In my all-consuming quest to see The Dark Knight next week, I've been a bit of a punk-ass with regards to Hellboy II, and I owe Guillermo my apologies. I was not a fan of the first film, really - I remember enjoying it, but it was a temporary like; I couldn't even tell you anything that happened in it now. I've been meaning to revisit it before this weekend's sequel release, but think I may've run out of time.Anyway, ever since that first trailer for this here sequel appeared, I've been amped up for this film in a way I wasn't expecting to be, my lackluster like for the first film tossed aside in a sudden swoop of "Holy crap, it looks like del Toro took the shit he learned making the splendid Pan's Labyrinth and has applied it to a big Summer spectacle movie! Awesome!" My hopes have been slowly but surely amping up all Summer, and today I do indeed find them hitting overdrive. In Harry Knowles' review at AICN - yes, it's the usual geeky display of spittle-encrusted adoration - Harry makes an excellent point:
"HELLBOY II cost just $85 million – that’s $35 million less than SPEED RACER, that’s $55 million less than IRON MAN, that’s $65 million less than both HANCOCK and THE INCREDIBLE HULK, $100 million less than the latest Indy film, and $115 million less than THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN. And yet… it out does all of them in terms of entertainment, imagination, spectacle and just old fashioned fucking fun. This film is HUGE and MAGICAL!"
First off - Prince Caspian cost how much? Jesus Christ. Money well-spent there, Disney. Secondly, YES. Give someone like del Toro, with imaginations out their ying-yangs, a modicum of the budget somebody else uses, and you will see it all up there on-screen. I mean... 85 million is still a heckuva lot of money, I won't pretend it ain't. But the trailers for this flick alone have already given me more pleasure than the entire runtime of Iron Man.
.
Posts
3 comments:
I'm with you on the first one. Great characters, but just didn't care for it. And where the hell did all the money for Prince Caspian go? Into the Centaurs? Good Lord. Still, I'm excited to see the sequel. Afterall, the first Spider-man sucked and the second one was excellent.
Why do you even bother reading the reviews on AICN though?
piper, I'll pretend you didn't say the first Spider-Man sucks. Sure, it's not the second one... but it's also not the third.
kc, because of just this very reason - they get me excited. They might not be the sanest judges, but enthusiasm for film they do have. And if I feel the need to amp myself up over a film, that's usually where I'll head. The only decent writer they have is Moriarty. But I find their unabashed geekiness fun, on occassion. Sometimes, yes, it flies well into obnoxious territory. Like... WELL into.
Post a Comment