ebonlock | (no subject)

Ok first and foremost, go here and hit "Play" if you're an Avatar fan. Just trust me, you will want to see this. It is guaranteed to brighten even the worst day. And speaking of Avatar, the remainder of the season starts up this week and we get the finale next Saturday. Can't believe it's finally ending...OMG what am I going to do without new Avatar to watch?

On a brighter note, I got to see "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army" last night and the first thing I can say about it is that while the movieverse maintains its own integrity this flick really harkened back to the original comics in ways that the first film didn't. This just felt like an old school Hellboy story and yet, at the same time, it stayed true to the direction the film canon is now taking. Yeah, it walked this narrow but brilliant line between the two, gleefully tossing in elements from each guaranteed to please both general viewers and fans alike. Indeed I'd be astonished if anyone walked out of the movie feeling anything but completely satisfied and grinning happily.

First and foremost I thought it was cool that Doug Jones got to do both the voice and body for Abe this time around though it took me a few minutes to stop expecting to hear David Hyde Pierce whenever he opened his mouth. I did get used to it, though, and quite liked his take on the character. I thought it was interesting that his body language for Abe differed quite remarkably from the first as well, as if getting to use his own voice allowed him to be a bit more subtle with his body as well. Yeah, ok, he does still fall into the "big hands" trap (and at one point I actually whispered to Aelf, "Look, jazz hands!") but not as often, thankfully.

The addition of Johan Krauss (note: it's "Kraus" in the comic but he makes a big deal of spelling it with 2 "s's", giving HB the wonderful line, "Hm, 'SS', huh?" as he grumbles about loathing Germans) to the team in this one was just inspired, and his costume rocked so very much. Indeed he damn near stole the movie right out from under Jones and Perlman in every scene he appeared in. The fact that it took 3 actors to bring him about makes the whole thing even more amazing. I will say McFarlane did a great job even if I occasionally thought he sounded a little too like the VW Bug in those commercials, and really brought the character to life. I'm just hoping some ambitious costumer somewhere attempts the costume at a future con because OMG they need to.

I liked Liz a whole lot better in this flick, she's finally grown into her own as a character and has stopped with the whining emo chick schtick. I thought her relationship with HB read as quite realistic, she is, after all, dating a big teenager. Her frustration with him and inability to articulate why she's upset actually had me identifying with her for the first time. She's ready to grow up and have an adult relationship but the HellBoy of the movieverse is anything but.

Which was, when it came right down to it, the main theme of the film. Or at least one of two, the first being the growing up and becoming an adult; the second being the idea that true love means putting the one you love before anything and anyone else in the world. The first theme ran through the plots of the hero HB who finds out he's going to be a daddy (and his stunned response, "I'm going to become Father?" was just perfect) and the villain Nuada who finds himself forced to kill his own father to become the new leader of the Fey and wage his war on humanity. The second theme was taken up by Liz asking HB (after he figures out a downright hilarious way to out himself and the BPRD to the public) why he needs the whole world to like him, isn't she enough? Then when Abe experiences his first adolescent crush on Princess Nualla and turns to HellBoy for advice, he's told that love means being willing to turn one's back on the world for the one you love. It's a rather...adolescent take on love which suits HB at that point in the film and of course makes perfect sense to Abe (though it ends up blowing up in all their faces later on). It also leads us to a great scene where Liz is later told that HB's ultimate fate is to destroy the world, and knowing that, she has to make the choice whether he lives or dies. She replies that she doesn't care about the world, she wants her boyfriend to live. The script, however, makes it pretty clear that this selfish choice is probably going to end up being a big mistake. That kind of foreshadowing is making my toes curl already in anticipation of where this story may go next.

On a lighter note some thoughts that came to me as I was watching it but I couldn't really voice aloud at the time:

1. Several scenes in the film made me think del Toro is a big anime fan. If he hasn't at least seen "Princess Mononoke" (and possibly "Blue Seed") I'll be astonished. The fight between HB and the Elemental was straight up the finish of "Princess Mononoke".

2. I've been an Abe fangirl for years (I freely admit I have a thing for blue guys, Kurt, Abe, etc.) and the one in the first film I recognized as basically being the same character (with extra super mental powers, admittedly) as the comic character. Maybe a little more delicate and sweet natured, but still kind of cynical ("We lead a charmed life.") and way more grown up than Brother Red. However, in this one we're shown that while he's definitely grown up in some ways (i.e. under circumstances where he's in his element), he's really naive and childlike when it comes right down to it. The relationship between HB and Liz puzzles him and makes his own loneliness that much more poignant. When he finally starts to make a connection to someone, Princess Nualla in this case, he leaps directly from friendship to full on crush.

One of the greatest scenes in the entire film is Abe's naive attempt at figuring out these new emotions he's feeling via a CD of cheesy love songs. HB, already half sloshed after his hilarious fight with Krauss in the locker room, staggers in and catches him listening to...dear god...Barry Manilow. He proceeds to get Abe drunk and the two duet "I Can't Smile Without You", a song guaranteed to become trapped in your head for days to come, but it's totally worth it. HB then pretty much defines love for Abe, which leads our poor young fish lad to make a colossally stupid mistake at the end.

This Abe isn't the guy I originally fell for, but I have to admit this one appeals to me as well, in a very different way. He's such a sweet, innocent guy in a "blind leading the blind" situation that I forgive him being stupid enough to believe the villain when he offers him a deal. HB tells him love means giving up the world for the one you care for, so that's what Abe does, commenting, "You'd have done the same for Liz." And he's right, to a degree, though HB already made that choice in the last film...one wonders if he'd still be able to make the same one now that he's in a relationship with Liz and they're having babies.

At any rate, this Abe grew on me and I thought his decisions were consistent and realistic. A little frustrating, sure, and yeah I wanted to yell at the screen a few times, but I can forgive him.

Although I do find it odd that the writers added a scene early on with Abe all but flirting with Johan over the Fey specs he brought along. His near orgasmic joy over the leather straps was about the slashiest thing I've seen in a film in ages. To go from that to his schoolboy crush on Nualla was a bit odd.

3. I felt kind of bad for Manning throughout the beginning of the film. He discovered the hard way that being a surrogate dad is harder than it looks. His desperation to keep a handle on HB is rather poignant, and utterly doomed. The scene where he tries to bribe his nemesis into good behavior with Cuban cigars is both funny and sad. HB lies straight to his face promising to be "A shadow in the dark", and then blithely using an opportunity during the fight at the auction house to all but throw himself in front of the cameras.

Manning's subsequent toadying to Krauss slipped him firmly back into the comic relief role which was a bit disappointing. He could've been much more than that, and continued to advance the paternal sub-theme, but the movie was already juggling a lot and it's a very minor quibble.

So, overall I loved the film and would definitely see it again. I'll also own it as soon as it comes out on DVD and am desperately hoping they put out an "Art of..." book to accompany it.