Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - DVD/BD News

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 24 Aug 2008, 10:35

In 1 Disc/3 Discs DVD or 2 Discs BD:

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/hellboy-ii.html

The 3 Discs DVD is really 2 Discs, as Disc 3 is a Digital Copy.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 24 Aug 2008, 13:03

Have you seen it, Brad? If you have, what were your impressions of the film?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 24 Aug 2008, 13:59

No not yet. I hope to watch Hellboy this week. I've had it on DVD for ages. I'll then see Hellboy 2. I reckon I'll like it but obviously I want to see Hellboy first.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 24 Aug 2008, 15:19

It's pretty decent but not as good as the first one imo.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 25 Aug 2008, 15:17

According to High Def. Digit there will be a 2 Disc or 3 Disc BD release:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/2025

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 31 Aug 2008, 11:56

Hellboy - 6.5 out of 10

I saw this last Monday, first time.

It starts off well but the ending feels like your typical Hollywood "bad man wants to take over the world, our superhero will save the day" seen it all before.

Ron Perlman is fantastic as Hellboy though, as are the supporting cast. The visuals are as expected excellent. No one does monsters like del Toro. The comedy also worked surprisingly well.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - 7.5 out of 10

I saw this last night. I'm amazed people actually use the 12A certificate as a babysitting service :twisted:, because they're too lazy to find one and too pig ignorant to work out find out what the 12A means, that said unlike The Dark Knight this does fit 12A correctly.

There were 2 kids running up and down the stairs 4 times in the first 30 minutes, by the fourth time I waited until they got back to their seats and had to have a word. They thankfully then stopped, their Grandmother looked shocked it was annoying to anyone.

Anyway on to the movie:

A lot better than the first one but again it still felt oddly restrained. Both Hellboy's feel "del Toro Light" after the magnificence that is Pan's Labyrinth, even Blade 2 felt more full-on. The movie suffers from lack of focus too, it's a bit all over the place at time, the first film also suffered from this, but it seemed worse this time.

That said this does certainly feel more like the del Toro we all love. The monster count is much bigger, as are the action scenes. Again Ron Perlman is excellent, Selma Blair plays her part well too. Luke Goss again plays a good film (if he stays away from Asia!). The comedic moments worked well again too.

The ending was better too, much grander. It felt a bit held-back in the first film. There were also moments of genuine tenderness too, the tree scene is handled brilliantly.

I cannot help feeling if they'd been made outside of the Hollywood system they would've been even better though. I guess I expect something more than Action Scenes and Eye-Candy from Guillermo del Toro.

All in all I liked both Hellboy's, I'll be keeping my 3 Disc SE DVD but won't be rushing to buy them on BD.

p.s - Is it ever explained how Selma Blair can turned into a fireball? I must've missed that one.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 31 Aug 2008, 17:20

bradavon wrote:p.s - Is it ever explained how Selma Blair can turned into a fireball? I must've missed that one.

In the first film, there's just a flashback showing her being bullied as a kid and then she unintentionally covers herself in flames, it's just like X-Men really.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 31 Aug 2008, 17:40

I remember that. I wonder why she has said powers though. Thanks.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 31 Aug 2008, 18:55

Untapped potential of the human brain awoken through extreme emotional situations

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 02 Sep 2008, 12:47

Never thought to just look up the comic book version of the character on Wikipedia?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 02 Sep 2008, 14:14

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 02 Sep 2008, 14:35

3/5

A fun popcorn film of high quality, finely paced. There was never a dull moment. Del Toro once again proves his talent as a fine visual director.

The story was much better than the original's (which was dreadful, TBH), but still not the best.

Perlman was excellent as the lead character. Special props go to Luke Goss, he's an excellent physical performer and made for an interesting and sympathetic villain. It was wonderful hearing Doug Jones' actual voice, he proved that he could deliver the necessary goods.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 02 Sep 2008, 19:52

I completely agree Eva. I wouldn't say Part 1 had a dreadful story but it was definitely stronger here.

I didn't know Jones' voice wasn't his playing Abe. Which was his real voice? IMDB also says: "Doug's role in Guillermo del Toro's Laberinto del fauno, El (2006) required him to learn huge amounts of dialogue in archaic Spanish"

OMG! I never knew that either, most impressive.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 02 Sep 2008, 23:12

It was Jones' voice as Abe in Hellboy 2. When the studio asked Doug Jones to play the part of Abe in the first Hellboy, he demanded that he do the voice as well in lieu of their plans to hire an established star. They agreed, so he agreed, and he delivered the dialogue on set, but they later screwed him over by demanding a star voiceover anyway.

David Hyde Pierce was hired, and he learnt of the situation regarding Jones, listened to his voice performance of Abe, and realised he shouldn't have been hired in the first place. So he put in a performance that was very close to Jones' and he refused a voice actor credit in the film, so that Jones would end up with the full credit. He also later refused to voice Abe in the cartoon spin-offs, so Jones was made automatic choice for those as well. I assume he also refused Hellboy 2.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Sep 2008, 00:24

Thanks.

They are very close indeed. I couldn't tell the difference. Is this Doug Jones some cult actor? Like Anthony Serkis.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 03 Sep 2008, 00:52

I suppose you could say he has somewhat of a cult following now. He's known for his work under prosthetic, mainly for Del Toro.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 03 Sep 2008, 14:47

You mean Andy Serkis, Brad?

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 03 Sep 2008, 16:39

grim_tales wrote:You mean Andy Serkis, Brad?

No,he means Gene Hackman.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 03 Sep 2008, 16:44

lol @ Brad & Grim.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Sep 2008, 18:58

@ Grim: Was I being that cryptic?

. I was actually thinking Andy but wrote Anthony for some reason.