This is a first.  I’ve been living with the story for [[[Hellboy II: The Golden Army]]] since last Thanksgiving, when I accepted the assignment to write the novelization. However, given personal circumstances, I missed its release and am only now finally seeing it, nearly a year later, on DVD.   As a result, I’m looking at the film from some fairly unique angles.

That the entire production team and cast has returned is asset to film, out on standard disc and Blu-ray today. It looks good and clearly, there’s an ease and comfort between the principal players and their director, Guillermo del Toro.

Del Toro’s [[[Hellboy]]] is somewhat different in tone and certainly in story direction from what Mike Mignola has been chronicling in his Dark Horse comics.  And that’s fine, that’s part of the adaptation process.  That Mignola remains involved and is credited as a producer and for helping del Toro craft the story shows his willingness to see others play with his characters.

Since the first film, del Toro captured the world’s attention with Pan’s Labyrinth, and this follow-up film seemed to indicate a willingness to show he was not a one-trick pony. The film is therefore a visual treat. In terms of the story, we’re some months after the first film so Hellboy and Liz Sherman are now romantically involved and living together at BPRD HQ.  Beyond that, the other characters are somewhat static.

The story of an exiled elfin prince returning from exile to break an ages-old truce with Man is a strong one, especially given a world Hellboy knows is filled with freaks of all kinds.  We follow Prince Nuada’s efforts to assemble the crown that would given him command over the Golden Army, 70 times 70 mechanical soldiers built by the goblin forges. With them at his command, all humanity would be wiped out and the elves can regain control of the planet.

Mixed in with that is the stresses between Liz and Hellboy living together, Abe Sapien falling in love with the Princess Nuala, who opposes her brother’s jihad, and the exposure of the [[[BPRD]]] to the general public.  This necessitates Washington sending a new field leader, Dr. Johann Krauss, who happens to be an ectoplasmic being living in a containment suit.

There’s plenty of story and threads and everyone has something to do and people to play off one another.  Add in deadly Tooth Fairies, the last Elemental, a Troll Market, an Angel of Death, and the revived Army, and you have plenty to deal with.

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