Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Grading & Discussion

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Chris_Johnston, Jul 9, 2008.

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Grade the movie...

  1. Excellent

    41.4%
  2. Above Average

    36.2%
  3. Average

    10.3%
  4. Below Average

    10.3%
  5. Poor

    1.7%
  1. Captain Craig

    Captain Craig Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm the only one who thinks, "If I didn't know DHP did Abe's voice in HB1 I wouldn't have known a difference at all with DJ doing it in HB2?"

    And I even watched HB1 2 days before I saw the movie, of course I also saw the two animated flicks in which DJ did the voice so I concede I may have already been primed but anyway. I don't think its that obvious a difference.
     
  2. DarthPipes

    DarthPipes Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Trust me, you're not the only one. They have voices that are very similiar, except that Pierce's is a little higher.
     
  3. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Just got back from it, pretty good movie, better than the first one I feel. Had a more grander, more action-oriented feel to it.

    The only "problem" I had with it is when Abe and Selma just standing aside when Red was fighting the Golden Army. Sure Abe's a waif and wouldn't offer much help and I doubt Selma would've added much help (other than maybe using her heat (which is fire-red now instead of propane-blue) to melt the army, buit it just seemed odd they disappeared during the battle. I guess they rolled really low intiatives and Red and Johann took a lot of free actions. ;)

    But, it was still a good, solid, movie. Liked the drinking/bonding scene between Red and Abe, liked the "love" plot between Abe and Nuala well done all around. I think it was a little slow to start and two many "meaningless" action scenes in the begining but I still enjoyed it.

    Between Red and Manning. I didn't see them as having going back to "square one" they seemed to be more or less on the same page, well in the same book at least. In the first movie, before they "bond" they're total professional antagonists. In this movie they seemed more like the bickering chief and "top cop" in old 80s cop movies. Where they fight, the Chief tells the Top Cop to do things by the book and the Top Cop says "sure whatever" and does what he wants and the Chief just kind of goes with it because, well, he's his Top Cop.



    B-

    Oh! And I was a bit annoyed they got rid of John. On one hand I can see why they did it he was kind of useless in the first movie and would've just gotten in the way here, but it was silly to see him just shrugged off. "You had him transfered to Antarctica." Oh well.

    And, yeah, didn't notice the difference and problem in Abe's voice. That was a relief.

    :)
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2008
  4. MattJC

    MattJC Fleet Captain

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    Loved it. I hope we get to see a HB III.
     
  5. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Anyone notice that Abe -inexplicably- didn't have his reverse-SCUBA (SCOWBA?) gear on when they left BPRD before the last act?
     
  6. DarthPipes

    DarthPipes Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I read with Myers that his character was thrown in there by the studio to transition into a film where Hellboy was the lead. I read that somewhere on-line.
     
  7. Superman

    Superman Fleet Captain

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    That's right, he was meant to be the audience's eyes to the world of HB.

    The problem with that is that it show's the studio's complete lack of faith in the concept. Go and read some of the stuff on Wiki and IMDB that the suits wanted Gui to do to HB in the movie. At one point, they wanted him to actuall make HB a normal human being who turns into HB when he gets angry!!! It shows that they clearly didn't care about the heart of the character, and it's amazing that they del Toro was able to be as faithful to the comic as he was.

    That's one of the many reasons I love HB2, it's so much more in keeping with del Toro's unique vision AND Mignola's.

    \S/
     
  8. Small White Car

    Small White Car Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I had no idea until I saw his name in the credits. I first thought "who was he...?" and then realized that Johann was almost the same voice as the fish on 'American Dad!'

    I laughed really hard. What do you bet it's the cartoon fish that got him this part?

    I loved loved LOVED that this movie felt like it was 'Men in Black III!' Hell, I'm just going to consider 'Hell Boy II' to be the REAL 'MiB II' since the actual MiB sequel they gave us was so god-awful.
     
  9. grabmygoblin

    grabmygoblin Commodore Commodore

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    these were my nitpicks as well.

    I loved the sequence in the beginning where Abe and Manning were walking down the hall casually on "Tuesday".
     
  10. DarthPipes

    DarthPipes Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Jimmy Kimbel saying that Abe had a toilet seat around his neck and HB's reaction to it was classic.

    Thank God the studios didn't interfere with this movie was much. HB as a normal person? Talk about completely defeating the purpose of the Hellboy concept. Not to mention that it would have been a complete rip-off of the Hulk. Stupid studios!
     
  11. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Maybe he was too self-conscious to wear it at the end? I guess he held his breath (held his water?). :)
     
  12. grabmygoblin

    grabmygoblin Commodore Commodore

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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-DpANYoLKQ
     
  13. Thrall

    Thrall Commodore Commodore

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    Meh. There was a lot of creative, cool stuff in here. Sadly it was dragged down by an incredibly slow pace, a plodding plot that went no where for most of the movie, cliche and stupid romance sub-plots, pointless gags that added nothng to the "story", and lots and lots of dead space. Oh, and the "humans are killing the planet" is the most cliched theme around, so thanks for the preaching Al Gore. It felt like this movie was directed by Micheal Bay. If Del Toro spent more time working on an actual plot that went some where, and less on stupid bullshit then it would have been pretty good.
     
  14. JustAFriend

    JustAFriend Commodore Commodore

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    Too much attention on creature-creation and too little on story.

    Felt like I was watching "Men in Black II" again and half the teenagers in the theater were so bored they were throwing stuff at the screen.

    Should have been much, much better.
     
  15. Gryffindorian

    Gryffindorian Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I would say "B+" or Above Average.

    I saw it yesterday and thought it was a lot better than the first one in terms of the plot and character development.

    The Barry Manilow song was priceless. :lol:

    I can't smile without youuuuu ...
     
  16. Captain Craig

    Captain Craig Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'd have jumped up and given the bunch a loud talking to right there as I hauled their ass to management.
     
  17. JacksonArcher

    JacksonArcher Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm probably a teenager, and I wasn't bored at all by Hellboy II. How could you be? The movie was a visual feast.
     
  18. Lapis Exilis

    Lapis Exilis Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    If I want a visual feast, I'll go to an art museum. Plus pure visual feasts are a dime a dozen at the movies these days. With absolutely no character development, who cares how pretty things are?

    My rating: boring. I must have checked my watch 6 times.
     
  19. JacksonArcher

    JacksonArcher Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I thought Hellboy II had character development. It wasn't extraordinary character development, but it was existent.
     
  20. Captain Craig

    Captain Craig Vice Admiral Admiral

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    What do you mean probably?