Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a 2008 American fantasy horror superhero film based on the Dark Horse Comics character, created by Mike Mignola. It is a sequel to Hellboy and is the second live-action film in the franchise. It was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro from a story he co-wrote with Mignola. Ron Perlman stars as Hellboy, alongside Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Hurt. In the film, Hellboy and the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense must battle a mythical prince who plans to reclaim the world for his magical kindred.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army was released in the United States on July 11, 2008, to generally positive reviews from critics, with praise towards its fantasy atmosphere as well as Perlman and the other cast's acting performances. It grossed $168.3 million against a production budget of $82.5–85 million. The film received a nomination for Best Makeup at the 81st Academy Awards.
The franchise was rebooted in 2019, with a new film simply titled Hellboy, and was released by Lionsgate. Following the critical and commercial failure of the film, a second reboot was announced in 2023, titled Hellboy: The Crooked Man which itself was a critical and commercial disappointment.

Plot

During Christmas 1955, a young Hellboy is told a bedtime story by his adoptive father, Trevor Bruttenholm, of an ancient war between humans and magical creatures. One day, the goblin blacksmith offers to Balor, king of the elves, to build him an indestructible mechanical army. Encouraged by his son Prince Nuada, Balor accepts. The Golden Army subsequently devastates humanity. Regretting his actions, Balor forms a truce with the humans. The crown to command the Golden Army, which can only be worn by one of royal blood, is split into three pieces. Nuada, disagreeing with the truce, leaves in exile.
In the present, a year after Hellboy foiled the evil sorcerer Grigori Rasputin's plans to summon the demonic entities known as Ogdru Jahad and enact Armageddon, Nuada returns and begins gathering the pieces of the crown. He collects the first piece from an auction by unleashing tooth fairies that eat the crowd, and then kills his father for the second piece. His twin sister Princess Nuala escapes with the final piece.
Meanwhile, at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, demonic special agent Hellboy is having issues with his girlfriend Liz and dislikes that their organization must operate in secrecy. Investigating the auction slaughter, Hellboy allows himself to be revealed to the world. In the commotion, Abe Sapien discovers Liz is pregnant but she swears him to secrecy.
Furious at Hellboy's actions, Tom Manning's superiors send the ectoplasmic medium Johann Krauss to rein him in. With Krauss in charge, the team tracks the tooth fairies to a secret troll market under the Brooklyn Bridge. Abe finds Nuala, who has obtained a map leading to the Golden Army, and falls in love with her. Hellboy fights and kills Nuada's accomplice Wink and an elemental forest god that Nuada summons against him. During the fight, Nuada questions why he fights for the humans when they have driven the magical creatures into hiding, of which he, too, is one. Nuala is taken under the B.P.R.D.'s protection.
Nuada tracks his sister to the B.P.R.D. headquarters using their magical bond, which also causes them to share wounds and read each other's thoughts. Nuala hides the final crown piece before Nuada finds her and he battles Hellboy. Nuada critically wounds Hellboy with his spear and abducts Nuala, promising her return in exchange for the crown piece. Unable to remove the spear shard in his wound, Liz and Abe decide to take Hellboy to the Golden Army's location in the Giant's Causeway of Northern Ireland. Krauss comes along, as he sympathizes with Liz, revealing that he, too, lost his wife in the accident that caused the loss of his own body.
They encounter the Bethmoora goblin master blacksmith who brings them before the Angel of Death to retrieve the spear shard. Though warned that Hellboy will doom humanity if he lives and that she will suffer the most from it, Liz pleads for Hellboy's life. The Angel removes the shard from Hellboy's chest and tells Liz to give him a reason to live. She reveals to Hellboy that he will be a father and he recovers.
The goblin leads the team to the resting place of the Golden Army, where Nuada awaits them. Abe gives him the last piece of the crown and Nuada awakens the Golden Army. Hellboy challenges Nuada for the right to command the army. As Hellboy is a member of Hell's royal family, Nuada must accept the challenge. Hellboy defeats Nuada and spares his life, but as Nuada tries stabbing him, Nuala commits suicide to stop her brother and the dying Nuada tells Hellboy he will have to choose whether humanity or magical beings must die. Abe psychically shares his feelings with Nuala before she dies. Liz uses her pyrokinesis to melt the crown, deactivating the Golden Army for good.
Hellboy, Liz, Abe, and Johann resign from the B.P.R.D. and Hellboy contemplates his future life with Liz and their baby, but Liz holds up two fingers and smiles.

Cast

Ron Perlman as Hellboy: An immensely powerful demon who works for the government organization Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Guillermo del Toro described the character's dilemma in the sequel, " has always fought on the side of humans, but this pushes his buttons to reconsider." In the sequel, Hellboy is armed with an enormous new gun called "The Big Baby", which fires flare-like bullets. Montse Ribé plays a young version of Hellboy in an opening flashback.
Selma Blair as Liz Sherman: A pyrokinetic member of B.P.R.D. and Hellboy's girlfriend. Blair described her character as more engaging in the sequel, "In the first one she was afraid to take a step. She was completely a zombie, not wanting to own up to her power and having the memory of what she'd created in her life... I was really eager to come and play Liz with a little more vibrancy." Blair also had short hair for her role, avoiding long hair from her portrayal in the first film, which she felt "brought her face down". The actress emphasized Liz Sherman's growth in the sequel, "She's looking to the future much more, and things are happening in this one that she has to buck up... I think you're dealing with a lot knowing this young girl that we last saw as very damaged, and now she's with this guy, and all these people around her, I think, we've really had to step up a strength, and a confidence in her so that I don't look like the little baby kid sister tagging along."
Doug Jones as three characters:
* Abe Sapien: An ichthyo sapien psychic who works for B.P.R.D. with Hellboy. Jones said of his return to the role after the first film, "He's been an absolute treat for me to play this time. He's written with so many different colours and levels and there's a love interest... And his buddy time with Hellboy is more concrete and his brother/sister time with Liz is even better." Jones believed that Abe Sapien became "the brains, the intellect of the team" while Hellboy protects his character because he is still "kind of innocent". The actor pointed to his character's adolescence with love, "His love life is something that's never been tapped into before... So just like a 13-year-old with his first crush, this is how you're going to see Abe this time. A portion of him. Will this affect his decision-making powers?" Unlike the first movie, where Abe's voice was dubbed by David Hyde Pierce, Doug Jones provided the voice himself.
* Angel of Death: A female angel with androgynous characteristics. Jones explained his portrayal, "The script refers to the angel as a her and that's what I do. I think she has feminine qualities, but she's not totally a woman either. And that's okay. I like characters that keep you guessing."
* Chamberlain: The door keeper for King Balor. The creature is long, gangly, eight feet tall and wears silk and velvet robes. It also has long, spindly fingers, which filmmakers mobilized with servos and which Jones wore as extensions of his own hands.
John Alexander and James Dodd as Johann Krauss: Krauss is a German psychic whose ectoplasmic being is contained in a suit after a botched séance. Originally, filmmakers planned to create a computer-generated version of the glass fishbowl helmet, but with the cost being prohibitive, they created an actual helmet. To ensure the invisibility of the actor's head under the glass, perspective and mirror tricks were used. The helmet was controlled by two puppeteers, so the heavy contraption had to be shared between Alexander and Dodd.
* Seth MacFarlane voices Johann Krauss, having taken over from Thomas Kretschmann, after del Toro decided that Kretschmann's voice and the mechanical sound effects to Johann's suit did not mesh well.
* John Alexander also performs and voices the Bethmoora Goblin, a legless goblin who helps Hellboy and the team find the Angel of Death. He is the master goblin blacksmith who forged the Golden Army and lost his original legs in the process.
Luke Goss as Prince Nuada Silverlance: King Balor's son and a martial arts expert of extraordinary proficiency. Goss was previously cast as mutant vampire Jared Nomak in del Toro's 2002 film Blade II, and the director approached the actor to be cast in Hellboy II. The only other actor considered for the part was Charlie Hunnam. Goss trained with action director and former Jackie Chan Stunt Team member, Brad Allan, learning sword and spear skills for six to seven months for his role. He and Anna Walton also learned ancient Gaelic from a dialog coach for their lines. Goss did not perceive Nuada as evil, explaining, "It's issues, his people, he's part of what he truly believes. I don't think, really, he's so deluded... is driven by an ethic that was instilled by the person he has problems his father, and inevitably, that leads into the conflict with him and Hellboy." Goss also noted that his character admired and revered his twin sister, portrayed by Anna Walton. He said of the prince and the princess, "There is an incestuous relationship that's not maybe overly obvious to everybody, but some people hopefully will pick up on the fact, certainly from my direction towards her."
Anna Walton as Princess Nuala: King Balor's daughter and Nuada's twin sister. She is described as "very light" while Nuada is "very dark", creating a yin and yang dynamic. She elaborated on the incestuous tones between her character and Prince Nuada, "He's the dark side and she's the light side and they're pulled apart and pulled back together again, and she's trying to get away because she knows there is something she has to do. He can't let that go and they can't really do anything without each other so it's a really interesting thing." Her character also forms a relationship with Abe Sapien, and Walton noted their similarities, "They are both slightly lost souls and they understand each other." Walton spoke of her character's sense of purpose, "She feels very strongly about what she has to do in the film, and then her absolute connection and love for the Earth and what we are given. That's what she's here to protect... Her relationship with her brother, and how he is almost a part of her but she has to break away and will do whatever it takes to stop him from achieving what he wants to achieve, which is the mass destruction of mankind."
Jeffrey Tambor as Tom Manning: Head of the B.P.R.D., he has a slightly antagonistic relationship with Hellboy.
John Hurt as Trevor Bruttenholm: Hellboy's adoptive father, he is seen in the beginning of the film telling young Hellboy the story of the Golden Army.
Brian Steele as four of the trolls:
* Mr. Wink: A giant cave troll who was originally conceived by Guillermo del Toro. Wink was sculpted by Mario Torres, and the costume was worn by Brian Steele. In the film, Wink's right arm has a giant metal fist. The fist was designed by filmmakers to be made of heavy plastic to stay light enough for motors to operate the mechanical fingers. The fist could also be physically detached and used as a projectile without any computer-generated imagery used. Several of Mike Mignola's comics characters wield similar mechanical fists on chains, including the Kriegaffes used by Herman von Klempt. Likewise, Mr. Wink has an old wound on the left side of his face that has closed one of his eyes. Del Toro said that he named Mr. Wink after Selma Blair's one-eyed dog.
* Cathedral Head: A troll who is the owner of a map shop who gives Princess Nuala the hidden map.
* Fragglewump: A monstrous Scottish troll that masquerades as a sweet old lady and feeds on kittens and fears canaries.
* Cronie Troll: A spice shop owner who gets in an argument with Hellboy in the troll market
Roy Dotrice as King Balor: The one-armed king of Elfland. All of his dialogue is in Gaelic.