I don't know why, but I feel as if I have left 'a part of my soul' in Thailand... although I prefer to live in Singapore for obvious reasons, I somehow miss the peace and simplicity of my stay in Thailand. Ok, back to business.
Yesterday as part of a certain 'catching up' scheme, I went to Vivo City to watch "Hellboy II: The Golden Army".the long awaited sequel to the 2004 film "Hellboy", based on the DC comic of the same name. I remembered from the first film that Hellboy and I have quite a lot in common... Hellboy loves cats. And I admit I do have quite a hot temper like Red Monkey.
In 1955, a young Hellboy is told a bedtime story by his adopted father, Professor Bruttenholm, involving an ancient battle between humans and mythical creatures. The Goblin King suggests to King Balor, the King of the Elves, that he could create a Golden Army about the creation of an unstoppable golden clockwork army. This 'Golden Army' of "70 times 70" (or 4900) soldiers decimated the humans so mercilessly in battle, that King Balor, the King of the Elves, regretted the army's creation and offered a truce: man would keep his cities and the Sons of the Earth would keep their forests. This truce was to be part of an unspoken chain passed from ruler to heir amongst the realm of men, until the end of time itself. The truce didn't settle with Balor's son, Prince Nuada, who left in exile. The crown was soon broken into three, with two of the pieces going to the Elves and the last to the humans. The Golden Army was buried and quickly became legend, waiting to be awakened again...
In the present, Hellboy is having relationship issues with his girlfriend Liz Sherman. The duo, along with their friend Abe Sapien, are sent to an auction house where violence has erupted by thousands of ravenous tooth fairies, which Nuada set loose as he took the first piece of the Crown of Bethmora, which was being auctioned off. The incident led to not only Abe accidentally scanning Liz and learning that she's pregnant, but the disposal of the tooth fairies caused Hellboy to be blown out a window and exposed to the media, thus destroying the secrecy of the BPRD. Furious about this turn of events, the Washington sends down a new agent, an ectoplasty being named Johann Krauss, to take command due to his notion of working completely by the book.
While that occurs, Nuada goes to the court of his father, who fails to convince his son to avert his course of war with the humans and is forced to sentence Nuada to death. However, King Balor and his entourage of Royal Guards are murdered by Nuada, who then takes the second piece of the crown from his stony corpse before hunting down the final piece, which is owned by his twin sister Princess Nuala, with whom he possesses a magical bond; each is at least vaguely aware of what the other knows, and any wound delivered to one appears on the other as well. This bond is instrumental to the deaths of both twins.
The chemistry between Hellboy and Liz Sherman is stronger than before, now that they have gone steady. Abe Sapien also gets plenty of screentime, developing a very strong brother-sister bond with Liz, and even falling in love with Princess Nuala, who is running away from her corrupt twin brother Prince Nuada. Due to his shyness, Abe goes on to play Barry Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You", a sappy love song which Hellboy sings along to. Johann Krauss, new to the film series, is entertaining and packs quite a punch as he can travel in spirit from out from his C3PO-like outer body and makes use of locker doors to take out Hellboy. As for Tom Manning who is the head of the BPRD, he kinda disappoints, mostly due to the script.
My thoughts about this film? It is funnier, wackier and more imaginative than the first one, which also got positive reviews back in 2004. You'll be greatly surprised by the action sequences and creature effects used in the film (not on the Golden Army, but on the Forest God and other stuff). I rate this film 8 out of 10, a must-watch for Hellboy fans and comic fans alike ;-)
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