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

[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.