About.com Rating

A Visually Arresting Comic-Book Movie That's Fun to Watch

In Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), director Guillermo del Toro has created an enjoyable fantasy film that has spectacular visuals, contains energetic action sequences and is at times laugh-out-loud funny. Although Hellboy II is the sequel to Hellboy (2004), it is easy to follow even if you haven't seen the earlier movie. Again the characters are based on those in Dark Horse Comics, and actors Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones are back.


The superhero Hellboy (Perlman), the combustible Liz Sherman (Blair) and the amphibian Abe Sapien (Jones) still work for the top-secret Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense.

Del Toro's great achievement in Hellboy II is to construct an inventive, vibrant, magical universe, primarily through astonishing creatures, costumes and sets. The filmmaking is exuberant, and there's a rich musical score by Danny Elfman. Action sequences are brilliantly choreographed and not overly long, and the characters engage in lots of amusing banter. There's an unforgettable hilarious scene where Hellboy and Abe discuss the women in their lives, get drunk on Mexican beer and sing along with Barry Manilow on "Can't Smile Without You."

But there's not much of a plot in Hellboy II. Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), an elf, revives an ancient feud with humans, leading to a huge battle involving 4,900 mechanical warriors, which make up the Golden Army of the film's title. Hellboy fights on the side of the humans, although he seems to be going through some sort of identity crisis.

However, the movie's focus isn't on character development.

Bonus Materials on Disc One

In addition to the feature film, Disc One of the three-disc Special Edition Hellboy II: The Golden Army DVD set contains a number of extras. The best of these is the informative feature-length audio commentary by del Toro, in which he discusses all aspects of the film, including shooting it in Hungary. There's a second audio commentary track by actors Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor and Luke Goss, but this failed to capture my interest.

The best video extra is the 12-minute tour conducted by del Toro of the striking troll market set. Additional bonus materials on Disc One include a five-minute animated cartoon titled "Zinco Epilogue," seven brief visits to various sets used in the movie and six deleted scenes with optional director commentary.

Bonus Materials on Disc Two and Digital Copy Disc

Disc Two of the three-disc Special Edition Hellboy II: The Golden Army DVD set provides additional extras. The major offering here is the two-and-a-half-hour "Hellboy: In Service of the Demon," which is about such matters as creature creation, staging the action sequences, set construction, costuming and make-up. If preferred, this bonus material can be accessed as 19 separate chapters. A particularly interesting one is Chapter 15, which shows how the otherworldly Angel of Death was done.

The entire 114-page screenplay is supplied as a DVD-ROM feature, and it can be viewed or printed using a computer. It's in an Adobe Systems' Portable Document Format (PDF) file.

Other bonus materials on Disc Two include storyboard progression of the film's prologue with del Toro commentary, director's notebook, pre-production gallery and marketing materials.

Disc Three of the three-disc Special Edition Hellboy II: The Golden Army DVD set contains a digital copy of the feature film. This permits the movie to be easily transferred to a PC, Mac, iPod, iPhone or other portable media player.

DVD Details

Below I have listed all the details for the three-disc Special Edition DVD set of Hellboy II: The Golden Army. There is also a single-disc DVD edition of Hellboy II, which is identical to Disc One of the three-disc Special Edition. Furthermore, the movie is available in a Blu-ray edition containing all the bonus materials of the three-disc Special Edition DVD set plus additional extras.

Release Date: November 11, 2008
Number of Discs: 3

Disc One:

Feature Film
Runtime: 2 hours 0 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for Sequences of Sci-Fi Action and Violence, and Some Language
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1), Color
English Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
French Dolby Digital 5.1
English Descriptive Video Service
English Captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Spanish Subtitles
French Subtitles
Audio Commentary by Director Guillermo del Toro
Audio Commentary by Actors Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Luke Goss
Set Visits (7)
Troll Market Tour With Guillermo del Toro
Animated Comic Short: Zinco Epilogue
Deleted Scenes (6) With Optional Director Commentary

Disc Two:

English Dolby Digital 2.0
English Captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Spanish Subtitles
French Subtitles
Prologue
Hellboy: In Service of the Demon
Production Workshop
Pre-Production Vault
Marketing Campaign
DVD-ROM: Script

Disc Three:

Digital Copy of Feature Film