Luke Goss who played Prince Nuada deserves a special mention. He does such great choreography and plays these villains well. He also played Nomak in Blade 2 also directed by del Toro. Nuada and Nomak are pretty similar characters now that I think about it. Both sewer dwelling highly capable princes that wish to bring an apocalypse onto the world in defiance of their fathers.
"My body is a temple..." "Now it's an amusement park, drink!" Probably my favorite line in the whole movie. To George's point about the choreography, it works so well because Luke Goss was a dancer and did a lot of musical theater prior to movies. Which made his performances in Blade 2 and Hellboy 2 stick out so well. That and his character design is so goddamn great.
I wish it had made it into George's trivia, but another credit for the choreography is they wanted to make a conscious choice to not use wire work because of how prevelant it was at the time so instead they hid tampolines in the set.
This one hooked me when the elemental died. It was the emotional pin of the movie for me. Hellboy realized he was going around destroying life at someone else’s behest. Took a misguided prince to shine a light on it.
What we see of Johann Kraus are his ectoplasmic remains. In life he was a psychic, but during a seance in which he was out-of-body, there was some kind of catastrophe that incinerated everyone present, along with his body.
what was the reson again? Was it goes this movie did less sales than the 1st one?, even tho imo it is a very good movie with a stunning visual identity and worldbuilding.
Yeah - it wasn't that there wasn't an audience to appreciate it. It's just they wound up releasing it in the WORST month of the WORST POSSIBLE YEAR to release a film like this. This would've been FAR better as an October Halloween, Thanksgiving Holiday, or even Christmas release. Not only did it have to compete against the Dark Knight, it ALSO had to compete against IRON MAN. (I don't think "Hancock" was quite the game killer everyone seems to think it is - but it didn't help any...) TLDR: This movie should never have been a "summer movie". Talk about a STACKED DECK. 2008 was a year with perhaps TOO MANY rich offerings!
@@logandarklighter disagree with Iron Man because it was in its 11th week, out of top10 and making less than $1 million. The list is: July 11-13, 2008 1 Hellboy (1st weekend) 2 Hancock (2nd - dropped -48%) 3 Journey to the Center of the Earth (1st) 4 Wall E (3rd) 5 Wanted (3rd) 6 Get Smart (4th) 7 Meet Dave (1st) 8 Kung Fu Panda (6th) 9 The Incredible Hulk (5th) 11 Indiana Jones (8th) 14 Iron Man (11th) A week later when Dark Knight was released, Hancock dropped 56% in 3rd weekend and Hellboy dropped 70% losing position even for Journey. Hellboy left top 10 in its 4th weekend, and Hancock only 2 weekes later. Yes, Hancock success damaged Hellboy harshly.
His work in this film shows why Doug Jones should get more respect, most of his roles have been under prosthetic work and he has to undergo hours in the makeup chair. He had three roles in this one as he played the Chamberlain too
Like others said, Seth McFarland voiced Johann. If I remember correctly, he got the part when he stopped by to visit. They needed a German speaker and he had the accent they wanted. Nice gig for just stopping by to say hello. Del Toro went through quite a bit to get the market scenes he wanted. There is a video that goes over a lot of behind the scenes if you want to see more.
This same Troll Market is also mentioned in Trollhunters; Tales from Arcadia animated series, at the end of the last season though. But I highly recommend checking out this series, it's really good. I mean, from an adult point of view, although of course it's aimed at a slightly younger audience. The casting is absolutely brilliant and the voice actors do a really good awesome job, but now I'm perhaps slightly biased because I'm a fan of Jonathan Hyde, the voice of Walter Strickler. Oh by the way Ron Pearlman, Clancy Brown and Kelsey Grammar are in this as well as David Bradley and Anton Yelchin who is the voice of Jim. This series also has two sister series, 3Below and Wizards, which I also recommend. The only one I don't recommend is Trollhunters the Raise of the Titans. It did a pretty ugly job on the characters in the series.
@@eclat4641 Pretty much any of them. For example, when you get some time Wikipedia the French and German versions of a story called "The Bearskin Coat". The German one is a lot darker than the French. Then just google Russian fairytails.
Johann Krauss was a German psychic and medium, who was astral projecting when some kind of supernatural event happened that destroyed his body. So he’s technically alive, but he’s stuck in astral form.
@@freefall945 I doubt it. That sounds corny for Hellboy. All that was revealed was Bruce Campbell was supposed to play Lobster Johnson and Liz was pregnant longer than she should be.
I hope not, that's the most basic plot ever. And in the middle of the movie we would learn that they are brothers, right? And at the end they would team up against the main big bad and the brother would sacrifice himself? The most overused plotline in the history of plotlines?
Del Toro’s always said that his sympathies are with the monsters; they’re misfits, probably alone in the world. So not only is Hellboy the perfect protagonist for him, but he also does things like treat the forest elemental’s death as so tragic. He does such a great job “humanizing” the monsters that I actually felt pretty bummed out when I saw the film, despite all its comedy and amazing designs. Didn’t feel like a clean win, y’know?
Exactly. Nuada is an antagonist but he isn't a villain, per se. You can completely understand where he is coming from even if his solution is not the best.
* Raises hand * Granted I don't go by birthname much anymore as I now live in the United States and..... Well, it's just fuckin' easier than having to teach a damn Harry Potter class just so someone can say my name _somewhat_ right.
Don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but the actor playing the child Hellboy is actually one of the makeup artists, an adult female, and her accent was so thick that they had to overdub her lines. If it looks like her mouth doesn't quite match what you hear, that's why.
While the first Hellboy is fantastic in its own right, this one is an undeniable masterpiece of production and creature design. It’s like if The NeverEnding Story, Lord of the Rings, and Pan’s Labyrinth all existed in the same universe. It’s just a sad reality that this movie underperformed at the box office and Universal scrapped the third Hellboy movie Guillermo was gonna make.
I love literally everything about this movie. The design and feel of the world they built is just freaking fantastic. If I won the lottery, I'd build a theme park-type place modeled entirely after the troll market.
Johhan kraus, is one of my favorite characters ever created, the fact we only see him in one movie is criminal. And one of my favorite death disign is hellboys angel of death. Guillermo is so good at designing monsters.
Fun fact: Guillermo Del Toro began his love of monsters & filmaking from watching "the Creature with the Black Lagoon" in his childhood. So profoundly influencing was this movie and shaping his career, he fell in love with characters like Abe Sapien. At one point he was going to direct Universal's Dark Universe adaptation of "the Creture from the Black Lsgoon" from the monsters perspective but lost interest when Universal wanted a standard man vs. monster movie. He would go on to recreate his childhood film in "The Shape of Water" to which he won an Oscar for Best Picture.
It's understandable. I just watched that movie for the first time from start to finish, and I was definitely on the Gill-Man's side. He was just minding his own business, and the humans invaded his territory and were hunting him down. He was just defending himself.
Trivia at 49:48 - A note to Simone (and any other Buffy fans) - in the Dragonball Evolution film that Ron Perlman turned down, the role of King Piccolo was played by James Marsters (Spike!)
He talked about it rather wistfully when he was on the Inside of You podcast a couple of months ago. That's also where I learned the astounding fact that James Marsters is 62 years old.
33:30 Fight Choreography by the former Jackie Chan Stunt Team Captain Brad Allan (1973-2021). He did Scott Pilgrim, The Kingsman and Kick-Ass movies and Shang Chi.
Never understood why so many decided to pre-judge, ignore, and/or dislike this one. Looks great, good story and storytelling, awesome characters, several plot lines and mini-stories that don't get lost or tangled. I was impressed, and really liked it. I'm excited to see how you two take it. Here we go! :)
As a fan and someone working in the entertainment industry, I don’t think what you mentioned is a thing. At all. This film is was, and is, generally, universally beloved, from initial release up until now. And for good reason.
@masamune2984 Yes. To my pleasure, I'm learning that it was much better received than I remember. I lived and worked in and around repertory and foreign film cinemas, running several over many years. I think my impressions were colored by that inner-city art crowd. I had broader tastes than many in my circle. Alas, time plus extrapolation led me wrong. I'm glad.
I genuine believe that the Troll Market is exactly what it looks like inside of Guillermo del Toro's mind looks like. Also, the practical effects, costume design and set design are unbelievable good in this movie. Some of the best ever. I wish Guillermo del Toro got to make a third Hellboy.
The market scene is AMAZING. The idea of creating all those costumes for extras is mind-blowing. Also, I thoroughly suggest reading the comics. The series is over now (IIRC) so there's a complete story to it. My favorite story arc is when Abe Sapien finds out where he actually came from. It's lovecraftian and amazing.
Love your review! When I saw this in the theatre I wasn't really blown away, because the story was 'simple' like you said. Seeing it now in HD, I am really amazed at everything going on and the amazing creativity of Guillermo at every turn. Thanks!
Let's not forget that Prince nuada knew that plant creature was the last of its kind and intentionally put it in danger, he's not as virtuous as he would have us believe.
@@Pink.andahalf No. As a character and some world building, yes 100%, but not as a story. IIRC Andrei explicitlly has talked about how influenced he was by Moorcock and the Elric character -- same with G.R.R. Martin. Granted, Witcher is basically a sneeze away from tripping into plagiarism.
"Johan Kraus, the sentient fart XD" The comic does have a full biography of Johan Krauss and the unfortunate circumstances why he has no body. The film hinted they would change that a bit, but those concepts were not elaborated since there were no more films for this trilogy. Johan Kraus was born in Germany, in 1946 and was a true psychic that studied spiritualism to communicate with the dead. He was in the middle of a seance when an event known as the Chengdou Disaster happened, in 2002. Someone broke into a secret warehouse in China (sorry, George) where the government stored seized occult artifacts. The person that broke into this warehouse opened (apprently, unaware of what it was doing) a figurine that released a burst of psychic energy that killed everyone in a 100 mile radius and it echoed in the spirit realm. Unfortunately for Kraus, his spiritual abilities and that he was in the middle of a seance meant he acted as some sort of spiritual lightining rod and the burst of spiritual energy traveled through his spirit, to his body; destroying it and killing everyone in the room. That's right: Kraus is not just a vapor being, he is a soul without a body; the vapor is his soul's ectoplasm that he has mastered to animate dead bodies, or posses (at least for a bit) living ones. In the comics, he needs the suit to prevent the ectoplasm from fading away in the air, something that would effectively make him cease to exist. Nice reaction, see you in the next one.
Anybody else love it when George starts calling out the Patreon names and Simone subtly throws in her "yeahhh" remark in there. Makes me smile every time.
The behind the scenes featurettes of this film are absolutely incredible if you ever want to see the absolutely insane level of detail is in each scene of this movie. It makes even the prop details of the LOTR seem tame in comparison.
LOTR trilogy is not tame, it was good in every way. You can't compairs these two they are very different things and in LOTR book there is even less fights than movies.
39:35 I love the specific wording Hellboy says, "I become Father?" Obviously in addition to becoming a biological parent, father is the name he called William Hurt's character in the first movie. He is brought back by the realization it's his time to evolve from a childish being into the, "everything important, the one that guides and protects against all the dark things that go bump in the night, same as his father. He has so much reverence for the memory of his father and the opportunity to live up to his own, as well as his fallen father's wildest expectations that the mere thought of it brings him back from the brink. Then he casually solos the Golden Army and the Prince.
I feel like Guillermo Del Toro made this film with one actor in mind: Doug Jones. Seriously, the guy plays Abe, The Chamberlain, and Death to absolute perfection. Three of the heaviest, most cumbersome, most uncomfortable costumes in the film and Jones embodies their physicalities effortlessly. You’d never guess it was the same guy.
Yes, that comes out his Trollhunter animated series too, as well 3Below and Wizards series. That is sister series to Trollhunters. Wizard goes around the King Arthur's legend. And Merlin (voiced by David Bradley) is in both series. :D
Apparently he is a german psychic whose body happened to be incinerated during a seance in which he was having a literal out of body experience - so, yeah, basically a ghost. Wraith, if we wanna be technical about it.
Fun Fact - In both this movie and the first one, Abe Sapien was performed physically by the great Doug Jones, a veteran actor, contortionist and actor who's built a career on playing non-human characters (he played the zombie Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus, and the somewhat Abe Sapien-esque creature in Shape of Water. In the first movie, they had David Hyde Pierce dub his dialogue (though Pierce insisted on being uncredited, saying it was Jones' character). In this movie, Jones voiced the character himself, though many people don't catch the difference.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies based on a comic book property. Del Toro is just a freaking wizard at his craft, and this along with Pan's Labyrinth is among the best he's made IMO (at least from what I've seen, I can't deny there are gaps in my experience lol). Nuada is such a compelling and freaking COOL character, and Luke Goss just continues to demonstrate how woefully underrated he is. Doug Jones is a god among men as well, one of my favorite people in Hollywood. All the creature designs are just top notch, particularly the Angel of Death character (who might possibly be my favorite character in movies ever in terms of raw design). The whole movie balances such a perfect blend of tones and themes, from comedy to love and loss to the tragedy of the ancient world being left behind and forgotten in the face of "progress". Truly just a beautiful film, that gives me a generous helping of pretty much everything I enjoy about movies in general. I LOVE urban fantasy settings that blend yesteryear mysticism with grim modern life. What I wouldn't give for someone with the chops and resources of Del Toro (hell, even the man himself since it's all a pointless dream anyway) to create a series of movies based on The Dresden Files. The short-lived budget-bin TV show we got is just depressingly inadequate compared to the potential that series holds. After this movie, I cannot imagine how amazing it would be for Del Toro to get his hands on the Dresdenverse's imagining of the Fae realm and the twin courts. But wishful thinking for other properties aside, this particular movie is among my favorites and I'm really glad you guys got to enjoy it too! :D
The big statue at the auction actually exists, although in reality it is only about the size of a tooth fairy. It is called the Venus of Willendorf and is approximately 30.000 years old. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Willendorf
Yes, as an Austrian I find it hilarious that they are auctioning a giant version of the little Austrian lady. I'm also amused that the Holy Lance/Spear of Destiny, which is actually part of the Imperial Regalia (of the Holy Roman Emperors), which are housed in the treasury of the Hofburg palace here in Vienna, plays an important role in a lot of movies (e.g.: "Constantine") as well. 😁
If only Guillermo had been allowed to complete his version of The Hobbit. He had spent 2 years on set and character design (with a focus on prosthetic work rather CGI) before being forced to walk out because he was told the studio financing it could not commit to when filming would begin. If this film is an example of his creative powers then it would have been both whimsical and terrifying rather than the bloated mess rushed out by Jackson (who apparently agreed to do it with only 3 months of prep so he could save the jobs of thousands of New Zealanders).
I loved this and the only thing I had an issue with is that in the first film Liz Sherman's fire was blue, a gaseous flame, which I thought was a great creative concept but for some reason in this film her fire was the more common campfire hues. It's a small nitpick to an otherwise brilliant sequel.
17:55 George it's funny you said that b/c most fairy tales did have dark and gruesome backstories. Somewhere in the 20th century we dumbed them down to be kid friendly instead of warning kids of danger. i.e.: Hanzel and Grettle is remembered on how to find your way home but the witch part is always muddied b/c she tried to eat one of the kids and they put her in the oven instead.
Prince Nuada (Luke Goss - yes the guy from the band Bros.) is also Jared Nomak in Blade II. He awesome playing characters like this. Powerful and fragile. He’s one of those villains that are probably right in what they stand for.
My favorite thing about these movies is they totally upend the concept of a "monster" to show how monstrous labelling something as such can be. Everything can be horrific or precious depending on point of view.
27:51 - the TV in the background with "Bride of Frankenstein" playing. "We belong dead," just before the Creature pulls down the self-destruct lever on himself and Dr. Pretorious and the newly-made Bride.
They really went hard on the designs but I do think I prefer the first just for the character relationships and stories, this one leaned a little more heavily on action and spectacle.
One of the greatest tragedies in movies is that we never got Del Toro's Hellboy 3. And now it's likely too late. Maybe it would be possible to do it as an animated project.
One touching thing to notice is that when the princess turns to stone in Abe's arms, we see a single tear run down Abe's face, despite the fact that he states earlier in the movie that he can't smile or cry.
We're sad for the plant-thing's demise. But the Prince let it out on purpose. He knew what destruction it was capable of, and what their response would be. It didn't have to be that way, if he had kept it safe. Like most "sympathetic" villains, though they may have some truth to their point of view, their actions are ultimately not righteous or good.
I wasn't paying attention for a second, so "Succeeding you, father" scared me and echoed through my mind as it does in the throne room of Lordaeron. 🤣🖤
I've always loved the practical effects, the creative sets and the masks in this movie. It takes me back to 80s fantasy. This movie has real atmosphere.
You really should watch the reboot. I know a lot of people did not like it but in my opinion it has some great visuals and has some beloved characters from the comics
Guillermo Del Toro has such a unique vision and his creativity is palpable. One of my favorite films of all time is one he made called Pan's Labyrinth, a beautiful yet tragic dark fairytale that blurs the lines of reality and perception.
Glad you enjoyed it so much, this came out when I was 16 and I loved it to bits and always felt like the only one who did. Basically everything about this movie is stellar, the main plot and character conflicts are all compelling and understandable, as a sorta weirdo teen who didn't really fit in characters like Prince Nuada always resonated strongly with me, I love how while he's militant it seems to come from a bleeding heart, his actions come from a place of genuine care for the magical world that is fading away. He's also legit one of the coolest characters ever imo and one of the coolest to watch fight. Not to mention the absolutely bonkers monster designs and set pieces. The angel of death in particular is so striking and memorable. Just a fantastic movie imo.
I saw this movie in the theater, and there was so much going on and so much to take in, for years I couldn't remember anything except the locker-door fight.
The only complaint I have of this movie is that there are a couple of moments that feel a little extra soapy. And that it didn't get a 3rd film. Simone guessing in the beginning was hilarious, like hellboy is Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer lol Not a bad guess, it just made me laugh
I'm so glad you got to see this movie. It's one of my favorites and maybe Guillermo Del Toro's most visually stunning creations. You can tell the love and creativity that went into each character, each set. So much that an audience could NEVER see all of it. Great story, great characters, just a great movie.
A great film that had the misfortune of being released in the same summer as The Dark Knight. The highlight for me was the character of Prince Nuada. He looks exactly like Michael Moorcock's Elric. I would love to see a movie of that character.
As great as everything else in the movie is, my favorite scene is just Hellboy and Abe drunkenly singing "I can't smile without you." It's just so odd and out of place but it's perfect. My one complaint is that the first time I saw them sharing injuries I was almost certain how it was going to end and I was right. Trivia: Mr. Wink (the troll with the metal fist) was named after Selma Blair's one eyed dog. Luke Goss (Prince Nuada) also played Nomak (the main mutant vampire) in Blade 2. The dvd release contains a motion-comic epilogue that has someone recovering the remains of Kroenen (the freaky part clockwork guy) from the first film and putting his head (in a jar) into a robot body after which Rasputin reappears. This was a teaser for the (sadly unmade) third film that would have shown a history between Kroener and Johann Kraus.
Blink’s portals were brilliantly filmed as was the fight choreography using them. Blink also appears in the tv show The Gifted, which I think takes place today in the original timeline before this movie changes things for the better.
Astounding film, the visuals in this is some of my favorite ever created. And that scene where the locker doors were smacking around Hellboy was hilarious, I could watch that on a loop everyday and still laugh my head off.
I love that the giant that becomes the doorway appeared to inspire the Titans from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, as much of the rest of that game took inspiration from this movie as well. So fun getting to play through areas almost directly lifted from this movie or that you would believe exist here.
Fun fact: the arts department who created the statues in the likeness of the elf king, prince, and princess, would later go on to design the statue for Dwayne Wade in Miami. 🤣
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Luke Goss who played Prince Nuada deserves a special mention. He does such great choreography and plays these villains well. He also played Nomak in Blade 2 also directed by del Toro.
Nuada and Nomak are pretty similar characters now that I think about it. Both sewer dwelling highly capable princes that wish to bring an apocalypse onto the world in defiance of their fathers.
Luke Goss was also in Blade 2.
Together with his twin brother, he was in 90s boy band, Bros.
He also played the Frankenstein Monster in a Hallmark made 2 episodes series ...really good performance
Luke Goss is so underrated, it's a great performance.
@@TomboUK80s
"My body is a temple..."
"Now it's an amusement park, drink!"
Probably my favorite line in the whole movie.
To George's point about the choreography, it works so well because Luke Goss was a dancer and did a lot of musical theater prior to movies. Which made his performances in Blade 2 and Hellboy 2 stick out so well. That and his character design is so goddamn great.
I wish it had made it into George's trivia, but another credit for the choreography is they wanted to make a conscious choice to not use wire work because of how prevelant it was at the time so instead they hid tampolines in the set.
@@2o7o7dragon Besides the backflip scene during the last fight. There's no way they did that without wires.
@@TheReasonableLiberal-hn2rs it's been a while since I watched the behind the scenes, but I'm pretty sure the claim they made was "no wires"
"I'm not a baby I'm a tumor." Best subtle Arnold reference ever!
Kindergarten Cop or Total Recall?
@@titanuranus3095 ¿Por que no los dos? :3
@@titanuranus3095 Total Recall of course. :D
This one hooked me when the elemental died. It was the emotional pin of the movie for me.
Hellboy realized he was going around destroying life at someone else’s behest.
Took a misguided prince to shine a light on it.
What we see of Johann Kraus are his ectoplasmic remains. In life he was a psychic, but during a seance in which he was out-of-body, there was some kind of catastrophe that incinerated everyone present, along with his body.
Post-body form, I think he’s technically a wraith. A phantom of sorts that feeds on souls.
@@Scallycowell he doesn't feed on souls, though.
Its a real shame Guillermo wasnt allowed to finish this trilogy
It can't be finished now unfortunately. The Hollywood activist's would add the message and a female Hellboy would end up being the star
Yeah. I wanted to see the Hellboy babies
@@raymondamador1487 Oh my god, please grow the fuck up.
@raymondamador1487 you poor incels would've hated that
what was the reson again?
Was it goes this movie did less sales than the 1st one?, even tho imo it is a very good movie with a stunning visual identity and worldbuilding.
"He lied to us!"
"Abe, old buddy, if we make it outta here. . .we gotta talk."
Such a shame that cinema audiences did not appreciate it as much as you and I did...
To be fair, I think everyone went to see the dark knight the week after
Universal blew up when released it between Hancock and The Dark Knight. Bad move.
Yeah - it wasn't that there wasn't an audience to appreciate it. It's just they wound up releasing it in the WORST month of the WORST POSSIBLE YEAR to release a film like this. This would've been FAR better as an October Halloween, Thanksgiving Holiday, or even Christmas release.
Not only did it have to compete against the Dark Knight, it ALSO had to compete against IRON MAN. (I don't think "Hancock" was quite the game killer everyone seems to think it is - but it didn't help any...)
TLDR: This movie should never have been a "summer movie". Talk about a STACKED DECK.
2008 was a year with perhaps TOO MANY rich offerings!
Funny, I watched it in an empty cinema with 2 other people lol
@@logandarklighter disagree with Iron Man because it was in its 11th week, out of top10 and making less than $1 million. The list is:
July 11-13, 2008
1 Hellboy (1st weekend)
2 Hancock (2nd - dropped -48%)
3 Journey to the Center of the Earth (1st)
4 Wall E (3rd)
5 Wanted (3rd)
6 Get Smart (4th)
7 Meet Dave (1st)
8 Kung Fu Panda (6th)
9 The Incredible Hulk (5th)
11 Indiana Jones (8th)
14 Iron Man (11th)
A week later when Dark Knight was released, Hancock dropped 56% in 3rd weekend and Hellboy dropped 70% losing position even for Journey. Hellboy left top 10 in its 4th weekend, and Hancock only 2 weekes later. Yes, Hancock success damaged Hellboy harshly.
The Angel of Death is my favorite character design in all of del Toro's work.
His work in this film shows why Doug Jones should get more respect, most of his roles have been under prosthetic work and he has to undergo hours in the makeup chair. He had three roles in this one as he played the Chamberlain too
Not far from some Biblically accurate angels.
Lucifer was beautiful, but most other appearances and weird and absolutely non-human.
Like others said, Seth McFarland voiced Johann. If I remember correctly, he got the part when he stopped by to visit. They needed a German speaker and he had the accent they wanted.
Nice gig for just stopping by to say hello.
Del Toro went through quite a bit to get the market scenes he wanted. There is a video that goes over a lot of behind the scenes if you want to see more.
Del Toro told him that he wanted the voice to be educated, but not Stewie
This same Troll Market is also mentioned in Trollhunters; Tales from Arcadia animated series, at the end of the last season though. But I highly recommend checking out this series, it's really good. I mean, from an adult point of view, although of course it's aimed at a slightly younger audience.
The casting is absolutely brilliant and the voice actors do a really good awesome job, but now I'm perhaps slightly biased because I'm a fan of Jonathan Hyde, the voice of Walter Strickler. Oh by the way Ron Pearlman, Clancy Brown and Kelsey Grammar are in this as well as David Bradley and Anton Yelchin who is the voice of Jim. This series also has two sister series, 3Below and Wizards, which I also recommend. The only one I don't recommend is Trollhunters the Raise of the Titans. It did a pretty ugly job on the characters in the series.
If you don't think Fairy Tales are dark, read some of the original ones, especially from Germany.
Yep, the further East you go the less Disney got their hands on fairy tales.
@@TDM4895hmmm what ones?
@@eclat4641 any of the Grimm fairytales. All excellent. The movie Brothers Grimm captures them real well.
@ I remember there was a horror movie about how the stories were darker. - but i mean were there ones Disney just wont touch?
@@eclat4641 Pretty much any of them. For example, when you get some time Wikipedia the French and German versions of a story called "The Bearskin Coat". The German one is a lot darker than the French. Then just google Russian fairytails.
Johann Krauss was a German psychic and medium, who was astral projecting when some kind of supernatural event happened that destroyed his body. So he’s technically alive, but he’s stuck in astral form.
I heard the third one was going to have Hellboy’s opposite - an archangel who was captured and brainwashed by the Germans in Ww2.
Would have been rad.
The other Doug Jones character in this is already a biblically accurate angel.
@@freefall945 I doubt it. That sounds corny for Hellboy. All that was revealed was Bruce Campbell was supposed to play Lobster Johnson and Liz was pregnant longer than she should be.
The Germans weren't very good at brainwashing, their enemies were though...
I hope not, that's the most basic plot ever. And in the middle of the movie we would learn that they are brothers, right? And at the end they would team up against the main big bad and the brother would sacrifice himself? The most overused plotline in the history of plotlines?
@@joe.banana I mean, I doubt all of that. But I guess we’ll never know.
Del Toro’s always said that his sympathies are with the monsters; they’re misfits, probably alone in the world. So not only is Hellboy the perfect protagonist for him, but he also does things like treat the forest elemental’s death as so tragic. He does such a great job “humanizing” the monsters that I actually felt pretty bummed out when I saw the film, despite all its comedy and amazing designs. Didn’t feel like a clean win, y’know?
Exactly. Nuada is an antagonist but he isn't a villain, per se. You can completely understand where he is coming from even if his solution is not the best.
"There is no such name" is one of my favorite movie lines of all time, and is one I use whenever I encounter an unusual name in real life.
* Raises hand * Granted I don't go by birthname much anymore as I now live in the United States and..... Well, it's just fuckin' easier than having to teach a damn Harry Potter class just so someone can say my name _somewhat_ right.
Don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but the actor playing the child Hellboy is actually one of the makeup artists, an adult female, and her accent was so thick that they had to overdub her lines. If it looks like her mouth doesn't quite match what you hear, that's why.
Neat. 😃
While the first Hellboy is fantastic in its own right, this one is an undeniable masterpiece of production and creature design. It’s like if The NeverEnding Story, Lord of the Rings, and Pan’s Labyrinth all existed in the same universe. It’s just a sad reality that this movie underperformed at the box office and Universal scrapped the third Hellboy movie Guillermo was gonna make.
He had almost the same final words, starting with "Strange."
It deserved to do better than it did and Del Toro should have been allowed to finish his trilogy
One reference overlooked is dreamfasting from The Dark Crystal when Abe and the Princess 'touch'.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy was not his. That was Peter Jackson. Though Guillermo was doing Hobbit Trilogy.
I love literally everything about this movie. The design and feel of the world they built is just freaking fantastic. If I won the lottery, I'd build a theme park-type place modeled entirely after the troll market.
Johhan kraus, is one of my favorite characters ever created, the fact we only see him in one movie is criminal. And one of my favorite death disign is hellboys angel of death. Guillermo is so good at designing monsters.
Fun fact: Guillermo Del Toro began his love of monsters & filmaking from watching "the Creature with the Black Lagoon" in his childhood.
So profoundly influencing was this movie and shaping his career, he fell in love with characters like Abe Sapien.
At one point he was going to direct Universal's Dark Universe adaptation of "the Creture from the Black Lsgoon" from the monsters perspective but lost interest when Universal wanted a standard man vs. monster movie.
He would go on to recreate his childhood film in "The Shape of Water" to which he won an Oscar for Best Picture.
It's understandable. I just watched that movie for the first time from start to finish, and I was definitely on the Gill-Man's side. He was just minding his own business, and the humans invaded his territory and were hunting him down. He was just defending himself.
When I was young, I had such a crush on Abe. And 'The Shape of Water' was like a romantic fanfiction, but from the master himself 😂
Mike Mignola, creator and artist of Hellboy actually did a Witcher Comicbook cover called Witcher: House of Glass.
The locker room scene absolutely murdered the theater.
Trivia at 49:48 - A note to Simone (and any other Buffy fans) - in the Dragonball Evolution film that Ron Perlman turned down, the role of King Piccolo was played by James Marsters (Spike!)
"Out. For. A. Walk. Bi***!"
He talked about it rather wistfully when he was on the Inside of You podcast a couple of months ago. That's also where I learned the astounding fact that James Marsters is 62 years old.
33:30 Fight Choreography by the former Jackie Chan Stunt Team Captain Brad Allan (1973-2021). He did Scott Pilgrim, The Kingsman and Kick-Ass movies and Shang Chi.
Never understood why so many decided to pre-judge, ignore, and/or dislike this one. Looks great, good story and storytelling, awesome characters, several plot lines and mini-stories that don't get lost or tangled. I was impressed, and really liked it. I'm excited to see how you two take it. Here we go! :)
As a fan and someone working in the entertainment industry, I don’t think what you mentioned is a thing. At all. This film is was, and is, generally, universally beloved, from initial release up until now. And for good reason.
@masamune2984 Yes. To my pleasure, I'm learning that it was much better received than I remember. I lived and worked in and around repertory and foreign film cinemas, running several over many years. I think my impressions were colored by that inner-city art crowd. I had broader tastes than many in my circle. Alas, time plus extrapolation led me wrong. I'm glad.
I genuine believe that the Troll Market is exactly what it looks like inside of Guillermo del Toro's mind looks like.
Also, the practical effects, costume design and set design are unbelievable good in this movie. Some of the best ever. I wish Guillermo del Toro got to make a third Hellboy.
The market scene is AMAZING. The idea of creating all those costumes for extras is mind-blowing. Also, I thoroughly suggest reading the comics. The series is over now (IIRC) so there's a complete story to it. My favorite story arc is when Abe Sapien finds out where he actually came from. It's lovecraftian and amazing.
Love your review! When I saw this in the theatre I wasn't really blown away, because the story was 'simple' like you said. Seeing it now in HD, I am really amazed at everything going on and the amazing creativity of Guillermo at every turn. Thanks!
Doug Jones really is the GOAT prosthetics actor. He’s given us so many iconic performances.
Abe said in an earlier scene that he was unable to cry, but if you pay attention to the ending, he cries when the princess dies
Ah!
Which while being cute makes you wonder..... Where the _fuck_ did those come from when he doesn't have tear ducts?
@@CuidightheachODuinn maybe he was truly in love
@@eragon400 my theory is that he actively willed said tear (from his body's water) as a symbolic gesture and outward expression of his feelings.
The little heel-click is Prussian and puts him from somewhere just before the turn-of-the-century to WWI.
Such an overlooked movie, deserved so much attention back then.
Let's not forget that Prince nuada knew that plant creature was the last of its kind and intentionally put it in danger, he's not as virtuous as he would have us believe.
Nuada is the closest we've had to a cinematic Elric of Melnibone
The Witcher as a story is almost a direct ripoff of Elric.
@@Pink.andahalf No. As a character and some world building, yes 100%, but not as a story. IIRC Andrei explicitlly has talked about how influenced he was by Moorcock and the Elric character -- same with G.R.R. Martin. Granted, Witcher is basically a sneeze away from tripping into plagiarism.
Masterpiece. And the only time in a theatre the end of a movie made me both cry and laugh at the same time. 👨🏻🎨
Seeing the Lovecraftian Old Ones in the Troll Market, makes me think what a shame Del Toro could not make "At The Mountains Of Madness"
Blame Ridley.
"Johan Kraus, the sentient fart XD"
The comic does have a full biography of Johan Krauss and the unfortunate circumstances why he has no body. The film hinted they would change that a bit, but those concepts were not elaborated since there were no more films for this trilogy.
Johan Kraus was born in Germany, in 1946 and was a true psychic that studied spiritualism to communicate with the dead. He was in the middle of a seance when an event known as the Chengdou Disaster happened, in 2002.
Someone broke into a secret warehouse in China (sorry, George) where the government stored seized occult artifacts. The person that broke into this warehouse opened (apprently, unaware of what it was doing) a figurine that released a burst of psychic energy that killed everyone in a 100 mile radius and it echoed in the spirit realm. Unfortunately for Kraus, his spiritual abilities and that he was in the middle of a seance meant he acted as some sort of spiritual lightining rod and the burst of spiritual energy traveled through his spirit, to his body; destroying it and killing everyone in the room.
That's right: Kraus is not just a vapor being, he is a soul without a body; the vapor is his soul's ectoplasm that he has mastered to animate dead bodies, or posses (at least for a bit) living ones.
In the comics, he needs the suit to prevent the ectoplasm from fading away in the air, something that would effectively make him cease to exist.
Nice reaction, see you in the next one.
They really need to watch del Toro's Pinocchio
AMEN!
Pans labyrinth is another visual masterpiece
Anybody else love it when George starts calling out the Patreon names and Simone subtly throws in her "yeahhh" remark in there. Makes me smile every time.
The behind the scenes featurettes of this film are absolutely incredible if you ever want to see the absolutely insane level of detail is in each scene of this movie. It makes even the prop details of the LOTR seem tame in comparison.
LOTR trilogy is not tame, it was good in every way. You can't compairs these two they are very different things and in LOTR book there is even less fights than movies.
Fun Fact: Prince Nuada is played by Luke Goss, same person who played Jared Nomak in Blade 2.
A small piece of extra trivia, if I am remebering it correctly, is that Mr Wink (Nuada's Troll friend) is named after Selma Blair's pet dog.
39:35 I love the specific wording Hellboy says, "I become Father?"
Obviously in addition to becoming a biological parent, father is the name he called William Hurt's character in the first movie. He is brought back by the realization it's his time to evolve from a childish being into the, "everything important, the one that guides and protects against all the dark things that go bump in the night, same as his father. He has so much reverence for the memory of his father and the opportunity to live up to his own, as well as his fallen father's wildest expectations that the mere thought of it brings him back from the brink.
Then he casually solos the Golden Army and the Prince.
I feel like Guillermo Del Toro made this film with one actor in mind: Doug Jones. Seriously, the guy plays Abe, The Chamberlain, and Death to absolute perfection. Three of the heaviest, most cumbersome, most uncomfortable costumes in the film and Jones embodies their physicalities effortlessly. You’d never guess it was the same guy.
Every time I watch John Hurt tell a story it makes me think of The Storyteller. Such a great show!
Agreed! Think George would love it too. Also the Greek Myths series with Michael Gambon 👌🏻
Ah, a classic.
RIP John Hurt.
You will be missed
Del Toro _really_ loves Celtic creatures and mythology I've noticed.... and I absolutely adore him for it. Warms my cold li'l southern Irish heart.
Yes, that comes out his Trollhunter animated series too, as well 3Below and Wizards series. That is sister series to Trollhunters. Wizard goes around the King Arthur's legend. And Merlin (voiced by David Bradley) is in both series. :D
4:55 As an Austrian I find it hilarious that they are auctioning a giant version of the Venus of Willendorf. 😁😁😁
I always thought Klaus was a ghost of a dead human and the suit was just to give him a physical form.
Apparently he is a german psychic whose body happened to be incinerated during a seance in which he was having a literal out of body experience - so, yeah, basically a ghost. Wraith, if we wanna be technical about it.
Fun Fact - In both this movie and the first one, Abe Sapien was performed physically by the great Doug Jones, a veteran actor, contortionist and actor who's built a career on playing non-human characters (he played the zombie Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus, and the somewhat Abe Sapien-esque creature in Shape of Water. In the first movie, they had David Hyde Pierce dub his dialogue (though Pierce insisted on being uncredited, saying it was Jones' character). In this movie, Jones voiced the character himself, though many people don't catch the difference.
Fun fact: The Newscaster you see at 8:58 is Ron Perlmans daughter
The heel click was used by the Prussian's Germans and Austrians for many years before WW2.
Prince Nuada was quite the villain of this movie especially when he uses his martial arts in the fight scenes
This is one of my all-time favorite movies based on a comic book property. Del Toro is just a freaking wizard at his craft, and this along with Pan's Labyrinth is among the best he's made IMO (at least from what I've seen, I can't deny there are gaps in my experience lol).
Nuada is such a compelling and freaking COOL character, and Luke Goss just continues to demonstrate how woefully underrated he is. Doug Jones is a god among men as well, one of my favorite people in Hollywood. All the creature designs are just top notch, particularly the Angel of Death character (who might possibly be my favorite character in movies ever in terms of raw design). The whole movie balances such a perfect blend of tones and themes, from comedy to love and loss to the tragedy of the ancient world being left behind and forgotten in the face of "progress".
Truly just a beautiful film, that gives me a generous helping of pretty much everything I enjoy about movies in general. I LOVE urban fantasy settings that blend yesteryear mysticism with grim modern life. What I wouldn't give for someone with the chops and resources of Del Toro (hell, even the man himself since it's all a pointless dream anyway) to create a series of movies based on The Dresden Files. The short-lived budget-bin TV show we got is just depressingly inadequate compared to the potential that series holds. After this movie, I cannot imagine how amazing it would be for Del Toro to get his hands on the Dresdenverse's imagining of the Fae realm and the twin courts.
But wishful thinking for other properties aside, this particular movie is among my favorites and I'm really glad you guys got to enjoy it too! :D
The big statue at the auction actually exists, although in reality it is only about the size of a tooth fairy. It is called the Venus of Willendorf and is approximately 30.000 years old.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Willendorf
Yes, as an Austrian I find it hilarious that they are auctioning a giant version of the little Austrian lady.
I'm also amused that the Holy Lance/Spear of Destiny, which is actually part of the Imperial Regalia (of the Holy Roman Emperors), which are housed in the treasury of the Hofburg palace here in Vienna, plays an important role in a lot of movies (e.g.: "Constantine") as well. 😁
Simone dropping the Thunder Bay "Sleeping Giant" callout. Unexpected!
If only Guillermo had been allowed to complete his version of The Hobbit. He had spent 2 years on set and character design (with a focus on prosthetic work rather CGI) before being forced to walk out because he was told the studio financing it could not commit to when filming would begin. If this film is an example of his creative powers then it would have been both whimsical and terrifying rather than the bloated mess rushed out by Jackson (who apparently agreed to do it with only 3 months of prep so he could save the jobs of thousands of New Zealanders).
14:00 "What are you doing my son?"
Prince Nuada "Succeeding you father" XD WoW is so good.
"What if a pretty lady loved a fishboi?", Guillermo Del Toro asked in film form. Twice. :))
I loved this and the only thing I had an issue with is that in the first film Liz Sherman's fire was blue, a gaseous flame, which I thought was a great creative concept but for some reason in this film her fire was the more common campfire hues. It's a small nitpick to an otherwise brilliant sequel.
I love how much y'all loved this one, it's one of my favorite comic book related anythings in decades.
17:55 George it's funny you said that b/c most fairy tales did have dark and gruesome backstories. Somewhere in the 20th century we dumbed them down to be kid friendly instead of warning kids of danger.
i.e.: Hanzel and Grettle is remembered on how to find your way home but the witch part is always muddied b/c she tried to eat one of the kids and they put her in the oven instead.
In Cinderella, the stepsisters cut away at their heels to try and fit into the shoe
@TheParagade super disturbing, but morality storytelling was always intriguing to me.
Prince Nuada is Luke Goss, playing essentially the same character from "Blade 2"
Prince Nuada (Luke Goss - yes the guy from the band Bros.) is also Jared Nomak in Blade II. He awesome playing characters like this. Powerful and fragile. He’s one of those villains that are probably right in what they stand for.
My favorite thing about these movies is they totally upend the concept of a "monster" to show how monstrous labelling something as such can be. Everything can be horrific or precious depending on point of view.
27:51 - the TV in the background with "Bride of Frankenstein" playing. "We belong dead," just before the Creature pulls down the self-destruct lever on himself and Dr. Pretorious and the newly-made Bride.
They really went hard on the designs but I do think I prefer the first just for the character relationships and stories, this one leaned a little more heavily on action and spectacle.
One of the greatest tragedies in movies is that we never got Del Toro's Hellboy 3. And now it's likely too late. Maybe it would be possible to do it as an animated project.
19:30 - C'mon George, you couldn't have come up with "Brain Fart"??? 😂
One touching thing to notice is that when the princess turns to stone in Abe's arms, we see a single tear run down Abe's face, despite the fact that he states earlier in the movie that he can't smile or cry.
We're sad for the plant-thing's demise. But the Prince let it out on purpose. He knew what destruction it was capable of, and what their response would be. It didn't have to be that way, if he had kept it safe. Like most "sympathetic" villains, though they may have some truth to their point of view, their actions are ultimately not righteous or good.
I still reference the “I’m not a baby, I’m a tumor.” Joke all the time.
I mean, Hellboy and Abe Sapien are like brothers. They both considered Trevor kind of like a father figure.
I wasn't paying attention for a second, so "Succeeding you, father" scared me and echoed through my mind as it does in the throne room of Lordaeron. 🤣🖤
Hellboy born as Anung Un Rama, the son of the fallen one/angel Azzael and the descendant of King Arthur and former BPRD agent Sarah Hughes
The visual effects, character and environment design, and choreography are exceptional! Underrated af.
OMG! A Sleeping Giant shout out! That's from my hometown. I've hiked it many times.
I've always loved the practical effects, the creative sets and the masks in this movie. It takes me back to 80s fantasy. This movie has real atmosphere.
Oh yeah, I forgot the Elder Things made an appearance in this one. Del Toro wanted to make At the Mountains of Madness, but the plans fell through.
You really should watch the reboot. I know a lot of people did not like it but in my opinion it has some great visuals and has some beloved characters from the comics
Guillermo Del Toro has such a unique vision and his creativity is palpable. One of my favorite films of all time is one he made called Pan's Labyrinth, a beautiful yet tragic dark fairytale that blurs the lines of reality and perception.
Glad you enjoyed it so much, this came out when I was 16 and I loved it to bits and always felt like the only one who did. Basically everything about this movie is stellar, the main plot and character conflicts are all compelling and understandable, as a sorta weirdo teen who didn't really fit in characters like Prince Nuada always resonated strongly with me, I love how while he's militant it seems to come from a bleeding heart, his actions come from a place of genuine care for the magical world that is fading away. He's also legit one of the coolest characters ever imo and one of the coolest to watch fight. Not to mention the absolutely bonkers monster designs and set pieces. The angel of death in particular is so striking and memorable. Just a fantastic movie imo.
I saw this movie in the theater, and there was so much going on and so much to take in, for years I couldn't remember anything except the locker-door fight.
The only complaint I have of this movie is that there are a couple of moments that feel a little extra soapy. And that it didn't get a 3rd film.
Simone guessing in the beginning was hilarious, like hellboy is Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer lol
Not a bad guess, it just made me laugh
I'm so glad you got to see this movie. It's one of my favorites and maybe Guillermo Del Toro's most visually stunning creations. You can tell the love and creativity that went into each character, each set. So much that an audience could NEVER see all of it. Great story, great characters, just a great movie.
Sigh. Anybody remembers "Beauty and the Beast" show with Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman and Roy Dotrice (the Elf King)?
A great film that had the misfortune of being released in the same summer as The Dark Knight. The highlight for me was the character of Prince Nuada. He looks exactly like Michael Moorcock's Elric. I would love to see a movie of that character.
I love that the voice of the Angel of Death is Doug Jones's voice altered higher and lower simultaneously
Seeing the intro lore story really makes me wish we had gotten the Del Toro Hobbit duology he was going to make
Music by freakin Danny Elfman, man!!
As great as everything else in the movie is, my favorite scene is just Hellboy and Abe drunkenly singing "I can't smile without you." It's just so odd and out of place but it's perfect.
My one complaint is that the first time I saw them sharing injuries I was almost certain how it was going to end and I was right.
Trivia: Mr. Wink (the troll with the metal fist) was named after Selma Blair's one eyed dog.
Luke Goss (Prince Nuada) also played Nomak (the main mutant vampire) in Blade 2.
The dvd release contains a motion-comic epilogue that has someone recovering the remains of Kroenen (the freaky part clockwork guy) from the first film and putting his head (in a jar) into a robot body after which Rasputin reappears. This was a teaser for the (sadly unmade) third film that would have shown a history between Kroener and Johann Kraus.
Blink’s portals were brilliantly filmed as was the fight choreography using them. Blink also appears in the tv show The Gifted, which I think takes place today in the original timeline before this movie changes things for the better.
This movie and it’s behind the scenes making of documentaries on the dvd helped fuel my love for the art of filmmaking!
It only now occurred to me that the goblin market is based on the classic poem "Goblet Market" by Christina Rossetti.
Guillermo del Toro AND Mike Mignola are both legends. Their creative visions are top-tier.
7:20 George, now you understand why there are so many Elvis sightings. "He ain't dead, he just went home."
Astounding film, the visuals in this is some of my favorite ever created. And that scene where the locker doors were smacking around Hellboy was hilarious, I could watch that on a loop everyday and still laugh my head off.
I love that the giant that becomes the doorway appeared to inspire the Titans from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, as much of the rest of that game took inspiration from this movie as well. So fun getting to play through areas almost directly lifted from this movie or that you would believe exist here.
Fun fact: the arts department who created the statues in the likeness of the elf king, prince, and princess, would later go on to design the statue for Dwayne Wade in Miami. 🤣
"He's a hyper-intelligent fart.." LOLOLOL