The TV Addict 

With the world seemingly revolving entirely around THE DARK KNIGHT these days, and everything in its wake at the box office having been pulverized (except MAMMA MIA!), there’s been one very big and unfortunate casualty: HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY.

After a solid $34.5 million opening weekend pull from July 11-13, HELLBOY II was slaughtered this past weekend, dropping a brutal 70.7% to bring in a measly $10.1 million. I guess with Batman and The Joker fighting it out on thousands of screens, it seems audiences have forgotten about Hellboy, or only have room for one superhero movie in their hearts right now.It’s unfortunate because HELLBOY II definitely finds its place in my Top 10 Superhero Movies of All Time (an updated version of that list to be published later this week). Here’s a few reasons why - now that you’ve had your Batman fix - you should make the effort to still go check out HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY.

It’s better than the first one. It was not that the first one was that bad, it just never felt to me like it was fully realizing the potential of its concept. The story, and all its elements, didn’t feel entirely seamless. HELLBOY II doesn’t have that problem. Everything in it works and is firing on all cylinders, everything flows wonderfully, and you’re never left with a feeling of somehow having wanted more.

It’s gorgeous. Guillermo Del Toro and his special effects crew have truly outdone themselves. Everything in the film - from the sets to the creatures - are lovingly rendered in mostly non-CGI. It seems Del Toro was told he could do whatever he wanted with this film, and took full advantage of it. Above all else, all the monsters, fairies, elves, machines, trolls, and heroes are prime examples of the realization of excellent designs. Whether they are silly (Johann Krauss) or beautiful (Nuala). Even if for some reason you don’t like the story, HELLBOY II is a veritable feast for the eyes.

The cast. The main draw of course is Ron Pearlman, because it’s always a joy to watch an actor play a role he was completely made for. The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent too though. That includes Seth MacFarlane (lending his voice), Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss, Anna Walton, and Jeffrey Tambor.

The story and villain aren’t all black and white. Though admittedly the threat of the film is a bit bumpy at times, it has a lovely air of old school fantasy about it, and what it suggests and aspires to is impressive as well. It’s a mournful tale about how our industrial and/or practical society perhaps no longer has use for the fantastical. The film finds beauty in its beasts, and chastises the inhabitants of its world, and us, for not seeing that. There’s also a fair amount of moral ambiguity involved. Even if how Prince Nuada goes about his mission is morally wrong, his motivations are easy to understand, and that bleeds into how Hellboy fights him. There are more than a few times Hellboy wins a fight - on a physical level - but you’re left wondering whether something much worse has been lost in the process.

It’s funny and serious. By now we except our wise-cracking, big-time swaggering hero and his world to provide us no end of sarcastic hilarity. The film delivers that in spades. Surprisingly though there’s a lot of legitimate drama and emotion here, enough so that it cleverly makes a film basically about a big red devil looking monster, relatable. Hellboy, in the end, is just as human as the rest of us.

It has wicked action. There are several fight sequences that are either staged incredibly well for humor, and even a few that are just plain bad-ass (especially at the end). Some of the more fun (and pretty) action I’ve seen this year.

Abe and Hellboy getting drunk. I won’t spoil the exact circumstances of that situation, but needless to say that scene alone makes the film worth seeing.