Ulasan film Hellboy II

Semenjak nonton Hellboy II, mendadak saya jadi suka sama lagu 'I can't smile without you' yang dinyanyikan Barry manilow.lagu itu jadi unik dimasukkan menjadi bagian dari adegan di film ini, lucu dan menyentuh.lucu melihat hell boy dan abe sapiens menyanyi berdua, kayaknya ngga kebayang banget.
tapi keseluruhan film ini memang fantastis buat seseorang yang menyukai film tentang superhero dan action. kostum hellboy dan abe sapiens benar-benar unik dan perfect banget. hampir gak percaya itu cuma kostum. detailnya bagus.actionnya juga lumayan, walau adegan perkelahiannya masih kurang seru, karena banyak tidak seimbangnya. beberapa adegan cukup seram namun tidak sampai membuat ingin memejamkan mata. seperti serbuan binatang pemakan gigi dan daging. sedangkan ceritanya pun cukup sederhana namun diselingi plot cerita yang lucu dan unik menjadikan film ini salah satu film yang saya ancungi jempol. sudah lama saya tidak menjumpai film yang enjoy ditonton, terakhir nonton film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" benar-benar boring banget, kecewa. by this film, I'm cured.



Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a 2008 film based on the fictional Dark Horse Comics character Hellboy. The film is directed by Guillermo del Toro and is a sequel to the 2004 film Hellboy, which del Toro also directed. Ron Perlman reprises his role as the titular character. The film was commercially released on July 11, 2008 in the United States and Canada.

Plot
In Christmas of 1955, a young Hellboy is told a bedtime story by his father, Professor Trevor Broom (John Hurt), involving an ancient battle between humans and mythical creatures. A goblin blacksmith built an unstoppable clockwork army for Balor, the King of the Elves, which could only be controlled by those of royal blood, provided no one challenged their right to do so. This 'Golden Army' of 4900 soldiers or "70 times 70 soldiers", devastated the humans so mercilessly that Balor forged a truce with them to stop the bloodshed: man would keep his cities and the creatures would keep their forests. Balor's son, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), didn't agree with the truce, and left in exile. The crown controlling the army was broken into three pieces, one piece going to the humans and the other two kept by the elves, so the Golden Army could never be raised again.
In the present, Nuada decides to declare war on the humans. He collects the first piece of the crown from an auction and kills his father for the second. His twin sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) escapes with the final piece. Meanwhile, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is having relationship issues with his girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair). He is also having trouble accepting that their organization, the BPRD, must remain a secret. During a mission to eradicate thousands of ravenous tooth fairies, which Nuada set loose as he took the first piece of the crown, Hellboy allows himself to be revealed to the world. Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) discovers that Liz is pregnant in the commotion. Furious about the public unveiling, Washington sends a by-the-book agent, the ectoplasmic Johann Krauss (voiced by Seth MacFarlane), to take command. With Krauss in charge, the team tracks the tooth fairies to the Troll Market, an enormous merchant city hidden under the Brooklyn Bridge, for clues. Abe stumbles into Nuala, who has obtained a map leading to the Golden Army, during their search, and quickly falls in love with her following a brief psychic encounter. She is brought under BPRD protection following an attack by Nuada's companion Mr. Wink and a forest elemental. During the elemental fight, Hellboy questions whether it is right to fight for the humans when he too is a mythical creature.
Nuada tracks his sister to BPRD headquarters using their magical bond, which causes them to share wounds and allows them to read each others' thoughts to an extent. Nuala, sensing her brother's arrival, burns the map, along with the canister in which it came, and hides the final piece of the crown within one of Abe's books. However, the real map is on the canister. Nuada kidnaps his sister and mortally wounds Hellboy with his spear. Unable to remove the spear shard, Johann, Liz, and Abe take Hellboy to the location of the Golden Army, hidden in Northern Ireland. They encounter the goblin that oversaw the creation of the Golden Army, and he brings them before the Angel of Death, who has been waiting for their arrival. Though told that Hellboy would doom humanity if he lives, and that she'll suffer the most from it, Liz pleads for Hellboy not to die. Amused by her choice, the Angel removes the spear shard from Hellboy's chest and tells Liz to give him a reason to live. She reveals to Hellboy that he's going to be a father, and he recovers.
The Goblin leads the team to the resting place of the Golden Army, where Nuada awaits them. In exchange for Nuala, Abe gives him the last piece of the crown. With the crown reformed, Nuada invokes the Golden Army and has them attack the agents. Counterattacking proves pointless, as the soldiers magically reform themselves when destroyed. Hellboy challenges Nuada for the right to the crown, and Nuada is forced to accept, since hellboy, as the Anung un Rama (the Beast of Apocalypse), is royalty. Hellboy defeats Nuada and spares his life, but the Prince tries to stab Hellboy in the back. Nuala commits suicide to stop her brother. Abe rushes to Nuala's body and psychically tells her his feelings before she dies. Liz then melts the crown, shutting down the Golden Army forever. As the BPRD agents leave the underground compound, Agent Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) reprimands them for their actions. To his surprise, Hellboy, Liz, Abe, and Johann all hand over their belts (though Hellboy keeps his pistol) and announce their resignation from the bureau. As they walk away, Hellboy contemplates his future life with his baby. Liz stops and corrects him, saying "babies", surprising him with the fact that she's pregnant with twins.ly interesting thing." Her character also forms a relationship with Abe Sapien, and Walton noted their similarities, "They are both slightly lost souls and they understand each other." Walton spoke of her character's sense of purpose, "She feels very strongly about what she has to do in the film, and then her absolute connection and love for the Earth and what we are given. That's what she's here to protect... Her relationship with her brother, and how he is almost a part of her but she has to break away and will do whatever it takes to stop him from achieving what he wants to achieve which is the mass destruction of mankind."


Release
Hellboy II opened on July 11, 2008 in 3,204 theaters in the United States and Canada.The film ranked first at the box office, grossing an estimated $35.9 million over the weekend, outperforming the opening of its predecessor Hellboy, which had opened with $23.2 million. The opening was the biggest of Guillermo del Toro's directing career.



Critical reception
Hellboy II received very positive reviews from film critics. As of July 16, 2008, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 88% of critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average score of 7.2/10, based upon a sample of 149 reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 78, based on 35 reviews, gaining a better critical reaction than the first film.
Michael Rechtshaffen writing in The Hollywood Reporter said Hellboy II was an uncompromised vision of Guillermo del Toro's imagination. He said that with the director given free rein, the film came across as an amalgam of the best moments from his previous films, only with better visual effects. John Anderson of Variety wrote of a rococo precision to the visuals that exceeded that of the first film. He cited del Toro's "clockmaker's preoccupation with detail" and ability to blend state-of-the-art technology with more classical visuals as the reasons for the film's success.Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said that the plot didn't often deviate from its comic-book traditions, but that del Toro staged the action "brilliantly". He said that while the visual effects deserved recognition, what made the film so exciting was the personality they were imbued with. Chuck Wilson of The Village Voice said that del Toro was on autopilot, but that he and his Pan's Labyrinth crew, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro in particular, staged the steady stream of action set-pieces expertly.Mike Goodridge of Screen International wrote that del Toro had retained the B movie tone of the first film, saying the film managed to avoid the self-importance of The Incredible Hulk and the Batman film series and that del Toro was simply a "great storyteller" providing a "good time". Stuart Levine in Premiere praised the visuals and "beautiful" set-pieces, but said del Toro's script fell a little short of his direction. Alonso Duralde writing for msnbc.com said it represented a backwards step for del Toro, saying that despite several creepy sequences, the film was a return to the muddled storytelling and pretty visuals of his pre-Pan's Labyrinth films. He said del Toro's screenplay lacked energy or momentum.However, Peter Bradshaw, of The Guardian said almost the opposite was the case, as he thinks "it is a crackingly enjoyable and exciting sequel, with something that the memory of Pan's Labyrinth might have entirely erased: a sense of humour." Noting that "[t]his spectacular movie seethes and fizzes with wit and energy, absorbing and transforming influences such as Ghostbusters and even Harry Potter and the secret world of Diagon Alley."
John Anderson said the film would be "almost unthinkable" without Ron Perlman in the lead role, saying the film was more successful than its predecessor mainly due to the more deliberately amusing tone and the "drily ironic" title character. He said the only weak link was Luke Goss' "unimposing" villain. While praising the general banter between Perlman and Blair, Stuart Levine said the nonchalant Hellboy exhibited insufficient growth as a character, and that Jeffrey Tambor was largely wasted in his role. He agreed that Goss' villain was weak as written, with no tangible menace. Helen O'Hara of Empire said the character was only let down by a lack of screentime in which to give him enough dramatic weight, and that Goss did "a perfectly good job".Owen Gleiberman said Perlman was more assured than in the first Hellboy, funnier and more cantankerous. He said the entire ensemble had "an appealing, outsize grandeur" about it.Mike Goodridge said the film carefully developed the character relationships,and Chuck Wilson said that other than the title character's penchant for chewing cigars, he was otherwise "uninteresting". Alonso Duralde wrote that the "sitcom-ish" character dilemmas were uninteresting, saying that Perlman and Tambor's performances were regularly let down by the script. He said that Blair's performance was possibly the first bad one he'd seen by the actress, and that while Jones was "brilliant" physically, his vocal performance was inferior to David Hyde Pierce's in the first Hellboy film.Michael Rechtshaffen called Perlman "terrific" and said Blair's brooding portrayal was effective.
Michael Rechtshaffen concluded that Hellboy II was less focused than the first film, but that it played "faster and looser" and was a "wild ride". In a positive review, John Anderson's main criticism was a sequence set in Ireland, which he called the least interesting and most conventional segment of the film. Chuck Wilson said the film "[didn't] have much on its mind", but that it would amaze children and amuse adults, Stuart Levine said the film was worth viewers' time, and Alonso Duralde said Hellboy II was "limp and unengaging". Owen Gleiberman surmised that the film was "derivative yet... dazzling", and Mike Goodridge concluded by praising the filmmakers' skill at creating a film that, despite featuring "stunning" action sequences and creature effects, still found time for character development and a fulfilling story that expanded the franchise's wider mythology. Peter Bradshaw suggested that "'Visionary' is a word too easily applied to fantasy movies, but it sticks easily here."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellboy_II:_The_Golden_Army