Mixed feelings

Rating: 7/10 (24 February 2009)

OK, I admit, I never cared much for the first Hellboy much, but after the great job Del Toro did with Pan's Labyrinth, I was rather eager to see this movie. Now that I've seen it, I am left with mixed feelings.
To start with the good things: this is a lot more like Pan's Labyrinth than it is like the first Hellboy movie. In fact, this is more a fantasy movie set in modern times than it is a superhero movie. It's full of wonderfully imaginative scenery, wonderfully creative creatures..it's just full of wonder.
Unfortunately, the positive qualities of this movie stay almost entirely on the visual side.
Whereas Pan's Laybrinth did have a compelling story and characters you cared about, these aspects are sadly underdeveloped in Hellboy 2...the narrative is the same bare-bones stuff as in the first movie, the characters are interesting by themselves but not much is done with them (there are some hints at Hellboy falling to the Dark Side, so to speak, but they remain just hints), and also like in the first movie there is an overall lack of suspense since, well, the heroes get through every fight way too easy and never feel in any kind of real danger.
What I also found annoying was the overall tone of the movie...it goes from total silliness to deadly serious over and over again..one moment you're watching slapstick, the next moment you're stuck in an overly dramatic death or love scene. Of course there can be jokes in a seriously or epic movie too (see LOTR), but this much inconsistency hurts.
That being said, I do have to give the movie some credit. The action sequences are mostly nicely done (don't expect any epic battles though, in spite of the fact that there is 'Army' in the title; the army doesn't get to do much), the Krauss character is a very nice addition, and most of the jokes are mildly amusing.
In the end I did enjoy Hellboy 2. It's plagued by the flaws that the first movie also had, and it's got serious consistency and tone problems, but the stunning visuals and obvious creativity make up for a lot.