Movies: Hellboy II

Last weekend Aerin and I headed out to see Hellboy II with my friend Mike.

I really enjoyed the first one, and have been looking forward to the new movie for some time. The movie looked fantastic! A real visual treat that one has come to expect from director Guillermo del Toro. (Which also makes the expectations for The Hobbit very high.) The creatures effects looked great, and the stunts were pretty cool too. If they used CGI to replace some of the actors in the action, I couldn't tell the difference (unlike more than a few movies).

On the down side they went for the predictable and done-to-death-already on several of the plot elements. I won't go into any spoilers, but the filmmakers have gotten me to suspend my disbelief for this movie already. So why go and remind me it's a movie by using the same plot elements in the same predictable way as everyone else? I know that it's very hard to come of up with something original all the time, but if you're going to use familiar elements, try not to use them in the tired, old, familiar ways please.