Better than the first in most ways

Rating: 9/10 (12 September 2011)

Hellboy is one of those cult movies that most people will love, and other people won't get it. I am one of those people who love it. The first movie was definitely interesting because it was a bit different than most super hero movies. The first movie was a bit dark and humorous at the same time, but it had very lovable characters. well that was the first movie, let's talk about Hellboy II: the golden army.
The first movie had the issue of a not very intriguing main villain. The villain was definitely dangerous, but we really didn't get to know him too well, and really his motives were very simple. In Hellboy II the main villain has better motives, and his main goal is to make humans know their place since he is sad that his people are becoming extinct along with all of the magical creature people things. The villain is also cooler seeing as he has mad ninja skills and seems to be powerful without magic, and just by his own physical abilities.
The movie has excellent action sequences, and all of them flow pretty well, one scene in particular I felt was a little too short. The fight against the giant forest god seemed a bit too short and easy to kill. It literally died in about three shots from a large grenade launcher looking gun. Besides that all of the action is good.
The monsters in this movie is probably what made it so good compared to the last one. You can tell when you are watching a Del Toro movie because there is a lot of normal special effects like animatronics and such. That is what makes his movies good is because if he used CGI then the movies would become dated, but animatronics and standard effects never age. Seeing the diversity in the folklore creatures is cool, and the angel of death was AWESOME! The characters are good in this movie but I felt like the absence of Myers was a little annoying because it contradicted the first movie. Myers was there because Professor Broom said that Hellboy needed a new person to watch over him like a father or good friend. Hellboy himself is good but he seems to change sizes every once in awhile. In one seen in particular his head seemed insanely large in proportion to his body. The first movie made him seem very large, but in this movie he seems more average in size.
Abe has a different voice actor, but really that wasn't too bad. This movie really expands on the characters and adds a new one! Johann Krauss is an excellent character voice by Seth MacFarlane which I thought was cool in itself.
Overall Hellboy II: the golden army is a bigger, more action packed, and better movie than the first. It isn't as dark as the first movie, which may annoy some people, but honestly that isn't that big of an issue. I definitely recommend this movie to fans of the original.