Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

2/24/2024

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) - Very comics-nerdy Del Toro sequel

♥♥

Ron Perlman's titular hero brandishes a grotesquely oversized weapon on this poster for Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Hellboy is not the most discreet of superheros, but he is the best, now that fearful monsters are on the loose.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is written and directed by great Mexican-born American filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Cronos (1992)), with Mike Mignola contributing story elements and based on his Dark Horse Comics character. It is a sequel to Del Toro's Hellboy (2004).

The story here completely escapes me and seems really weak, but this is also said in light of the fact that I simply cannot engage myself in this universe's baroque 'characters'.

There's humor, production design and special effects in excess in just about all scenes of the film, and Del Toro's unique nerd's mind and enthusiasm is definitely present: His monsters are incredible to look at, and they are the main reason to watch the overlong Hellboy II: The Golden Army for my money.

Hellboy character: Hellboy (2019) - Grisly reboot a mixed bag
Guillermo del Toro: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) - Øvredal's ascent to big budget moviemaking gets by on weird horror sequences (co-writer)

The day after the day after ... the 2018 Oscars

The Shape of Water (2017) - Toro's strange monster romance is mostly an amusing fantasy
Pacific Rim (2013) or, The Monster Resistance
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) - Jackson's megalomania gives birth to the first third of an enormous fantasy whopper (co-writer)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) or, What Creeps in the Dark (co-writer)
Julia's Eyes/Los Ojos de Julia (2010) - Decent Spanish horror with good craftsmanship, little else (co-producer)

Pan's Labyrinth/El Laberinto del Fauno (2006) - Horrors of Franco era in Del Toro fantasy ride

Hellboy (2004) - Del Toro's super-antihero is a tiring blast
Blade II (2002) or, The Vampire Ass-Kicker 2

Top 10: Best ghost horror movies

2001 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The Devil's Backbone/El Espinoza del Diablo (2001) - The excellent Gothic genre-mix that is Del Toro's best film so far

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 82.5-85 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 168.3 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.00 times its cost)

[Hellboy II: The Golden Army premiered 28 June (Los Angeles Film Festival) and runs 120 minutes. Shooting took place from June - November 2007 in England, including in London, Northern Ireland and in Hungary, including in Budapest. The film opened #1 to a 34.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 75.9 mil. $ (45.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 13.9 mil. $ (8.3 %) and Russia with 8.5 mil. $ (5.1 %). The film was nominated for the Best Makeup Oscar, lost to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. The film additionally grossed an estimated excess of 53.9 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. The film's flop killed the opportunity for a third despite the wishes of the filmmakers. The character was instead rebooted in Hellboy (2019), also a flop. Del Toro returned with Pacific Rim (2013). Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley (2021)) returned in Outlander (2008). Hellboy II: The Golden Army is fresh at 86 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (14-24)

2/24/2024

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) - Very comics-nerdy Del Toro sequel

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