this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2025
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The Sword of Doom (1966) 4.5/5
His Girl Friday (1940) 4.5/5
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) 3.5/5
Blasphemy! Hellboy II is easily as 4.5/5 (but seriously I'm curious why you gave it that rating)
The movie is definitely better than the first and there are some legitimately great set designs and sequences. I loved every minute with the trolls. The villain was much better too, if way too flippy. The script isn’t great at any point but the movie falls apart whenever “romance” is happening. Del Toro either doesn’t understand love at a basic level or he’s horrible at writing it. The movie also grinds to a halt whenever they are back home.
Basically anytime I wasn’t being awed by the scenery or some set piece, then my brain realizes how little else there was. There isn’t enough time for the mid-movie infatuation and the sister is under written or under directed. The literal prime reason for the movie is so easily resolved at the end of the movie that it’s laughable. I honestly only gave it 3.5 because of how cool 1/3 (not contiguous) of the movie was.
Interesting, I find the romance to be some of the best written romance in a comic book movie. I really enjoyed the script, but yeah it's not out of this world. I really liked the sister. I appreciate there isn't a cliffhanger, but it's likely that that was the original plan
I think the bar needs to be higher than a comic book romance. It’s probably hard to do it with a character in full costume but then again he did it with Shape of Water.
The other thing I forgot to mention that still applies to the romance is that it feels like none of the characters have any agency of their own. They just get whisked along by whatever new plot device has suddenly appeared. There’s no plan at all. That only works if the characters have no time to breathe and plan but that’s precisely what Del Toro does mid movie. The secondary romance between the two “aliens” as Abe puts it doesn’t feel organic. It feels like it’s only there to drive the story along.
Better than most blockbuster romances, I'm aromantic so my standard is probably different than yours.
I read that as aromatic and got very confused.
It’s not a bad movie by any stretch. Its shortcomings just outweigh what’s great about it is all.