Heckboy II

I don't consider myself a "fan" of too many artists, musicians, actors or directors, but I suppose having seen The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy and now Hellboy II I've probably seen a larger proportion of Guillermo del Toro movies (relative to total ouvre) than most.

PL, the first of his films I saw, perhaps set my expectations pretty high. The grim story, the unflinching magical realism, the (for American audiences) exotic setting, the superb acting and everything about it was a real treat. (Never mind disagreements I've had with a few people over a couple of plot points.)

DB was next (though an older film I only saw it on cable about 18 months ago) and I was blown away by its very human story and characters: people behaving badly in terrible circumstances, some rise above and others sink deeper than ever. The supernatural element was important but not dominant, the acting again superb and the directorial challenge of having a lot happen in just a few tighly-controlled sets worked really well.

Hellboy was a wild thrill-ride romp. I'm glad to have read GdT was a fan of the comic before he directed it. Unfortunately my indie comic-collecting days waned a couple of years before that series began, so I missed its debut and never followed it. I might have to fix that wee oversight, as the tropes and characters are certainly right up my alley, sort of Alan Moore-lite.

I liked the film's grim cocky humor, I liked the characters even if I didn't understand most of the origin stories, and I liked the silly plot just jumping right in with both feet. I definitely felt like I was being brought into a well-established universe with its own rules. And I never would have guessed the same director created DB or PL.

Hellboy II...blah. I wanted really badly to like it. I've read more of the comic but was fine with this Golden Army thing being an original plot devised just for the movie version of Hellboy. I was anticipating European legend being stirred into the American-slanted mix in interesting ways, especially with The Hobbit looming in GdT's future. But...blah.

What it is, I'm really tired of BIG BIG BIG SETS with BIG STUFF HAPPENING that makes no sense. After a promising start setting up Big Intrigue and lost magical talismans, the fantasy elements became soooo generic I found myself longing for even a few Celtic knots and claymores. I mean, Elfquest is more true to source! And please, I had a real problem accepting Elvish golden robots. And if you're going to have the entrance to the Otherworld near the Giant's Causeway, then show the bloody landscape properly! If there's a Celtic mythic connection, use it! (An army of the dead risen from Arawn's magic cauldron would make better mythical sense and be much creepier...but that's my movie, not GdT's. Sigh.)

That said, Johann Krauss stole much of the middle of the film. Great voicing, and really great puppet work humanizing his robotic suit. The opening puppet-story sequences are brilliant as well. GdT just does that sort of animation better than nearly anyone.