An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Guillermo del Toro.
Cast: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss, Anna Walton, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt
Description: Prince Nuada searches for the three shards of an ancient gold crown, which grants the wearer the power to control The Golden Army: hundreds of unstoppable fighting machines buried deep within the Earth. The final piece of the crown is in the possession of Nuada's sister Princess Nuala, who intends to thwart her brother's plans for world domination by whatever means necessary. She seeks refuge with cigar-chomping Hellboy and his cohorts Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien, but their combined powers are no match for Nuada as he infiltrates Bureau headquarters and engineers his diabolical scheme.
Country: US/GER. 2008. 119mins
Marauding misfits: from left in foreground, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and aquatic ally Abe (Doug Jones) prepare for battle with the ruthless Golden Army
Summer epic: Hellboy with Liz (Selma Blair)
Wicked: Prince Nuada (Luke Goss)
The Mexican director Guillermo del Toro is behind this exhilaratingly grotesque summation of Mike Mignola's Dark Horse Comics superhero - but those expecting another disturbing dose of fantasy coupled with stark reality, such as The Devil's Backbone or the Oscar-winning Pan's Labyrinth, should steer clear. It's not the same kind of thing at all.
This, like the first Hellboy, is del Toro on holiday in Hollywood, having as much fun as he can without totally compromising his considerable powers of invention.
It does, however, beat most of this summer's blockbuster entertainments into pulp and, at the same time, whet the appetite for his forthcoming two-part version of The Hobbit, taken from a screenplay by Peter Jackson.
Central to the fun is Ron Perlman's Hellboy, a huge but reasonably kindly red-faced fighting machine with cropped horns and a swishing tail.
He may be the child of Lucifer but he's been given his name not by the Devil but by American soldiers into whose hands he has fallen during the Second World War.
Now we see him as a boy adopted and raised by the kindly Professor Broom (John Hurt), who tells him a story about a benevolent king who has called a truce in a warring world by breaking his crown into three pieces. If they are joined up, the conflict will begin again.
When the wicked Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) comes to life, aroused from thousands of years of Nordic slumber, and tries to mend the crown, he is opposed by his beautiful twin Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) and a collection of misfits called the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
They are stationed in New Jersey and assisted by a German ectoplasm expert who can do terrible things at the drop of a hat.
One of these misfits is the amiable, cigar-smoking Hellboy who is sustained by his girl Liz (Selma Blair), who breaks out in flames now and then when emotionally aroused, by a strange fishlike creature called Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and by Jeffrey Tambor's bossy but confused bureau chief.
When part of the ancient crown is auctioned in New York, Prince Nuada strikes. Thousands of wriggling carnivorous creatures eat up auctioneer and bidders alike and Hellboy can do very little about it.
He does, however, fight a giant plant with tentacles bigger than his tail later on, all the while holding a baby he has rescued from the ensuing chaos.
He also has a drunk scene with Jones's amphibian, crooning to Barry Manilow's Can't Smile Without You. And towards the end, after falling for Princess Nuala, largely because of a shared love of Tennyson's verse, there is a grand showdown on the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, which del Toro assures us is his tribute to Chaplin's Modern Times with its huge machinery composed of cog wheels and ratchets threatening heroes and villains alike.
It is del Toro's combination of humour and invention, thrills and spills that make the movie so entertaining. Ten effects houses aided him and so does Guillermo Navarro, his brilliant cinematographer.
The parade of creatures shows that the film-makers have been influenced not just by other films but also by literature and art, including Goya, Blake, Fuseli and Bosch.
None of this, though, is pressed too hard since Hellboy II is, after all, aimed at a mass audience for whom The Dark Knight was a mite too serious in tone.
It is del Toro milking his imaginative mind for all it is worth while attempting to keep everything reasonably simple in the telling.
This is certainly not Pan's Labyrinth, with its horrific Spanish Civil War background.
It is a summer epic that involved del Toro enough to persuade him to help out personally with the creature vocals but which never for a moment strains to suggest profundity.
Even if you prefer his more serious work, this is certainly something to see.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Absolute rubbish it angers me!
- Patrick, dublin
Derek Malcolm obviously belongs to the Philip French school of criticism in which you set down the entire plot of the film, describe some of the scenes, and then say 'terrific' or 'disappointing' at the end. Still, I suppose it fills space and pays the bills.
- Peter, London
Some interesting special effects, disjointed story put together trying to please many young audience sub-groups and a film aimed squarely at forgettable entertainment and making money - nothing memorable, nothing worth seeing twice (never mind once). To not go will not change your life; to go and you will be financially poorer and slightly more cynical about the shallowness of Hollywood, the greed of the studios and how rarely good films are made (in English).
- Roquette, Manchester
Best film of the year: 10-10.
Derek Malcolm – I wonder if he saw the film.
I fell asleep reading his review and what’s his thing about Pan's Labyrinth?
That film was rubbish.
- Sean Dempsey, hayes middx
Well that told me.
- Squiz, Islington
Hmm. One of the most amatuerish reviews I've read in a long time. Firstly, Prince Nuada is not wicked. This is what makes the story interesting - he's fighting for his people's survival, just going about it in the wrong was. Secondly, it's 'aimed at a mass audience for whom The Dark Knight was a mite too serious in tone' - I'm not sure this makes any sense at all seeing as though The Dark Knight is the second highest grossing film of all time - you can't get more than a 'mass audience' than that. Thirdly, the first half of the 'review' is simply a retreading of the story (and some of the ending!).
- Jonathan Brown, Dundee
What an excellent review.
- Squiz, Islington
I saw this last week and it's superb, it could do with an extra half hour in the same way that the Dark Knight could do with losing one. The “drunk” scene is just brilliant and if you don't spend the next week with "Can't smile" popping into your head at random intervals and a grin erupting on your face then there's something wrong with you. The effects are pure Del Toro but on a much better budget than the first one, the story is very tongue in cheek but still very good and the acting is first rate, and as Mr Malcolm says Guillermo Navarro has a brilliant eye behind the camera. My only complaint is that the final scene was too short and too obvious but other than that I highly recommend it.
- Bob, Cheam
Morning:
13°c
