by Larae Meadows

Created on: July 11, 2008

Hellboy 2, the sequel to Hellboy, is the coming out story of a demon, a human fish and the hottest woman in the world. Spectacular visuals save the story from its average plot and make Hellboy 2 a serious popcorn-chomper.

A demon, code named Hellboy (Ron Perlman), but called Red by his friends is found by paranormal investigators when very small and has lived his entire life with them, but isolated from the rest of the world. When he is grown up he wants nothing more than to be accepted as a normal person by society, but the government wants to keep him secret while he and his team, Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), and Johann Kraus (John Alexander) protect the world from the paranormal. One day, they are sent out to investigate what happened at an auction where all the people have disappeared. What they find is the beginnings of a war between the creatures who live in the dark and humans.

Writer and director Guillermo del Toro smears his style all over Hellboy 2. Often dark and gritty, the visuals in Hellboy 2 range from average to amazing. Maybe it is precisely because del Toro is willing to venture so far into fantasy that makes the characters plausible. There is nothing that tells your mind, "No". Fanciful creatures are so beautifully created that I completely accepted their existence, without question, even though they are so outrageous as to be unbelievable. Their lighting, their shading, the movement of their bodies makes them mesmerizing. Hellboy 2 has the most beautiful death scene I have ever seen, in any movie, ever.

The plot is not as shining as the visuals. Guillermo del Toro does his best to give the plot of Hellboy 2 a tender meaning but all the attempts to blossom into something powerful and touching wither when del Toro can't give the story the fertilizer it needs to truly touch the audience. The scenes that are supposed to sell the relationship between characters don't have resonance. This is especially true in the relationship between Abe Sapien and Princess Nuala (Anna Walton).

The relationship Princess Nuala and Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) is not a waste though. Their bond is special and even though it is not the first time a movie has presented such a relationship, Guillermo del Toro's recreation is beautiful and unnerving. Occasionally the acting of Walton and Goss can't rise to the level of the story given to them by Guillermo del, Toro but generally speaking, they do justice to the script.

The relationship between Hellboy and Abe Sapien is more complete, with sensitivity and humor that works. Many of the relationships between Hellboy and the other characters rely on humor, and laughter is one of the better parts of the movie. I laughed more often than I expected, but not enough to take away from the overall drama of the scenes.

Even though I was not taken by the script, I left the theater satisfied with the story and lost in the beauty of the creatures in Hellboy 2. The story will work well for both men and women so take a date and see Hellboy 2.

Learn more about this author, Larae Meadows.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.