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mnight and I predicted a much darker ending. We didn't get it, but we were both happy with the results. I didn't feel the reveal was over-the-top or ill-fitting. It made perfect sense to me. I guess I'm a mutant. It's a great and tragic love story worthy of the pages of a Marvel comic. I was highly pleased and even choked up at the end. I liked Hellboy and predicted I would also like Hellboy 2. The film begins with a brilliant bed-time story about the end of the world. It charmed me right off the top. I can honestly say that those seven or so minutes bought off any sins the rest of the movie may have had. Fortunately, it had none. Demonstrating a key understanding of what makes faerie tales work, Del Toro and Mignola created a post-modern story that fits right in with a great tradition of faerie tales. I was giddy all the way through.
Both Hancock and Hellboy 2 are worth your consideration.
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Hellboy 2, hmmmmm. Thursday and it's here. I hope.
Hancock - I want to see it. My wife's 'eh, wait for the PPV'. Ah well.
If you haven't seen Kung Fu Panda yet you really should. Like, a lot.
It felt like two films got sort of crushed together... the first half was a black comedy about the theme of "superhero as jerk", and the second half was devoid of humor and seemed almost entirely about a mythic backstory that made the one from Highlander 2 seem well-reasoned. The massive plot holes in the second half didn't help matters much.
It was enjoyable in the way that junk food sometimes is, and technically well-made and full of charismatic actors and big-budget action sequences, but in this summer of superhero movies, it's definitely playing second-fiddle to films like Iron Man and Hellboy 2.
They were in 'Wyrms Footnotes 14'.
Hellboy 2 on the other hand, I completely disagree with you. I felt the movie was absolutely awful. The acting struck me as forced and stilted. I felt none of the emotional connection or depth that I saw in the first movie. For example, in the first movie, when one of the Agents died terribly, Hellboy was distraught and upset. This time, an Agent gets devoured right before his eyes, and he regarded it with a "Oh, well, another Red Shirt down" type expression. I felt all darkness and creepiness (OMG clockwork Nazi) was replaced with Kookines (with all the Wacky Creatures in the BRPD, I felt like I was suddenly watching Men in Black). It totally killed the feel for me.
I'm a big fan of Pan's Labyrinth. He's the writer/direct of of Pan's and is obviously capable of avoiding the faults I list above. HB2 feels very undisciplined by comparison, as if Migola (co-writer on the story) or the studio kept forcing changes on him that he couldn't refuse.
That being said, they really were inconsistent with tone and characters - Krausse was all ORDNUNG! until zap! SCREW PROTOCOL! The bit about the downed agents was really shocking - it was a great horror scene - but then nobody cared.
One of my big complaints was that while I love del Toro's sense of creepy and monstrous, it felt like they were throwing everything they could at every possible frame, filling it up with frenetic CGI until you could barely track what was going on. That works for a few scenes, but way too many were like that. I liked the idea of the forest god, but it ended up being Just Another Monster Cameo. Bang, headshot, there you go.
And anyone else wonder why the princess was so insipidly passive?
Meh.
In a way, Del Toro created the same problem that action directors cause with close-up "shaky cam" work. There's so much motion and activity that you can't see the forest for the trees.
HB2 however was a train-wreck. It suffered from poor plot, terrible holes and resolution issues. After all, if Liz could melt the Crown, the movie was over at the point when they met the princess...
"Here's the piece my brother needs."
"**Liz melts crown fragment**"
"Cool, the Golden Army can't rise, let's go get some beers and you and Abe can hold hands."
Movie ends.
It offended me as a storyteller and GM.
Metachlorians.
After all, if Liz could melt the Crown, the movie was over at the point when they met the princess...
Did you know Liz could melt the crown? I didn't. Nor did the Princess.
Abe Sapien had all the knowledge (presence of crown fragment and Liz as firestarter), but couldn't get Liz to slag the fragment because he wanted to ensure the return of the Princess through its ransom.
I retract most of my criticism above, except for the broader sentiment about me being hostile to (other parts of the) movie because Del Toro didn't sell it to me. :p
As for Hellboy, in all seriousness, I recognize that they did have the whole, hiding the crown bit and everything, but Brahman Atman sums it up for me... the rest of the movie completely failed to sell me and then that bit at the end just let all the remaining air out... so that was just my one example in the interest of brevity... which, since that's now out the window. Flashy special effects replacing plot overrode any ability to draw me into the story. Kinda like the SW Prequel trilogy you mentioned above. The movie did have a few nice moments weighed down by a lot of weakness.
How can that be?
HB2...have not seen but me and a buddy watched the first one tongiht so I think we may go see HB2 today.
Giddoen