Adding Hellboy II And Journey to the Center of the Earth to my list…
Posted July 15th, 2008 by Howard TaylerI saw Hellboy II and Journey to the Center of the Earth since the last time I blogged movies. Here’s my updated rating for the summer:
1) Wall-E
2) Kung-Fu Panda
3) Speed Racer
4) Iron Man
5) Hellboy II
6) Get Smart
7) Wanted
8) Hulk
9) Indiana Jones
10) Hancock
11) Prince Caspian
12) Journey to the Center of the Earth
I swapped Hulk and Wanted since the last time I rated these, because Wanted really stuck with me, and Hulk didn’t. It’s not really that important, though. You see, my list can be broken into three discrete pieces:
1) Wall-E, which I think is a five-star film, a solid 9.5-out-of-10.
2) Numbers 2-4 on my list, which are all four-star films, maybe four-and-a-half.
3) Numbers 5-12 on my list, which are all three- to three-and-a-half-star films.
I haven’t yet seen anything on the big screen this summer that really let me down. I mean, besides Indiana Jones, but my expectations for that film were unrealistic, and looking back, I know that I really DID enjoy it.
Regarding Journey: see it in 3D, or don’t bother at all. The plot is very linear, the characters are simple-but-likeable, so it’s up to the effects to sell the whole thing. Without 3D they can’t.
Regarding Hellboy II: With the exception of some botched writing just before the climactic fight, this was pretty much perfect delivery on the Hellboy premise. I guess that means the premise itself isn’t the stuff of five-star films. I’m fine with that. I’ll post my complaint about the writing in a spoiler-marked comment below.
This has been a fantastic summer for movies. My list of things I really, really wanted to see has been quite long, and I’ve been having a great time. And we haven’t even gotten to Batman or Space Chimps yet.
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July 15th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
I know, I know. “SPACE CHIMPS!?!?”
Come on. Science-fiction monkeys (well… apes. Fine).
They didn’t even need to show me a trailer. They just plaster the words “Space Chimps” on the marquee and they can have my money.
The fact that one of the chimps is voiced by Patrick Warburton just sweetens the deal.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
And now SPOILER ALERT for Hellboy II
When Nuada demonstrates the unstoppability of his Golden Army, Hellboy says “I challenge you for control of the army,” or something like that. Nuada says “you can’t do that,” and then Nuala (the twin-sister elf) explains that Hellboy is the something-something, and yes, he CAN do that.
Better, alternative dialog, supplied by me (as written in my head while the movie was playing. [note: this kind of thing is why I probably don’t enjoy movies the same way other people do.])
“I challenge you for control of the army”
“You can’t do that.”
“I can so. I’m Hellboy. Destroying the world is MY job. Death told me. You’re poaching on my turf.”
My justification? That bit of dialog needed to be iconic and memorable, and needed to close a loop HARD. As it was delivered it was kind of a soft-sell.
END SPOILER.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Both of those come out on Friday, along with the silver-screen version of Mamma Mia.
Personally, I’m looking forward to Dark Knight more than I have anything since Pirates 3. Space Chimps looks amusing, but I’m spending more time waiting for Bolt for post-WallE animated fun.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Not to mention, *SPOILER!!!!!!*
When Nuada was on top of that building goading Hellboy on, he made mention of how Hellboy could be a king.
“I challenge you for control of the army.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Sure I can. You said so, twinkletoes.”
*Confused look.*
Blah blah blah.
*END SPOILER*
Yes, your dialogue was better. But mine fit, too.
At least I didn’t hear that %@*$^!% Wilhelm scream in this movie. I swear, if I hear that stupid scream in one more movie…
July 15th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
there’s no Wilhelm scream because there’s no involvement of Ben Burtt. that’s why it’s in every frickin’ Lucasfilm movie, you know…
July 15th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
How about Forbidden Kingdom? (It’s at the dollar theaters now.) I saw it last weekend and liked it a lot better than I thought I would. It’s funny and the fact that it’s told as a sort of fairy tale is really well done. It wasn’t until the final credits rolled that I realized Jet Li was the Monkey King.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I caught that Jet Li was the Monkey King in the trailers… ;-)
I’d have to concur with Howard on Hellboy II. They tripped over it a bit in that scene. I knew that the sister was reminding her brother that Hellboy WAS, in fact, royalty and was entitled to challenge him for the right to command the army- but in order for that set of lines to really work, you had to have seen the first movie or be steeped in the comic series to catch that byline. It was the only really clumsy piece from what was an excellent pass from Del Toro at a sequel to the original.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
This is correct, axolotl. The Wilhelm’s even in WALL-E if you’re paying attention. Again, thanks to ol’ Mr. Burt. :D
Howard – I agree, that’s MUCH better, but other than that hiccup, a solid movie. Reminded me of “V for Vendetta” in that respect - great film until it was time to close the loop, and they did it soft for some inexplicable reason.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Lots of people besides Burtt use the Wilhelm scream, although he’s the one who brought it back into fashion. Before other people started talking about it, it was an in-joke among sound engineers; those in the know would find a place to sneak it in and the other engineers would all have a chuckle if and when they spotted it.
As for Journey to the Center of the Earth, I doubt that there’s any point if you’ve seen the 1959 movie. Maybe the mine cart ride, but that’s about it. I don’t even see a murderous rival scientist in the previews for this new film!
July 16th, 2008 at 2:04 am
So, just watched Hellboy with a bunch of friends tonight. It was freaking awesome… And yeah, I’ve gotta agree with Howards lines, although that could also provide problems unless Red himself mentions in there, “Besides, I’m a prince anyway” , or “…poacing on my turf. Besides, I’m the son of the Devil anyways.” Or something like that. Howard’s lines would deliver really well, but the problem would be in the plot hole. They need to make sure we know he is ‘royal’ blood for it to even work. Or whatever.
July 16th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Nuala said “He is Anung un Rama, the son of the Fallen One”. Even if you don’t recognize “Anung un Rama”, “the Fallen One” is pretty easy to guess at. Hellboy is the Prince of Hell, son of the Lord/Prince of Darkness.
I have to admit that I was disappointed with the movie. Too much romance, too trite, and the whole “we hate and fear Hellboy because he’s different” scene struck me as really contrived and unrealistic. About what I’d expect from a children’s cartoon.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:21 am
I’ll agree with everyone else so far that Hellboy II was a success, even with the…umm… poorly scripted conversation at the end… I also have to agree wiht my roommate the the drunken commiserating song in the middle of the movie was one of the most surreal things I’ve ever seen…
Since no one else has said anything, I’ll say that I saw Journey w/o the 3D (which is always better for me since I wear glasses and it always seems to make 3D affects hurt my eyes quite a lot)… I thought it was enjoyable. Not the movie event of the summer by any stretch and nothing you can’t see coming, but it was fun and had good CG for its budget.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Per the comments above, my dialog substitution can be improved, and yes, it would require a tweak here and there in order to fill in viewer knowledge of character knowledge (we need to know that Hellboy knows who he really is).
The point is that the softspoken princess should NOT be the one delivering the last part of the challenge. It should be Hellboy, spitting out a mouthful of classic Mignola dialog. Condescension, sarcasm, and cocky self-assuredness, with a dash of humor.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:21 am
And seriously, Hellboy’s creature design was awesome. Some real creativity on display with that.
The elves were interesting and different - not your typical off-brand Tolkien elves.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Oh, that brings me to another complaint. Hellboy’s tail.
In the first film it had character. In this film we rarely saw it unless it was needed (Hellboy using it to grab stuff during an action scene.)
The costume was still awesome, but the tail lacked the soul it had in the first movie.
July 16th, 2008 at 11:07 am
What sold me on hellboy were the visuals. Considering the director I wasn’t holding out out much hope for a fantastic storyline but I felt it carried the movie just fine.
My only real complaint with the movie over all was the camera work around hellboy himself, in the first movie they used the camera to make him look bigger then everyone else. He looked puny this time.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Well we also get a shot of Hellboy with big honkin’ horns and a crown when looked at through those goggles. And all of Hellboy’s sarcasm wouldn’t have proven that he was royalty. I think the line needed to be played straight and coming from the princess it carried weight.
The gripe I had was with the angel of death. I couldn’t hear half of what he said. That plus I hope someone doesn’t die and come back in HBIII cause it’s been done in I and II. Otherwise it was awesome.
July 18th, 2008 at 6:11 am
I went a midnight showing of The Dark Knight, in the local Imax theatre. At the end of the film, people clapped. It’s been a while since I’ve seen people do that for a movie.
My friends and I had spent most of the day hanging out, watching Batman movies, reading comics and generally getting psyched up for the movie. Our lovely host even made a couple of cakes, one with the BatSignal on it, the other with Joker’s face. We then proceed to paint out faces white, with the red joker smile. Properly attired, we piled into the cars and rolled out.
The reason I’m explaining this is to attempt to give you an idea of the level of hype we were at. Normally, that level of hype, you can’t help be be disappointed.
We were definitely not disappointed. We’ve made plans to see it again in a couple of days.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Alright Howard, quick question. If they had written that botched scene differently would it have ranked any higher on your list?
July 19th, 2008 at 8:05 am
I was mildly disappointed in Hellboy II. However I would still rank it higher than Indiana 4. That was still the biggest disappointment I’ve seen in quite some time.
Unfortunately I still haven’t seen The Dark Knight yet. We want to see it at Imax but it is sold out through Sunday. I may end up settling for a standard screening and then go to Imax next week.