That's my review of the new HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY trailer (which you can watch here at DelToroFilms). My friend on the Hellboy message board, Damascinos, said, "I feel like I did at age 5, seeing Hammerhead for the first time in the Star Wars bar and having my entire concept of "monster" rewritten."
He hit the nail right on the head.
That's exactly what it felt like to me. I have not seen such a plethora of wild and original creature designs on screen since the 80's when I would drag my parents to the theater (over and over) to see Return of the Jedi. I don't want to call it revolutionary, that's a big word with big connotations, but I definitely see that GDT and his creature and concept designers (Wayne Barlowe, Mike Mignola, and Francisco Ruiz Valasco, to name the ones I know of) are really going the extra mile. This is the stuff that widens the eyes and feeds the imagination. Amazing stuff.
We also get to see some vintage Hellboy moments - puffing the cigar, punching monsters, and laying down some cool one-liners ("You woke up the baby"). Also introduced in this trailer is some internal conflict that is going to be facing Hellboy - it seems he will be questioning how he fits in with the world of men, and he will be presented a choice of some kind from the Angel of Death.
One of my few complaints was that the "Don't call me babe" dialogue between Hellboy and Liz didn't quite work - seemed like it was kind of squeezed in there, maybe as an audience introduction to Abe Sapien. I suspect it didn't work because it was taken out of context, so I have faith that the gag will work within the movie itself. Also, not much screentime for Johann, so I wonder how much he will be used in this film.
But hey, I'm not going to nitpick - you can't fit everything into a theatrical trailer, and I wouldn't want it to. I'm excited to see this film in July. Looks like more action, more monsters, more everything.
And I want to see what happens when HB pulls the trigger on the Big Baby. I can only hope it trims monsters down like shooting a machine gun at an elm tree.
1 comment:
Parker - This has made my Friday and saved me from certain disappointment having stopped by a dingy internet cafe while crossing Glasgow city centre by foot.
I can't wait to get settled into the cinema seat and bare witness to what is going to be without doubt THE visual experience of 2008!
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