Ok, I know it’s only but I didn’t want to wait a week to tell you about a movie that I checked out this weekend. Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is the newest chapter in the adventures of the agents of the Bureau For Paranormal Research and Development.

Long ago as illustrated in a brilliant animated display of puppetry, the humans of the world fought with the invisible realm for supremacy. The realm resorted to building an indestructable mechanical army to vanquish the humans and stop the fighting. After the deaths of many humans, the king decided to never unleash the unstoppable golden army again and split the controlling crown into 3 segments (Lord of the Rings anyone?) 2 of which the underworld retained and the remaining piece was given to the humans to prevent them from being reunitied for destruction. Prince Nuada has decided that the time to regain all 3 pieces and dominate the earth is now and the only thing standing between him and world domination is Hellboy or “Red” if you are in tight with him…

Honestly, I did not care for the original Hellboy movie but after loving Del Torro’s work on Pan’s Labyrinth and finally watching The Devil’s Backbone, I was excited to revisit the Dark Horse comic adaptation in Hellboy II. I enjoyed this movie much more than the original. With the bigger budget, Del Torro goes berserk with beautiful CGI special effects which are highlighted by a fantastic Danny Elfman Score. Ron Perlman is a bit looser this time around as the cigar smoking, beer swilling, cat loving anti-hero, who just wants to fit in with the humans. I liked the addition Selma Blair as his human torch-esque love interest. As with the first movie, the one weak point of The Golden Army is the writing. There is never a real sense of danger with the evil Prince and although he has some cool moves, he never looks like he has a chance of succeeding really. That being said there are great action sequences and Del Torro excels with the fantasy realm as he has moments of pure eye candy such as the Troll Market and the Golden Army coming to life. As comic book adaptations go, this is a fun PG 13 romp that delivers on the action and special effects. This is a fun fantasy movie that is much less dark than the original.

The acting in Hellboy 2 is a lot of what makes the movie as fun as it is. I have always liked Ron Perlman’s performances and Jeffrey Tambor as the self absorbed, paranoid BPRD supervisor is fantastic. John Hurt as the professor who raised “Red” was great as well in his brief cameo. As a huge Family Guy fan, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the voice of Johann Krauss is Seth MacFarlane (Giggity!). The only performance in the movie I didn’t really like was that of Luke Gross as Prince Nuada and that to an extent was because I didn’t care for the villian.

There are a lot of bonus features, especially on the 3 disc version. The first up is the commentary tracks. Del Torro’s commentary is quite interesting as he speaks to great detail about the overall filmmaking process and what he drew inspriation from when making this film. Next up is the cast commentary track, featuring Jeffrey Tambor, Selma Blair and Luke Goss. I was a little disappointed in the absence of Perlman but it was still a decent look at the film from the actor’s perspective. The Troll Market Tour was a fun look at the intricate set used for the marketplace scenes. The set visits were very short behind the scenes looks at about 7 key scenes from the movie. The Animated comic is a 5 minute well, animated comic basically. There were also 6 deleted scenes that were pretty typical cutting room floor stuff that would not have added any value to the film. Del Toro’s Prologue is less than a minute long. Hellboy: In the Service of the Demon is the big piece, clocking in at just over two and a half hours. It is an extensive behind the scenes piece and includes a lot of interviews with everyone from the cast to Hellboy creator Mike Mignola himself. Encompassing every phase of productin of Hellboy 2, this is a fanboy’s dream and is quite interesting. to watch. I do recommend watching it in chapters though, as it is quite a bit longer than the movie itself. The production workshop piece is a cool storyboard to film comparison of the opening sequence narrorated by Del Toro. The Pre-Production Vault is a collection of galleries and such, including a half hour commentary with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. Also included is a digital copy of the movie, so you can check out Hellboy 2 while waiting for them to finish changing the oil in your car or running on a treadmill.

Recommended

Bonus Features:

Feature Commentary with Director Guillermo del Toro
Feature Commentary with Jeffrey Tambor, Selma Blair and Luke Goss
Set Visits
Troll Market Tour with Guillermo Del Toro
Animated Zinco Epilogue Comic
Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary by Guillermo Del Torro

Blu-Ray and 3-disc Special Edition exclusive features:

Prologue from Guillermo Del Toro
Pre-Production Vault with Director’s Notebook and Concept Art Gallery
Hellboy:In Service of the Demon
Production Workshop: Proofessor Broom’s Puppet Theatre
Image Gallery Featuring Teaser Banners, One-Sheets and Poster Explorations
DVD Rom: Hellboy II: The Golden Army Script

OK, here’s the low down, Universal was nice enough to send me a screener for Hellboy in 2 different formats. What do I do with the second copy? That’s right, I pass it on to our switchers to enjoy. So here is the deal, drop me an email at Switchplanetcontests(at)Gmail.com(yes trying to avoid getting the account hammered with spam so at really equals @!) With your name, address, Switchplanet.com handle and tell me what current movie that just opened at #1 at the box office does Director Guillermo Del Toro have a speaking role in? Get the question right and you have a shot at winning the single disc widescreen version. Winner will be announced on December 1st. It’s just that easy here at Switchplanet.com.

Hellboy II:The Golden Army and Hellboy II: The Golden Army 3-Disc Special Edition are both available now courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

To add Hellboy II:The Golden Army Widescreen to your wishlist or to purchase it from Amazon.com, click here.

To add Hellboy II:The Golden Army 3 Disc Special Edition to your wishlist or to purchase it from Amazon.com, click here.