Hellboy 2

[unforth]

After seeing the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and listening to what you guys wrote about it, I expected more from Hellboy 2, but the movie didn't really hold together for me. I neither liked it nor disliked it, but I kept thinking how it could have been better. The dialog was weak, though of course the special effects were awesome. The real sign that there's a problem, though, was that it left me wanting to see a different movie.

Seriously, after watching the elf jump around and be awesome? Now I really, really, really want to go see Drizzt Do'Urden in a Forgotten Realms movie.

In short? Movies shouldn't leave you wanting to see different movies. Movies shouldn't be so predictable that I see the ending coming from so early. Movies shouldn't have problems with the dialog that make me wonder what the heck the writer was thinking. And Movies shouldn't leave me sad that they weren't what I was hoping for.

I'm curious what others thought, though - if anyone wants to chat, we can fill the comments with spoilers. ;)

Comments

[bakanekotoo.livejournal.com]

I liked the movie, granted, not as much as the first, but I still managed to like it. I liked the jokes better in the first movie than the second, some of the jokes in the movie were really lame, and the scene where they were singing that Barry Manilow song, which was funny for like the first few seconds, felt like it was dragging on. And the elf prince was kinda annoying. All his jumping around and stuff felt a little over the top :-P The movie was REALLY pretty though :-)

[unforth.livejournal.com]

The thing that annoyed me about the Barry Manilow scene was that it was so stinkin' obvious from very early on that the Princess was gonna die, and how she was gonna die, and I never enjoy seeing the agony of characters I like stretched out as that scene did. The jokes were lame, too, I totally agree - another dimension of the overall problems I had with the script. The sequence of events was fine and interesting, but the actual dialog was stilted and unnatural.

I liked the elf, though. :)

[nekomata.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, thank you. dyrecorn and I thought we were the only people who didn't think the movie was "OMG teh best." The predictability, weak dialogue and downright, over the top corniness really got me. Honestly, I liked Hancock a lot more and it has terrible reviews.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Glad to be able to show that you are not alone in your unhappiness with the movie. It just fell so flat for me - I was just so underwhelmed. The predictability just left the whole movie dragging for me, cause it was like, why are we wasting our time on this stupid love angle, it's so clear how it's going to end that it's pointless to start! I kind of like the over the top corniness, but other than that? I'm with ya absolutely.

I want to see Hancock - but first I want to see Wall E, and maybe Wanted, and Journey to the Center of the Earth (in 3D!) This has been a good summer for movies I actually want to watch. ;)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

My major gripe against it is that all their attempts to hit emotional notes fell flat for me. The visuals were gorgeous, and I liked the ideas, but there were so many out-of-tune moments that it wasn't moving like I wanted it to be.

. . . but yeah, I'd go see a Drizzt movie. And watch it on mute, if the script turned out to suck.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean - that's a good way of putting it. The movie didn't engage my emotions at ALL. I just wonder what the writers were actually going for - cause I think they were trying to get a sort of campy, corny pulp thing going on - which they'd pulled off in the first - but it just didn't come together this time. They played up the FBI guy too much, for one. The lack of the PoV offered by Myers was a problem, too. Also, the personalities of the four heroes ended up blurring together too much, especially by the end. I thought they did a lot of damage to the ways in which Abe, in particular, was distinct - it really bugged me when he was able to withstand the damage that Wink did, apparently without harm - that didn't align with the first movie at all and really bugged me. Part of what I liked about the ensemble in Hellboy was that they all had very distinct roles, and each had their thing and couldn't really do what the others did, and the complimented each other way.

I also thought that "why do the humans hate me?" plot went nowhere and was utterly predictable. Sigh.

I wouldn't be complaining so much, but I was just so disappointed.

But man, I seriously want to get some action scenes of a dark elf jumping around with two swords, facing Artemis Entreri, or something, and it would be awesome. :)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Lack of Myers isn't something I thought of, but good point. He gave you a central point of view that was sympathetic and human, against which the weirdnesses could play off. This film didn't really have it, plus spent WAY too much time on Annoying FBI Dude Whose Name I Forgot.

I don't mind them playing up a love angle I know is doooooomed, but when they play it up and I don't care -- that's a problem.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Exactly - Myers point of view sort of tempered everything, and made it all more believable. I also liked him, so it bothered me to see his absence so casually dismissed in two lines of dialog. I couldn't really figure out what we humans were supposed to think - no one, neither the freaks, the fey, nor the people in this movie acted in a way that I could sympathize with.

And yep, that was the problem. Oh, so disappointing! I wanted to care, I really did...but I just couldn't.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

There was only one non-freak human I can think of anyway, and he was annoying.

I wish I could just buy a copy of the Nuada fights. *_*

[unforth.livejournal.com]

I just wish there had been more of the Nuada fights. Man, those things were so awesome. More Nuada fights, less last-of-the-forest-gods.

[drake-rocket.livejournal.com]

*Shrug* I acknowledge some of the flaws you suggest the movie had, but I really enjoyed it. To the point where it was one of my favorite superhero movies yet. There are a few reasons, some are less reasonable than others. Top of the list is that I *liked* all of the characters. I really typically hate bishi whiny save the natural world super villains, but I liked the prince. I liked everyone really (sans the FBI agent).

What I think Hellboy 2 did that I have not yet seen any other super hero movie do, however, is a *team*. Every other attempt at this has failed miserably, in my opinion. One or two characters ended up the focus and all of the others either failed or seemed completely secondary. Hellboy, however, made me feel like everyone on the team was cool, everyone had a personality and everyone had a cool (if predictable) bit of story and role to play. This and the point above really sold the movie for me.

It also had a lot of different types of combats, which I very much appreciated. It showcased a lot of different superheroic powers in a lot of situations dealing with a lot of problems. In other multi-hero team movies I've often felt strained when the heroes didn't use their powers half the time because every time Storm fires a lightning bolt it costs 1 million dollars to CGI. What's more it did something I've not seen done in a very long time: It portrayed an interesting ninja vs tank fight. What I think was more impressive than Nuada swinging around a neat spear is how they managed to make him fight Hellboy without him being blatantly superior, as is usually the case when small quick cute peeps fight big slow ugly peeps. I actually felt like I could watch the fight and see the strengths of both Hellboy and Nuada play out in an even fashion. It allowed both to be badass and have a really cool fight without it feeling like some stupid fiat made the hero win.

I guess for me I don't go to a movie and try to predict what's gonna happen. So yeah, it was obvious what was gonna happen with the prince. If I had given it any thought I prolly would have figured it out. But I don't really go to a movie to see a plot I haven't seen before. I go to watch it and hopefully find it awesome as a live action version of what happens in the comics. I guess what I meant to say is, if you think about it, the outcome of almost every superhero movie is predictable: good guys win. Ya it might habe been obvious...but it was *fun*.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to me that it was the Team aspect that you liked, since thats one of the main things I liked about Hellboy 1 - one of the thigs I found frustrating in this one, in fact, was the feeling that they blurred the lines a bit in the team roles - for example, I was really frustrated with the way that Abe was able to withstand the damage that Wink did, because as established in the first movie that's not Abe's "role" in the team, and I don't think he should have been able to do that.

The combat was really awesome - I can't disagree with that. :)

What was sad to me about the being able to predict what happened was that I also don't go to movies to do this - in fact, I'm very bad at it normally, and don't generally spend any time thinking about it. What was sad to me about Hellboy was that it was SO obvious that I couldn't pretend I didn't see it coming. I really, really wanted to find it awesome, but problems like that kept getting in the way. For me, the problem with the scripting kept me from buying in to the central premises of the movie, which meant that it was (for me) a very pretty movie, a series of really cool action sequences threaded together with flimsy dialog, which meant that the action sequences weren't as "significant" as I would have hoped. I just wasn't able to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy it as much as I would have liked to. :(

[drake-rocket.livejournal.com]

Ah I've heard the Abe V Wink argument before and, as a fan of the comic, I can't really agree with it. Regardless of what he looked like in the first movie, Abe is not supposed to be a wuss. Sure he's not supposed to be Hellboy level of badass, but he is supposed to be an expert hand-to-hand combatant and has the ability to recover very quickly from injuries (for example he got stabbed through and through with a spear and not only lived but recovered very quickly). I view the Wink fight as a correction to the errors in the previous film.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Except he didn't look like a badass in it - he gets his butt totally kicked - if it had been all dodgy and stuff, I think I would have bought it more.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

I didn't quite walk out, but as a fae movie it was a dismal failure except that they fought really cool. It left me wanting to see a better fae movie. :( I'm glad to hear more people agree, though - most of my friends still thought it was teh awesome, and I'm like...huh? How???