Hellboy was an enjoyable film, it had some awesome characters, cool effects and fun action, but it had a lot of other things that didn't really stand out, Hellboy 2 on the other hand, at least in my opinion, is on another level. Lets start with what I liked, everything I liked in the first Hellboy has returned, and a lot of it is even better than before, this is a much funnier film than the first, and it has some genuinely side splitting moments, a lot of that comes from the characters, who are improved across the board. Hellboy and Abe are still absolutely badass, Hellboy even more so if that's even possible, with Myers gone, this time a lot more screen time is spent with the freaks, and with the villain, more on that later. Manning is much funnier here, and Liz thankfully isn't on downers for the entire film like last time, her relationship with Hellboy gets a lot more time in this film, and she is a much more interesting character here, and a more emotional one too, she actually smiles from time to time. Abe also gets a lot more development here in the form of a love interest, he gets a lot more to do here, including a few throwdowns. Krauss is pretty cool too, the confrontations between him and Hellboy range from amusing to brilliant, and he too can really kick arse in a fight, which he does near the end, plus he's just a cool looking character, he's got a very interesting design to him. Of course Hellboy is the centre of this film, and yep, he's a badass, same as ever. Now for the elves, who are not the pointy eared variety here. Neither of our elves, Nuada and Nuala are particularly remarkable, but Nuada is a much better villain than Rasputin was in the first film, he has a motive that's much easier to get behind, and he has a few emotional scenes here that help to flesh him out, and establish his rather interesting bond to his sister. And he could probably kick the clockwork assassin's dusty arse in a fight, even if he'll lose in the creepy department. Hellboy 2 also has a much more interesting story then the first, a lot of that may be down to the better villain and more fleshed out characters, but I did get a lot more into what was going on in this film than in the first. It balances the characters and the action far better, in addition to adding more of those elements, and it makes the film much more enjoyable.
Now for the technicals, this film looks amazing, packing a ludicrous amount of special effects that all look great, stand out scenes include the Troll market, the fight with the tooth fairies, the fight with the giant plant monster, the film has great special effects, and this comes in handy in the film's various action scenes, which are all really fun to watch, perhaps most fun is the big final showdown at the end, but the film practically doesn't stop with the action, it at least feels like not even 15 minutes go by before some action starts, that's not a bad thing, because it never feels out of place. And also, I need to talk about the tooth fairies, because that scene is pretty creepy, I'm not going to lose sleep over it, but those things are creepy, plus the idea of small creatures scuttling all over me and burrowing into my flesh does get under my skin, pun intended. On the polar opposite end of the spectrum for this film, there's a scene with Hellboy and Abe that is pure gold, it really shines in it's writing, and the choice of music is either the dumbest or the best choice ever, I genuinely don't know which. As I said before, this film is a technical marvel, both with it's practical effects and it's computer generated effects, it's just consistently great to look at, it's not filled with symbolism like Pan's Labyrinth is, but it's still great to look at. There are, as well as the action scenes, a few more dramatic scenes, and I speak of course of the angel of death, every time I look at it, the way it moves, the way it looks, it just makes me think of Fauno from Pan's Labyrinth, I know it's the same actor, and it's a very cool creature that's in a very cool scene in the movie that I won't spoil.
Hellboy 2 is improved on Hellboy in every way, the characters are more fleshed out and the writing is funnier, the villain is far better, the Golden Army is badass, the action is more frequent and more fun to watch, and it has a few slower scenes that I can't help but love. I think it falls short of being a masterpiece, but I would very highly recommend Hellboy 2, I'd still call it a must watch.
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