One of the most popular fantasy films of the 2000s is streaming on Amazon. To this day, it hurts that it never got a proper sequel.
Mexican director Guillermo del Toro first adapted the comics of the same name about the anti-hero Hellboy in 2004. Four years later, Hellboy II – The Golden Army was followed by a grandiose sequel, which is now shown on TV. However, there was never a third part. Instead, we were treated to a terrible reboot
A must-see for every fantasy fan: this is what the acclaimed comic adaptation Hellboy 2
is all about.
The elven king Balor Frieden is in great danger because his son Prince Nuada wants to seize power. To do so, he awakens his father’s invincible Golden Army. Together with Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and his team, his twin sister Nuala must thwart her brother’s plans. In the process, they come up against all kinds of fantastic creatures, such as a murderous tooth fairy, a many-eyed angel of death and a kraken the size of a house.
(Hellboy II The Golden Army)
In the fantasy sequel, del Toro lets off even more steam visually and stages Hellboy in an even more colorful and pompous way. The cigar-smoking anti-hero from hell also shows a different side in terms of content. In addition to the paranormal fight against evil, he also has to rock his relationship with Liz (Selma Blair). In our ranking of the 10 best Guillermo del Toro films, Hellboy II comes in 5th place
Bitter fantasy defeat: After Guillermo del Toro’s films, things went steeply downhill
Del Toro was unable to realize his vision of a trilogy because Hellboy 3 never got financed. The franchise lay dormant for eleven years until Neil Marshall ventured a reboot in 2019 with Hellboy – Call of Darkness, but it turned out to be a mega-flop. While the first two film adaptations each received a score of over 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, the new edition scored just 17 percent.
But the studio is not giving up. Another reboot, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, is due to be released in cinemas this year. It was already filmed in May last year. Jack Kesy will portray the red hero, under the direction of Crank director Brian Taylor. The story is set in Appalachia in the 1950s and is the first direct adaptation of a comic book. Hellboy and an agent of the BPRD (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) must protect a village haunted by witches.
