I'm astonished Hellboy II: The Golden Army was released into American theaters. Not because it's bad--it isn't--but because it's just so balls-to-the-wall weird. It's a perfect example of that too-rare big-budget movie that's been totally given over to the vision of one dude--in this case, writer/director Guillermo del Toro. After the arthouse success of Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro pretty much had a blank check to do whatever he wanted--and apparently, what he wanted was to make another movie about a bunch of monsters fighting other monsters. And also a movie in which he could go crazy with stunning production and creature design (seriously, check out that thing above--and imagine it in motion, its wings unfurling, its eyes blinking). And also a movie in which like half the cast are Muppets. And also a movie in which two monsters get drunk and sing Barry Manilow.
(EDIT: Okay, FINE. Apparently, a video showing a big red demon and a big blue fish drinking Tecate and warbling out "Can't Live Without You" is something that's simply too crazy for YouTube to handle.)
Anyway, Hellboy II is pretty fantastic, at least as far as comedic action romantic supernatural dramas go. Sure, it's a far cry from Mike Mignola's somber, beautiful Hellboy comics, but what it is instead is a film unlike anything else I've ever seen--something that's by turns slapsticky and melancholy and loud, but always gorgeous and strange to look at. The DVD hit earlier this week, and after the jump, you'll find out why it's one of the best DVD releases of the year.
First: I will happily buy any DVD when it contains a film directed by Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, Robert Rodriguez, or George Lucas. These directors' films' can vary greatly in terms of quality--and oh, they do--but these guys also really know how to put together fantastic DVDs, ones with special features that're as essential to watch as the movies themselves. Like the three-disc set of Hellboy before it, the three-disc special edition of Hellboy II is so loaded with great special features del Toro fans will be stoked for hours and hours.
Most notable here is Hellboy: In Service of the Demon, a two-hour-plus look at the at the making of the film, from early pre-production meetings to the eve of release, and one that delves into everything from creature design to makeup to shooting to CG. Like a similar doc on the first Hellboy release, this thing is exhaustive and hyper-detailed, but watching del Toro on-set never gets old: There's a youthful passion here and a genuine glee to the proceedings that's utterly contagious, and whether you're seeing the ingenious puppetry work being created or seeing the stuntmen work out the action sequences, the behind-the-scenes stuff is just as surreal and cool as you'd expect.
The other really great feature here are browseable pages from del Toro's notebook, a series of fantastic pages of del Toro's Hellboy II-specific drawings and scribbles and scrawlings. I could look at this shit for days. Beautiful stuff.
The final really killer thing on the DVD is a slideshow of Mignola's artwork--in addition to helping out with story duties, Mignola worked as a pre-production artist on the film, drafting designs for characters and creatures and locations. While most of his stuff wasn't used (Mignola, more than anyone else, seems perfectly aware of how different the universes of the Hellboy movies and comics are), Mignola give a detailed, personable, roughly half-hour long commentary over a slideshow of his pre-production artwork. Mignola's one of my favorite artists, and hearing him talk about the geneses and nuances of his designs is a rare, insightful treat.
There are also a bunch of set visits, and storyboards, del Toro's commentary, even more pre-production images, and... it goes on and on. For fans of comics, del Toro, and filmmaking in general, Hellboy II's special features manage to actually convey a feeling of what it was like to put this thing together from the ground on up. In other words, the special features here do exactly what DVD special features are supposed to do: They give you such a smart and heartfelt view into all of this stuff that it really does make you watch, and think of, the film in an entirely different light.
