Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

Saw this with Jeff the day it came out without seeing the original first mostly because it was done by the same director that made Pan's Labyrinth and the creatures in the trailers looked amazing. I thought it would be a good lesson to see if a sequel could stand on its own as well.

Guillermo del Toro creates an absolutely believable and rich fantasy world. Charming, witty and completely original. Getting sucked into his imagination was the most pleasing part for me. Hellboy was a pretty great anti-hero, and I think Prince Nuada was almost a perfect anti-villain. His actions surprised me as he seemed to not be bent on evil for evil's sake, but reclaiming the parts of the world that the humans had destroyed and encroached upon. He was simply trying to reclaim the fantasy world that humans were destroying in their greed. He stopped his evil ways half-way through the film to almost mentor Hellboy in the fantasy realm. He was complex and unpredictable in a way I really liked. The end was predictable, with the Princess killing herself to stop her brother, but I forgive it.

The one disappointment I had was Selma Blair as Hellboy's girlfriend Liz. I think it was combination of her emotionless performance and bad writing, but her character was completely flat and one-dimensional compared to Hellboy's rude charm. She really was just there so Hellboy could be a father. I leaned over and whispered this to Jeff and he was appalled. He completely bought into her character. Jeff is a perceptive and smart guy so I don't want to just be like he is a man so he doesn't care if women are one-dimensional, because he isn't that way. He said I had to see the first one, then I would get her more. More on this in my review of Hellboy 1. To me this is just another example of women being marginalized in the blockbusters this summer. Princess Nuada was more interesting and tortured, but then primarily became Abe's love interest and motivation. No doubt that there is potential for Liz to step up in the next movie, due to the foreshadowing that none will suffer more than her, but I'd be scared that she would just die and trigger Hellboy to go evil or something. I think I need to clarify to myself what I think a good woman character is so I can understand how to make them.