HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY (2008)

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"We die and the world will be poorer for it."

In Guillermo del Toro's sequel to "HellBoy" (2004), he succeeds at delivering a better film with a nicer pace, but cuts out an entire act of the film in favor of a rushed climax which ruins the point in the whole thing.

On Christmas Eve 1955, Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt) tells 11yr old HellBoy the legend of "The Broken Crown & The Golden Army" after an episode of Howdy Doody (12/12/47-9/24/60); in which the elves, goblins, and humans made a pact at the dawn of time to never war again with each other after the devastating Golden Army laid waste to human lands in previous wars waged by the goblins & elves against the humans to stop their endless craving for more of everything. But the elven prince exiled himself in protest of the pact, swearing to return when the elves needed him most to reunite the three pieces of the crown when worn by royalty can resurrect the Golden Army from their eternal sleep.

In 2008, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) steals a piece of the legendary Broken Crown at a New York museum at 8:00PM, and from then on, the story unfolds at a semi-real time pace over the course of about 14hrs as the agents new and old of the BPRD attempt to find Nuada and prevent him from awakening the Golden Army for world domination.

Prince Nuada is an albino blond haired elven warrior whom is excellent with a blade, and is more so the voice of reason in the film, as despite being the opponent of HellBoy, he's still fighting for the same things HB's been wanting his whole life: acceptance. Except for Nuada, he's waited too long and has seen too much loss to continue obeying the pact, and is instead in favor of genocide to ensure the survival of all magical creatures who've been shamed to hidden lives amongst the humans. So Nuada is actually a good guy, while HellBoy inadvertently becomes the villain for trying to stop him, as HB betrays his own feelings of resentment for the human population for the sake of their safety, and for the BPRD, which unlike the comics, keeps him under surveillance at their HQ 24/7. But Nuada actually jogs HellBoy's mind to reconsider his role in life, and that's ultimately the point for his character's existence. Luke Goss was brilliant in this role, and although he wasn't of the HellBoy universe, he was a much better 'fresh' addition than John Myers of the previous film. Nuada is a memorable character with an equally memorable performance by Luke Goss, but unfortunately, his character isn't used to his fullest extend throughout this film, despite having the same dilemma as HellBoy which is universal to the entire point of the HellBoy comics.

Returning are Ron Pearlman in an equally great role as HellBoy, Doug Jones as a lovesick Abe Sapien, Jeffrey Tambor as the fussy FBI BPRD representative Tom Manning, and Selma Blair as Agent Liz Sherman. Given the events of the last film, they all have better relationships with each other here, but with not many conflicts between them that you'd expect in a sequel. This time around however, the comical contrast between Abe & HB is taken advantage of in one sequence, as is Liz's normal personality which luckily has less screen time than in the predecessor. So character wise, there's not much developments with them by film's end.

As Nuada's sister Princess Nuala, is Anna Walton, whom seemingly has an incestuous relationship with her twin brother Nuada. She is opposed to Nuada's desire to resurrect the Golden Army, and hides the final piece of the Broken Crown which was in her possession. Constantly on the run, she intends to find solace with friends, and inevitably with the BPRD where a romantic relationship with Abe begins. She represents the pure innocence of Nuada's argument, whereas he represents the suffering of his argument, while the humans are the guilty for not holding up their bargain to leave the woods & forests to the elves. Anna's performance perfectly sells the purely innocent nature of Nuala, as well as Nuada's argument, while still having an ever present command over Nuada, who no matter how opposed to his sister he may be, cannot go against her. She too was a great addition to the HellBoy universe.

Playing the infamous BPRD comic book series character Johann Krauss is James Dodd & John Alexander, while he's voiced by Seth MacFarlane. He's made up of pure gaseous air that occupies a suit which was made for him by Trevor Bruttenholm, and was designed originally by del Toro for 'Master Chief' in the "Halo" movie which remains in development hell. Johann is HellBoy's new mission coordinator whose expertise relies in his disciplinary capabilities. He was the comic relief of the film, though can be a real hardass at times. Although he's really helpful along the journey, he's also inexperienced in dealing with HellBoy's type, as well as the type of bad company HellBoy attracts. Krauss is of course adored by Tom Manning who continually makes a point of his genius. Johann was a great character to introduce in this movie, and worked out as being a sort of crutch in the film as he fails to provide anything unique to it by the end, other than being a new character.

Guillermo del Toro's vision of the Troll Market was wonderful! The vibrant colors are meant to contrast the boring grays of the real world (in which it's overcast throughout the film in the U.S.) with the fantastic & creative life of the magical world which Prince Nuada is trying to preserve. Even the "old ones" from H.P. Lovecraft's "Mountains of Madness" make two cameo appearances as extras in this sequence which has trolls, fairies, and other mystical creatures, including Prince Nuada's henchman Wink the Fragglewump (Brian Steele), which is unbelievably a costumed stuntman who gives off a nice performance. Of the two films, the Troll Market proves to be the most colorful overall, and therefore the most appealing. The Last Forest God was also a magnificent character, with Cinematographer Guillermo Navaro's work capturing all of this beautifully.

However, having nothing come of having HellBoy & Nuada being caught up in the same dilemma is the major flaw del Toro makes. Such as HellBoy shrugging off Nuada's concerns despite feeling the same way about them kills the point to both character's developments and purposes im the story; since it is known what Nuada sets out to do from the beginning, but HellBoy's choice swirls in your head as to what he'll eventually decide to do: agree with Nuada, or side with the BPRD. Ultimately great conflicts that aren't elaborated on directly in the film, as they're unfortunately only implied. This can be blamed on the needless timeline of the film spanning just a mere 14hrs rather than a few days which would've allowed things to sink in for the characters.

Also, Act IV seems totally absent from the film, as approximately 83 minutes into this 111 minute film, it only seems story wise that half of the film is over, yet then the climax is suddenly rushed such that nothing of which Nuada and HellBoy were dealing with was taken advantage of, as this story could easily span two movies, or at least three hours, since everything up until the 83 minute point seems like that same time window from "Pirates 2" which after the first hour told the film's main plot in 81 minutes before film's end. However this time around, 83 minutes is spent getting each character's point across over the course of 10hrs before the climax, which given the time doesn't allow for many events to transpire, and seems to be a build up to the real movie, such as the first hour of "Pirates 2" sets the stage for the real plot which spans the last 81 minutes or so. For besides the New York Museum, the BPRD HQ, and the Troll Market, no other locations are used up to that point in the film. And while the climax fits with the story, it still seemed as if an entire adventure within the film was absent, or the falling action (Act 4) was left on the cutting room floor after the second part of Act III was substituted to justify the absence of Act IV. Both of these are major disappointments, as the dilemma's of HellBoy & Nuada match the epitome of the HellBoy Comic Book Universe completely. And the foreshadowing as to what HellBoy's destiny is adds to the mystique of it, though that time should've been spent on Act IV and relating the dilemmas of it to Nuada's struggle. These could easily have been improved by more screen time with the inclusion of Act IV, for had John Myers not been excluded from the film, and Liz's 'extra special' traits had been carried on into this movie, then there wouldn't be much else good to say about it.

As for the Golden Army, it was impressive, indestructible, industrable, morbid, and beautiful in design and color scheme. Even more awkwardly beautiful was the Angel of Life & Death (Doug Jones) which serves up some major foreshadowing of HellBoy's imminent future. The latter actually resembled the Fawn from del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006).

Overall, had these flaws been fixed, then this would've been an excellent movie, despite being better than the first. Although it still wasn't a four star film for me, it was still enjoyable in its own right for it's turn to the mythological aspect of things rather than the B&W Hell concepts of the previous film. Fans of the franchise will relish this second installment nevertheless.