which had nothing to do with the story; then in the last five minutes Del Toro must have thought 'oh crap, I better finish the story now' which resulted in a very quick ending with very little gravitas.

2) There was no challenge for the characters. Everything was too easy for them. In an epic adventure, such as the trailer depicted, you expect the characters to encounter problems which they must solve. The slapdash ending had none of this, I will now re-create the ending:

"Oh look at this map...he has gone to Ireland."
*cut to Ireland*
"We are in Ireland, oh look a goblin! Do you know where the evil guy is?"
"Yes and I will take you to him, but first I must take you to see an awesomely designed creature for a pointless twenty seconds of dialogue."
*cut to evil elf and Hellboy fighting for ten minutes*
"...she is dead. Let's destroy the golden army now."
"I'm preggers."
THE END.

3) The characters and the script was poor. (Maybe Del Toro should leave the English dialogue to someone who can speak the language, as that might have added some depth to the flimsy script?) I will present you with a couple of examples:

Firstly, when Abe fell in love with the Princess instantly:
"Let me touch your hand.."
"OK."
*they touch*
"...I think I love you."
This was TOTALLY out of character for Abe, he is supposed to be logical, rational and intelligent...not desperate.

Secondly, when Krauss tried to stop them taking the plane:
"Do you have authorisation to take the plane?!"
"Hellboy is dying."
"...I once had a wife who died. Ah, what the hell...let's take the plane."
It was such a sudden, fickle change of direction for such a stubborn, logical character that it didn't make any sense, and just seemed like poor writing.

4) The huge battles which were just excuses to show off Del Toro's wacky creatures. An example of this is the ten-minute battle with the forest elemental, which starts off by having the evil dude throw a bean into the drain...
The troll market irritated me, as it just seemed to be another excuse to show off designs.

The CGI was good, but that should only be a small part of a movie...it is the acting, plot and script with bring the life to a film. I think the 'bad acting' was more likely down to a bad script.

I concur bad dialogue poor characters and bad pacing meant this wasn't up to the usual del toro standard. Seems to be a case of style over substances. I gave it a six purely on the visuals of it.

More mimic than cronos.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

I'll give it something between 7,5 and 8. I'll post my thoughts later.

 

[Dr. Fate]

Favourite movie of 08 so far...and yes I've seen TDK, shoot me lol.

BANG

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Good story...

Good acting in general...

Good fighting, for the budget they had


But the villains or villain was really weak... just a spoilt child really.



Oh... and Danny Elfman's music was good... but the movie needed the Hellboy theme badly.

 

[The Joker]

I just saw it today, and it was all kinds of awesome. Brilliant action scenes, great humour, a terrific villain, and some good emotion.

10/10. It exceeded my expectations.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

I saw this yesterday. I liked it, but it had some problemes. I'll discuss what I liked first though.

The best thing about the movie are the ''fantasy'' scenes. And this is coming from a guy, who rather watches raw crime drama's than merry trolls and fairies in green lands -- not a fan of the genre. But this is Hellboy, and I loved the fantasy element. It's just so much fun. The much-discussed troll market underneath Brooklyn Bridge is the pinnacle of this. You really need two sets of eyes to take it all in. And with all the monsters, trolls and goblins I just can't help but chuckle at how outrageous they look and admire how extraordinarily well made they are. It really evoked the Jim Henson Muppets spirit to me, and that's quite the accomplishment. The special effects look alot better than in the first film aswell (although I thought the animated ''prologue'' looked a bit lackluster) which is quite stunning since the budget was less than the first time around. The Tree God was aprime example of this -- it made a beautiful looking and quite malancholic scene altogether, which was very surprising. Because as soon as I saw it, I thought of the final fight in Hellboy and was expecting the slime to splatter against the walls again.

Ofcourse I'm a big fan of the characters in the Hellboy universe and they were all spot-on for this movie. It might derive a bit from the source material, but I'm all for that, I never really mind seeing different versions, different takes. It keeps things fresh, and that way there is evolution in this universe. We don't want to see the same stuff everytime right? I was absolutely delighted to see Johann Krauss as a ball-busting prick on a high commanding horse. I loved his suit, voice and the gorgeous ectoplasmic effects. Abe was very sympathetic and Hellboy was even more awesome than in the first. The dude was born for the role, and all the little quirks they gave him work perfectly. Liz Sherman, who i could barely stand in the first one, was very tolerable in this.
Oh and one of my favourite thing in the movie was, again, Jeffrey Tambor. The guy can do hilarious/tragic like no other. I really felt for this guy, who was so stressed out he had to take ''medication'' constantly. He got the biggest laughs. And ****, was I glad to see john Hurt again in the first scene.

So, it's a good film. It entertains very much, especially the comedy, but it doesn't quite thrill the viewer (not this one at least) And even though the villain is scary and alot is at stake I never really felt the danger, and that gut feeling of tension that's supposed to come with it. The final act is also quite a bit rushed. The plotting feels a bit contrived and rushed. The ending is a bit too abrupt aswell. The hints at what more is to come for the characters looks to make for an intruiging third installment. Which I'll happily watch as soon as it hits theaters.

Hmm, I've discovered I liked this flick a lot more than I first thought. Because there are alot of things I haven't even mentioned; the wonderfully disturbingly creepy Tooth-Fairy fight and that monster with the fist-on-a-chain. I'll rate this one a solid 8/10 after all.