Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Many people get hung up on the title of this movie and it's predecessor, however, if you will give me a chance to review this movie, maybe you'll see what I saw when I gave it a chance: it's not what you think.


Genre: Action/Adventure, Suspense/Horror, Thriller, Adaptation and Sequel
Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and some language
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Doug Jones, Luke Goss
Synopsis: After an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Now, it's up to the planet's toughest, roughest superhero to battle the merciless dictator and his marauders. He may be red. He may be horned. He may be misunderstood. But when you need the job done right, it's time to call in Hellboy.


What most people miss when they get hung up on the title of this movie and it's predecessor, is that Hellboy - son of the devil with a terrible destiny to fulfill - chose to be a hero and champion for mankind. In fact, a recurring theme in both movies is that Hellboy wants above anything else to be human!


Now, I should probably review the first movie before the second, but sadly I saw the first one before starting this blog, and if I go back....well, I've already mentioned once that I'd go insane trying to review every movie I've ever seen, so I'll start with "Hellboy II", and maybe at another time I'll get to "Hellboy."

There are probably several different themes that I could pick from in this movie, but the one that struck me this time was new...

Hellboy, who spends his time with other "freaks" trying to save the world from the "other-wordly" bogey monsters, wants nothing more than to "fit in" in the "real world." He wants to be accepted and "belong," but soon finds that humans don't want to accept differences and are often incapable of doing so. In this, Hellboy has to make a decision if it's still worth saving humanity when all they do is scorn him and his friends.

It seems to me that as Christians who are supposed to follow the idea of "being in the world, but not of the world," we often want nothing more than to be a part of the world and accepted by it. Eventually we have to make a choice between being "worldly" or being "Godly" and that choice often leads to ridicule and scorn. Yet, at the end of his ministry on earth, Christ commands that we "make disciples of all nations..."

So, like Hellboy, we must make a decision: are we a part of the world? is it worth saving humanity? how do we reconcile Christ's command and the scorn of the world?