Tagline: “Saving the world is a hell of a job.”
Translation: Now that Guillermo del Toro is a “visionary director,” he can make all the freaky eyeless demons he wants.
The Verdict: The new trailer for Hellboy 2: The Golden Army appears to be the perfect synthesis of Del Toro’s two directorial personalities: On one hand is the Hollywood action director (Mimic, Blade 2), and on the other is the cutting-edge foreign-film auteur (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone). This is probably because his last foreign-language film pulled in action-flick dollars at the box office. The result seems to be that now Del Toro has free reign to fill up a whole movie with freaky weirdos, giant explosions, and incredible set design. He probably spends $40 million just inventing new long-fingered, no-eyed, goopy-jawed critters of the sort he scared us with in Pan’s Labyrinth, creating a hellish menagerie not seen since the cantina at the Mos Eisley Spaceport. But even aside from blowing a CGI budget bigger than most Third World countries’ GDP, Del Toro also makes sure that David Hyde Pierce, Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, and Jeffrey Tambor are back to keep the dialogue snappy and the acting passable. We’re ready to enlist. —Ehren Gresehover
