Movie Review: Hellboy II

I finally got to see this on DVD. I remember thinking that Hellboy I was a decent movie, but not great. This one is a step up from that. It's much more fantasy-driven, dealing with a war between elves and humans. As such, del Toro (who both wrote and directed the movie) has created a visually interesting world full of mystical creatures. There is much less action occurring in the real world (the streets and subway tunnels of NYC) and way more in fantasy locales (the Troll Market, the elves' throne room). The major issue is that the characterisations are a little flat. Hellboy himself remains interesting (the movie deals a bit with his constant struggle to fit in with humans) but his comrades aren't. At one point a main character has to decide whether to save Hellboy's life, and her struggle did not seem nearly as emotional as it ought to have been.