I came into this movie with high expectations, I must admit. I was one of the people who loved the first Hellboy. I liked the style it was filmed, I liked the script, and the casting was great.
So when I heard that the people who did "Pans Labyrinth" joined forces with Hellboy, I got a woody. I felt that there was absolutely nothing that could go wrong with the mixing of the two.
Guillermo del Toro directed, wrote, and produced this movie. It seemed like the first minute was his name over and over, he did so much. I wouldn't be surprised if he catered it. I liked what he did with it though. It's obviously a labor of love on his part.
Ron Perlman plays Hellboy. He has found a good niche playing parts in movies that are popular, but geared towards certain people. He was great in Aliens. He was great in Blade II, and he continued the trend in this movie. Granted, he's in a red suit, lots of makeup, so its somewhat limited, but he loses himself in the role, and he's great at it.
Doug Jones plays Abe Sapian, and The Angel of Death, and The Chamberlain, and he was so good, I didn't realize he was all three. Abe Sapian had a bigger role in this one, and I'm glad, he was great.
Selma Blair played Liz Sherman, his gf/wife. Great hair, and a great ass, and she was good. She wasn't in it as much, but does have a secret, and holds her own.
Jeffry Tambor comes back as Tom Manning. The Director of Paranormal Affairs. He is Hellboy's nemesis. Hellboy wants recognition, and Manning wants him to keep to the shadows. He's not in it as much, but is stellar as always.
Luke Goss plays Prince Nuada. I think that his fighting moves were awesome. I also thought that he did a good job showing his emotions, despite being heavily made up.
Now to the good parts. The script was great. It had a solid story, filled in the history well, and wrapped up things well. The pacing was good. The fight scenes didn't overwhelm it. A message was slipped in, but it wasn't overdone. All in all, it was a very good script.
I think that sometimes these types of movies are the hardest to write. You know, being its a comic, that people expect cheesy, but to make it a good story, and hold the cheese, is hard. They did it though.
The special effects were incredible. The split between CGI, and the puppeteering was unnoticeable. The creatures were gorgeous. The backgrounds were incredible. Visually, the movie was stunning.
The movement of the characters was the only tip that it was a puppet over a CGI. They filmed characters ranging from stop animation, to regular, to CGI...mixed throughout. But you're so caught up with it, you don't really notice.
To be honest, I was so caught up in it all, I'm sure I missed some things. I know I'll watch it again and again when it comes out on DVD.
I loved this movie. If you like action, good stories, and wonderful fantasy characters, go and see this. I give it 10 out of 10 demons.
