Hellboy II: The Golden Army

It may hold together less than part one, on the other hand Hellboy II is full of enthusiasm and enough fantasy for another ten movies. Guillermo gives the movie the heart and playfulness of a young child who loved old fairytales and fantasy stories. I used to be like that too and maybe that’s why I gave The Golden Army a full set of stars. In fact, I’m rather disappointed that del Toro signed up for Tolkien’s Hobbit because he’s need elsewhere. Because of him we are going to have to wait longer for the third Hellboy than I would like. I’m going to miss this red guy’s world and I won’t even mention the shelving of the adaptation of Lovecraft’s ‘At the Mountains of Madness’. (10/02/2008)

For having a budget of eighty-five million, del Toro delivers an incredible piece of theatre, but the plot itself gets somewhat lost. Gone is the flamboyance of the first film, when the in-love "red man" was spouting dry catchphrases, and in the dark alleys he would fight other monsters from time to time. It does go into some of the depth of the mythology, but del Toro would have had to take an extra half hour to really get the whole colossus rolling and not just jump from place to place to blow it all away in two hours. Fortunately, it's still done with that passionate creative love for the comics and it's enjoyable all the way through. I give it a weaker four stars. PS: I believe that under Jackson's patronage, The Hobbit will be a smash hit. (09/18/2008)

I have to give it five stars. I simply have to. Not that anyone's forcing me to, but “Hellboy" is my favorite comic, and here it all looks exactly like it does on the pages of the comic books (although it's also completely different at the same time). Mike Mignola couldn't have found a man with more imagination and sense of atmosphere than Guillermo del Toro. I hope we get a third film. (04/26/2009)

The shallow and awkwardly simple clash of good and evil wrapped in the most clichéd motifs. Good characters, evil characters, an old king, a young hot-blooded lad and heir to the throne, a princess, love, monsters, a final battle, etc. We've had something similar at least a thousand times before, and if it weren't for the solid wisecracks, the beautiful costumes and make-up (it's clear that del Toro loves colors and is not afraid to experiment), the high-quality visuals and Luke Goss, who knows how to kick ass, as fans have known since the days of Blade 2, there would be almost nothing here, because this boring tale didn't appeal to me even halfway as much as I expected. (11/19/2008)

Hellboy 2 was supposed to be a non-narrative film from the start. The giants rising from the ground, giant flowers that bloom during death, and winged reapers could have silently told a story on their own, and their presence alone would have worked visually even as metaphor, which they are. They work on a fundamental level; everything around them does not. (09/15/2013)