Del Toro Outdoes Himself with Creatures, Monsters, and Giant Golden Robots in Hellboy 2

by Josh Roth @ 3:49 pm July 11th, 2008

Guillermo del Toro is a true artist with a camera, and a cool guy to boot. Del Toro is a huge fan of the Hellboy comics, written by Mike Mignola, so when he brought Hellboy to the big screen, it was a perfect adaption to the comics. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army picks up where the last one left off, with Hellboy (Ron Perlman), Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) (John Myers is MIA because the actor, Rupert Evans was busy with the stage) kicking supernatural out of the BPRD in New Jersey. I was a huge fan of the first Hellboy, thanks to its perfect mix of sci-fi and fantasy. Then del Toro brought us Pan’s Labyrinth, which blew most people away. I definitely enjoyed it, but meh. And now Hellboy 2, which gives us the best of Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro’s brilliant vision is perfectly executed in this excellent sequel to one of my favorite sci-fi films.


Guillermo del Toro got his start in film with awesome sci-fi thriller films like Cronos, Mimic, and Blade 2 (my favorite in the series, and the only one I really like). Then he came out with Hellboy, an adaptation of one his favorite comic series of the same name by Mike Mignola, whose distinct visual style (which seems to mix German expressionism and classic superhero stylings) and clever wit makes the Hellboy series so damned fun. When del Toro brought Hellboy to the silver screen, a lot of people, including myself, were pleasantly surprised, it was an unexpected gem. Ever since the first one ended I’ve been anticipating the sequel. The trailers showed us a world more developed and expansive than the first film, more along the lines of Pan’s Labyrinth, with its pantheon of incredible creatures and monsters. Like I said, Hellboy 2 takes the best bits of del Toro’s other films and expands them into an incredibly action packed and creative work of cinematic brilliance.

Everyone, except Rupert Evans as John Myers, reprises their roles. Ron Perlman is perfect as Hellboy, and even through the incredible make up his performance shines. Doug Jones, the faun and thin man from Pan’s Labyrinth, is back as Abe Sapien, the fish/humanoid psychic, and this time he looks even better. The prosthetics on Abe are absolutely incredible, the gills and eyes move and blink naturally, and Jones’ physical performance is brilliant, as always, and this time around he does the voice of Abe too (David Hyde Piere did ADR for the last one). Selma Blair is good as Liz, not incredible, but she holds her own.

The real stars of the show are the production designers and effects artists, and of course the director. This film is a thing of beauty, an example of creative and brilliant cinema doing just what films are supposed to do, transport us to a world unknown but believable none the less. Del Toro is especially good at this, as he proved in Pan’s Labyrinth and even Blade 2. most important of all is Del Toro’s love of physical effects and prosthetics. I’m a big proponent of using physical effects and makeup wherever possible as opposed to digital effects and CGI. When done correctly, prosthetics and animatronics can work wonders (case and point: the work of Stan Winston, RIP). But Del Toro isn’t all about the physical, he’s too smart for that, he knows to use CGI when it would work better, and he does, and it works!

Not only is Hellboy a work of cinematic genius visually, but it’s also a terrific action adventure film. The fight choreography (not to mention the makeup) with the evil Prince Nuada is mind blowing, it’s graceful and perfectly executed, and it is a great contrast to Hellboy’s brute force style. The mix of action, science fiction, and fantasy makes Hellboy one of the most creative and action packed films of the summer. In my heart, this outdoes the first Hellboy tenfold. Bravo Guillermo, you cinematic genius.