Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Ron Perlman is a joy again as the plug ugly but lovable demon tasked with saving humanity, most of which hates him in return. It’s one of the summer’s most imaginative flicks and the New York Daily News loves this “cynical, anti-social” superhero. Extras on the 3-disc special edition include an animated comic from Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and a tour of the movie’s awesome Troll Market.

Not doing as well with critics was the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie. But honestly, like anything I say will stop this or anything else with the Star Wars logo from selling a billion copies. With burping Hutt babies and a youthful feline sidekick for dour Anakin Skywalker, it’s no secret this one is for the kids. And while it didn’t make the expected impact at the box office, the Cartoon Network series this film leads to is doing pretty well. If you have a little one that lightsaber duels with broomsticks, this DVD is probably a very worthwhile purchase for you.

Image: Dark Horse Entertainment, Universal Pictures 2008

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Will Smith vehicle Hancock slipped into second place with $33 million. It’s still cementing Smith’s midsummer legend though, pulling in an impressive $165 million in just 12 days. Hellboy’s reign at the top will be a brief one though, as the fourth comic book property to take no.1 will certainly be The Dark Knight.

Propelled by positive reviews, feverish anticipation and publicity from Heath Ledger’s untimely death The Dark Knight has become the hottest ticket of the summer. Experts are anticipating an opening easily in the $130 million neighborhood. It’s no wonder movie producers are descending on events like San Diego Comic Con hoping to snag the next big comic property.

Other sci fi flicks that opened this past weekend included Brendan Fraser’s latest, Journey to the Center of the Earth. As one of the more family friendly films out now, it opened in third with a respectable $20.6 million.

Last and most certainly least was Eddie Murphy’s newest, Meet Dave. In this Murphy stars as a robotic spaceship and its miniature captain. This one is on the fast track to Flop City opening with just $5.3 million. That’s the lowest opening for Murphy since his last try at mixing comedy and space travel, The Adventures of Pluto Nash.

Image: Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Dark Horse Entertainment, Universal Pictures, 2008

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When sci-fi is great it uses the fantastic plots and crazy characters to teach us a little something about ourselves. Hellboy’s message is that you don’t have to be who others see you as. Rasputin brought our favorite demon hero to Earth to bring about its destruction. Instead he becomes the force that beats back Armageddon again and again. Hellboy can’t even take in the accolades he’s earned because he’s too ugly to go outside. The very sight of him would reveal things to humanity that we’re better off not knowing about.

The first Hellboy film was a very pleasant surprise. My wife would never pick up a comic other than to shove it in the closet with the rest of my junk but Hellboy’s one of her favorites. If you can turn the most comic booky of comic books into a movie my wife likes, you’ve done a great job. Here’s hoping they’ve done it again with the sequel.

Image by Greg The Bunny licensed under Creative Commons.

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People in Hancock’s world may not like him, but moviegoers loved him to the tune of a $62.6 million opening weekend. That’s the fifth July 4th weekend win for Will Smith.

Hancock pulled in $30 million more than second place finisher WALL-E. Much of the talk now is about a mid-film “twist” that has left some of the movie’s viewers cold. It will be interesting to see if the buzz has a positive or negative impact on Hancock’s second week in cinemas.

Bucking for the no. 1 crown this week is Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Will Big Red mean stop for the homeless superhero? I love this time of year.

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A growing swell of supporters including co-stars Christian Bale and Gary Oldman are talking posthumous Oscar for Ledger. If that happens, Ledger would be the first person so honored since Peter Finch in 1976 for Network.

Obviously Ledger’s take is a more sinister and disturbed creature than Jack Nicholson in 1989’s Batman. And I say that as someone who loved that film and Nicholson’s performance. Some are blaming the “dark places” Ledger had to go to for this character as reasons for his premature death. I don’t know about that but I’m excited to hear the good words about the film and about Ledger’s performance.

Coming on the heels of spot-on adaptations of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, another top-notch Batman movie is icing on the cake. We still have Hellboy II:The Golden Army coming up as well. I couldn’t be more psyched to be a comic book fan right now.

TM & © DC Comics.
Photo by Stephen Vaughan

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