Review: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Rating: ***
Nonna's Rating: $$$
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Yes. Critics liked this one 88% of the time -- and they weren't wrong. I'd seen Hellboy I on cable and enjoyed the irreverent humor and ironic twists on the comic book genre. I generally don't have high expectations for sequels, but this one truly blew me away. Guillermo Del Toro's direction was downright phantasmagorical; he used myth and magic with a sure hand. His creatures echoed those in Pan's Labrinth, but were entirely appropriate to this genre, so very different in tone and story. Ron Perlman turns in a commanding performance as Hellboy, full of heart and swagger, and Selma Blair, his love interest, develops a third dimension (i.e., a true personality) in the sequel. Doug Jones as Abe Sapien (and other characters) has more screen time in the sequel and uses it well. Missing, however, is Abe's "voice" in Hellboy I, the inimitable, uncredited David Hyde Pierce.
Nonna's Ratings:
$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it
$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it
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