Review: “Hellboy II: the Art of the Movie”
I’m completely enthralled by the visionary genius of Guillermo del Toro, and to say that I was looking forward to “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” as much as most people were looking forward to “The Dark Knight” would not be an exaggeration. When I finally got to see the movie, the only disappointment I felt afterwards was that I couldn’t stop the camera here and there and jut linger on some of the gorgeous imagery. Thanks to this lovely book, I can now experience the next best thing. I’ve already spent hours poring over every page.
It’s just stuffed full of beautiful images: stills from the film, conceptual drawings for gadgets, monsters and characters, storyboards, early mock-ups for some of the character prostheses. There’s also copious notes from the people involved in the production, an informative introduction from Guillermo del Toro himself and a complete copy of the final shooting script.
So, with that out of the way, let’s take a look at some photos I took from the book. If they look funny, blurry or oddly lit, it’s from me and not the book itself. It’s really hard to get well-lit photos of glossy pages.
Oh, and if you haven’t seen the movie yet, then I suggest you don’t look at any of the photos after the jump because they could be considered major spoilers.
(PHOTOS AFTER JUMP)
Young Hellboy - actually portrayed by a girl!
Elvish script, I think.
This butcher looking guy is one of my wife's favorite characters. Should I be concerned?
I love these pencil drawings. Gorgeous!
There are several of these concept vs. final product comparisons in the book.
Elric...I mean...Prince Nuada faces his father
See all of the permutations
There’s just so much good stuff in this book that I really can’t do it justice here.
This is just fantastic.
You can see more from the book via this cool page-flipping technology HERE.
Oh, and here’s its Amazon.com listing if you want to go ahead and buy it now. You should do that.
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I’m going to have to get me this book. I saw it in passing the other day and was amazed at the detail of del Toro’s notebook entries. Those alone are worth the price. Well, along with a copy of Rosetta Stone so I can translate his Spanish. Thanks for the reminder that this is out there.
Saw the movie the day it came out naturally. It was a good flick… got a little slap happy here and there that would be my only gripe. Worth the wait though. Ron Perlman was born to play Red. Can’t imagine anyone else who could pull it off as well.
Thanks for making the connection to Elric of Melnibone! The whole market vista reminded me strongly of Michael Moorcock/Fritz Leiber/Lovecraft. I wanted desperately to go live in that underground world. It might be dangerous, but compared to above ground (Hey, Hellboy – you’re ugly!), it couldn’t be any worse.
Hellboy is fun for sure… that director has got an amazing imagination, much like his work in Pan’s Labyrinth
If you guys like this book, you’ll like the first one also. It’s similar in style.
Opps. I forgot to add that there’s a book review on the first Hellboy art book on my blog.