Film Preview: Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

Trailers (Due to age, may no longer be available)

Posters (Due to age, may no longer be available)

Poster Rating: C-

Review: I’ve never been a fan of this style of comic art and this one in particular says nothing about the plot of the film and is more likely aimed at fanboys who might recognize the image and be suddenly enticed to the film…it won’t work on other filmgoers, however.

Trailer Rating: B; B; C

Review: Although the first film didn’t look terribly exciting, this trailer gives it a bit more pizazz. That could partially be the early reference to Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro (who directed the first film, oddly enough) and his “visionary” style. That they don’t say much about him returning to the project suggests they hope is recent celebrity might propel this film farther than the original. Del Toro’s styles used in Pan’s are certainly obvious in the trailer, so it might be worth checking out.

The second trailer isn’t terribly different from the first. It features a lot of the same scenes, but appears to go into a bit more detail about the film’s plot. There are several new scenes, including the opening in the auction house and some other one-liners later on. While the one-liners make me a bit leary, the visual panache of the film is certainly interesting. I guess I need to pick up the first Hellboy before my friends decide to drag me to this sequel.

With two trailers already released, it isn’t surprising that the third trailer is such a disappointment. Whereas the first two trailers focus on enticing the fantasy/comic book audience into the theater, the third trailer seems to ignore both and try to get the action crowd in. In addition, the voice over is awful.