Hellboy II The Golden Army Blu-ray Review

Hellboy II The Golden Army

Blu-ray Review
Publisher: Universal Home Entertainment
Released: November 11, 2008

Hellboy II The Golden Army was the successor to the original blockbuster and tried to pick up on where the original left off.  In short, it succeeded on many fronts as it proved to be a fantastic popcorn flick with plenty of entertainment value.  The film has hit the Blu-ray format courtesy of Universal Home Entertainment.

Hellboy II picks up where the original left off, ducks its head and runs for the endzone.  You get a bit of a prologue to start things off to help explain everything for the viewer, but from there the movie takes off on its own.

The film is extremely imaginative, which is something that I truly appreciate.  It was directed by Guillermo Del Toro, who did a great job of creating a world that viewers have never seen before.  You get plenty of imagination, some great CGI work, and everything else thrown into bring these worlds to life.

The major aspect of the story focuses on a missing multi-piece golden crown.  The crown is important because if it is found it can be used to unlock the powers of his massive robotic army.

This army could then be used to basically destroy the world, which an evil Prince tries to do.  From there, it is up to Hellboy and friends to save the day once again, in an adventure that will have you on the edge of your seat smiling from start to finish.

The video transfer on the Blu-ray format is absolutely flawless as it is presented in 1.85:1 in 1080p.  There are some amazing colors, sharpness, and clarity here that will truly impress.  The whole transfer benefits from the fact that the fantasy worlds created for the film are so well-done and detailed that you can pick out all sorts of cool stuff while you watch.

The audio quality is equally as impressive as it is presented in a great DTS 7.1 mix.  To be honest, this is right up there with one of the best Blu-ray audio mixes I have ever heard.  There is a great use of the front and rear channels to engross  you in everything that is going on.  Those action sequences, which are plentiful, will blow you away with the use of the subwoofer, amazing.

The extras for Hellboy II on Blu-ray are put together well as you start out with two feature commentaries, with the first being done by director del Toro.  The commentary with del Toro is going to be my focus for the review as it is so well put together, he is truly impressive to just sit there and listen to.

On top of that, Universal has also included their U-Control featurue which will allow you to check out all sorts of extras while you watch the film in a picture-in-picture mode.

All of the above is only disc one, while disc two packs plenty of other stuff, beyond all of the deleted scenes and such from the first disc.

On the second disc, you get a documentary that runs for over 2 hours and is called In The Service Of The Demon, which looks at absolutely everything you could imagine about the development of the film.

IT is pretty impressive to see how in-depth they get with a lot of the stuff here, explaining all types of little details.

Other things on the second disc include a prologue by del Toro, as well as other promotional stuff.

Hellboy II on Blu-ray is a fantastic popcorn flick that will surely please fans of the original.  With plenty of action and adventure, as well as some nice extras, this is a great buy on Blu-ray!

Film: 8.5 What a fun film Hellboy II is, great as a popcorn flick!

Video: 9.5 The video transfer is flawless, amazing clarity and details.

Audio: 10 Potentially the best audio mix these ears have ever heard from a Blu-ray disc.

Replay Value: 8.0 Tons of quality extras here with the stacked U-Control track, as well as the lengthy documentary and commentaries.

Final Score: 9.2

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