Hellboy II

Me and my mate went to see Hellboy II last night. It was a fun night, and good to catch up with my friend. To top off the night, the vindaloo, short black and baklava afterwards had no ill effects on me. I repeat, no ill effects. For me this is a completely unprecedented occurrence.

Anyways, back to the movie. It was pretty good, but as with most modern movies I come away feeling kinda disappointed. I love Hellboy, and have been a massive fan of the comic book by Mike Mignola for about ten years, so I have a lot of expectations for the movies.

What annoys me is that they over complicate everything. The story, the design, the look of everything. I love how with old black and white movies everything is so readable, and composed so nicely. Modern movies are all breakneck speed and CGI. The story seems to be not a very high priority. The comic book is a lot more like an old '30's horror movie than like this movie.

Don't get me wrong, there was lots of good stuff, and I really like Guilermo Del Torro's movies... but I just wish it could have all been pared down and simplified.

The thing with the comics, is that it is drawn so beautifully, the pacing is quite slow, and the concept is so great and interesting. It has such a cool premise that there is no need for the movies to go off on all these unnecessary tangents, when the comics give them so much good stuff to work with.

You can't get a better premise than this: The beast of the apocalypse has run away from hell, and forsaking his 'calling' has decided to do good, becoming a paranormal investigator. Gold.