Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Ron Perlman returns to the role of the big red BPRD agent in this sequel to 2004's Hellboy, directed once again by Guillermo del Toro and scripted as before in collaboration with original Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. For centuries, an ancient truce has kept the naïve citizens of the human race safe from the horrors of the invisible realm -- but that's all about to change, and fast. A ruthless leader has emerged in the invisible realm, a tyrant just as comfortable walking the surface realm as he is living in the land of fantasy. When this power-mad ruler defies his bloodline to assemble an unstoppable army of fantastical creatures that he will use to wage a supernatural war on humanity, it begins to appear that humankind's days are numbered. But Hellboy (Perlman) isn't about to stand idly by as the planet is purged by a demonic despot, and with a little help from his team at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, he may just be able to send our otherworldly overlords packing. Of course, Hellboy's pyrokinetic girlfriend, Liz (Selma Blair), is always willing to conjure up an inferno or two when things get desperate, aquatic Abe (Doug Jones) is prepared to dive headlong into any battle, and protoplasmic mystic Johann (voice of Thomas Kretschmann) proves an invaluable companion in times of inter-dimensional conflict. Now, as the creatures who inhabit the spiritual realm gear up for an all-out attack on the human plane, the only one capable of saving the Earth is a tough-talking hellspawn rejected by both worlds. more..
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss, John Alexander
Del Toro is almost alone in his ability to re-create on screen the wide-eyed exhilaration and disturbing grotesqueness that is the legacy of reading comics on the page.
With writer-director del Toro given free license to go where his singular vision takes him, Hellboy II plays like Guillermo's Greatest Hits with even hotter visual effects.
Hugely inventive -- and smashingly beautiful.
Imagine the forges of hell crossed with the extraterrestrial saloon on Tatooine, and you have a notion of Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
The Golden Army dazzles like something out of "Jason and the Argonauts." To make a comic-book fantasy this derivative yet this dazzling requires more than technique. It takes a director in touch with his inner hellboy.
Best Achievement in Makeup
Academy Awards (2009)
Best Horror Film
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (2009)
Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Superhero
Empire Awards, UK (2009)
Best Actor
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards (2009)
Best Action
Golden Trailer Awards (2008)
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