2.08.2008

BRR Goes To the Movies - Destroy All Monsters!

Chris Haley, Big Red Robot blog buddy and Superman-lover extraordinare, posted the teaser poster for this movie a while back on his blog. I had mentioned that I was more than a little underwhelmed by the first Hellboy movie (though I freaking love Hellboy/B.P.R.D. comics to little itty bits). I thought the whole Liz Sherman/Hellboy love thing was unnecessary, the villains were not as interesting or scary as they should have been and the story was sort of weak. Also, David Hyde Peirce as the voice of Abe Sapien? Uh, yeah, about that... no thanks. Sorry, I have this bias against anyone related to Frasier. Yuck.

Still, a large portion of that movie was setting up the premise, which is my least favorite part of any comic book movie adaptation (which is why I was bored stiff through the first Spider-Man movie: his name is Spider-Man. He's a man. With spider powers. We get it. Move on.) and now that the concept of the B.P.R.D. as an elite paranormal defense team with Hellboy as their leader is established, it looks like we can have some fun.

We saw the trailer before Cloverfield (did I mention that Cloverfield was awesome? Everything Spielberg's War Of the Worlds tried to be but failed at?) and Candace - who sits through mediocre movies where Ron Perlman paints himself red and punches monsters in the jaw with a giant fake stone fist because she loves me and tolerates my love of the radness - even leaned over as it was wrapping up and said "It looks a lot better than the last one." So, yeah. That proves it. 9 out of 10 wives who don't really like comic book movies all that much thin that this "looks better than the first one."

Mr. Haley reported all-out monster-punching action as being a talking point by the producers and director Guillermo Del Toro (whose heightened profile after the success of Pan's Labyrinth - which I still want to see - lend this installment that much more weight), and if this film delivers it, I'm in.

I'd Rent It, at the very least. How about you?

3 comments:

chrishaley said...

The comparison between Cloverfield and War of the Worlds is really potent, and I wish I'd thought of it.
Pan's Labryrinth - Very enjoyable.

As to Hellboy 2, I'm willing to give it every benefit of the doubt, but I also am trying to balance/temper my excitement in case of disappointment.

chrishaley said...

Oh, and also, thanks for the mention!

Dylan Todd said...

Chris, no problem. And I'm not expecting a lot from the Golden Army, just big dumb fun. If it can deliver just that, I'll be satisfied. If not, then, well shame on me, I guess.