I enjoyed this movie a lot, and I thought it was a big improvement over the first Hellboy movie in most respects.
But I didn't think it was a particularly good adaptation of the comic book. It was more like a big-budget action movie follow-up to Pan's Labyrinth, with Hellboy wandering around in it. The visuals are lush and often beautiful, but there is none of the lovely dark atmosphere that writer/artist Mike Mignola unfailingly paints into the comics. In a lot of ways it's closer to Neil Gaiman's comics (even naming a key character after one in Sandman), with a bit of Princess Mononoke sprinkled in.
The story is kinda meh, and the villain, though interesting and pleasingly sympathetic, is not developed enough.
But what the fuck! It's a very entertaining movie.
Posted by pearce at September 1, 2008 7:56 PM"But I didn't think it was a particularly good adaptation of the comic book. It was more like a big-budget action movie follow-up to Pan's Labyrinth, with Hellboy wandering around in it."
This was my impression from the trailer, and was basically what makes me want to see it.
Posted by: billy at September 2, 2008 12:29 PMIt was interesting seeing the trailer for Watchmen before it, which looks amazingly like the comic. I'm hoping the resemblance turns out to be more than merely cosmetic.
Posted by: Pearce at September 2, 2008 10:55 PMYeah Watchmen looks pretty damn cool - check out the following link for a comparrison of the posters for the comic and the posters for the film (mouse over the see the comparrison).
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer-news/87
Posted by: Scott C at September 4, 2008 1:01 PMScott: that's fucken cool man.
Posted by: Pearce at September 4, 2008 7:12 PM