Friday I went to see Hellboy II: The Golden Army .
I was a big fan of the first one because not only do I love comic book movies but Guillermo Del Toro is one of my favorite directors. I thought the second was much better than the first. There was more humor, more love, not so much more action but definitely a different type of action.
One thing I love about Del Toro's work is that he is such a visual director. There is one scene in particular with the evil prince and his father where the colors are astounding. It's a gorgeous mixture of golds, whites, browns, reds, and blacks. It literally took my breath away.
Del Toro is also very good with creature stuff. If you saw Pan's Labyrinth you've seen what he does with weird creatures and how he shows his love for them. This new Hellboy film gave him opportunity to experiment with some new stuff and a broad range of monsters.
I think the clincher for the movie though (for me anyway) was a singing duet to Barry Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You". I won't tell you which characters sing it, but I will say it's pretty hilarious.
Anyway, the film gets two thumbs up for me. I'd recommend it for anyone who even remotely enjoyed the first.
