Story

Themes

The supernatural; destruction of the human species

Violence

Hellboy II contains frequent stylised action and fantasy violence. For example:

• Prince Nuada attacks a large group of humans at an auction house, decapitating one person (actual decapitation not depicted). Two men are thrown through a window and octopus-like creatures are hurled at people and become attached to their victim’s faces.
• During an argument between Hellboy and Liz, a large steel door is ripped off its hinges and propelled through the air followed by Hellboy who lands on the ground with blackened smoking clothing.
• When Hellboy, Liz, Abe and Johann enter the auction room following a ‘tooth fairy’ attack, they find a totally destroyed room with no survivors only a reddish, blackish goo covering the floor, which we are told is tooth fairy excrement. We are also told that the tooth fairies eat people and go for people’s teeth first. Hellboy and the others are attacked by a large swarm of tooth fairies. Hellboy squashes one tooth fairy – we see the Fairy squashed and goo. Tooth fairies totally engulf a man’s body and appear to be eating the man’s head. Tooth fairies attack Abe, bitting his arm. We see Hellboy and the other shoot several of the tooth fairies and we see Hellboy covered with tooth fairies. A large stone statue crashes through a wall, squashing dozens of tooth fairies. Tooth fairies climb into a man’s clothing with the man screaming and rolling down stairs. Liz uses her pyrokenetic powers to create a fire-explosion that destroys all the tooth fairies and simultaneously blows Hellboy through a window. Hellboy falls a couple of stories to the ground to land on the roof of a police car.
• When Prince Nuada confronts his father the King a fight erupts, with Nuada decapitating one guard (we see some blood splatter) and impaling another through the stomach with his sword. He stabs his father through the chest with his sword. We also see a large cave troll (Mr Wink), who has a metal mace replacing his right hand, smashing people over the head.
• When Hellboy and the team visit the Troll Market, we see images of an old lady with several kittens. We are told that the old lady is really a female troll and that she eats the kittens for food. We see the old lady’s mouth change shape as she goes to put a kitten into her mouth, but the lady is disturbed before she can accomplish the task. Hellboy tells the old woman that he will rip her heart out. He punches her in the face, sending her flying through the air.
• At the Troll Market, Hellboy interrogates a male troll holding a baby. Hellboy punches the troll holding the baby in the face. We are told that the troll baby is not a baby, but a tumour.
• When Abe corners Princess Nuala in the troll market, she holds a knife to his throat. Mr Wink hits Abe over the head with his mace hand and then throws Abe through a wall. Mr Wink’s mace-like hand ejects from his arm and propels through the air to smash Hellboy in the face, throwing Hellboy through the air. Hellboy repeatedly punches Mr Wink in the stomach and Hellboy and Mr Wink repeatedly punch each other in the face. Mr Wink knocks Hellboy through a stone bridge (we see a small amount of blood on Hellboy’s nose). Hellboy continues punching Mr Wink until Mr Wink is lying unconscious on the ground. Mr Wink gets up and ejects his mace-hand, which propels itself through the air. Instead of the mace-hand hitting Hellboy, it gets stuck in a giant mulching machine. The machine drags Mr Wink in, crushing him to death.
• Prince Nuada lets loose a giant man-eating plant with tentacles that erupts up through the road, sending cars flying in all directions. The creature picks up cars and throw them around like toys. One car is thrown into the path of a helicopter, causing it to crash and explode in flames. Hellboy saves a baby from a car and, carrying the baby in his tail, scales a building to escape.
• During one scene inside BPRD headquarters, we see numerous monster-like creatures wrestling with humans and throwing them around.
• Hellboy punches Johan in the helmet causing the helmet to break and gas to escape. The gas then takes form and attacks Hellboy. It hits Hellboy in the head and face with locker doors.
• We see Prince Nuada wiping blood off his sword with several bodies (BPRD guards) lying dead on the ground around him. Prince Nuada cuts his sister’s cheek with a sword and holds a spear to Hellboy’s throat. Nuada hurls Hellboy through the air causing Hellboy to crash into furniture. Nuada spears Hellboy in the chest with the tip of the spear breaking off and remaining in Hellboy’s chest. Later, we see Hellboy lying on an examination table with a silver shard of metal protruding from his chest.
• Hellboy, Liz, Abe and Johann battle with the droid-like warriors of the Golden Army. We see Johann as vapour enter the metal body of one of the golden warriors and then pull the metal warrior apart. Hellboy uses an arm from a golden warrior as a weapon to smash other warriors. The ground is littered with metal warrior parts. They begin to put themselves back together as the golden warriors repair themselves.
• In the final battle, Hellboy challenges Prince Nuada to a fight. Throughout the fight, we see numerous high-speed stylised kicks, punches, jumps and twirls inter-woven with lightening quick sword and spear play with many near misses as Nuada repeatedly attempts to spear Hellboy. At times, we see Hellboy disappear into the spinning cogs of gigantic machinery only to reappear unhurt from another part of the giant machine. Nuada receives a cut to his arm and we see an identical cut spontaneously appear on Nuala’s arm. After an extended fight, Hellboy manages to restrain Nuada by holding a sword blade to his throat.
• Nuada, holding a dagger, moves towards Hellboy in a manner suggesting that he is about to stab Hellboy in the back, but suddenly stops short with shock. We see Princess Nuala holding a dagger she has just plunged into her chest (we see a brown stain appearing on the front of Nuala’s dress). Nuala falls to the ground and both Nuada and Nuala die and turn to stone.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including a scene in which we hear Abe and Liz taking about Liz being pregnant. We hear Liz telling Hellboy that she is pregnant. Liz later tells Hellboy that she is having twins.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There is some use of substances in this movie. For example:

• Several scenes contain images of Hellboy drinking canned beer. We see a locker, belonging to Hellboy, full of cans of beer.
• In one scene, Hellboy and Abe drink beer over an extended period with the two becoming intoxicated as a result. Both slur their words and sing sad love songs.
• In several scenes throughout the movie, we see Hellboy smoking large fat cigars. Hellboy’s boss uses Cuban cigars as an enticement. In one scene, Hellboy becomes disturbed and violent when a cigar he is smoking is damaged.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie. For example:

• Liz kisses Hellboy on the forehead.
• Liz performs a pregnancy test several times.
• A large stone fertility statue has an extended stomach and breasts.
• Liz kneels on a bed wearing a tank top and underwear.

Product placement

The film contains some product placement, including the following:

• Red/Hellboy is depicted in several scenes drinking brand-named canned beer.
• Cuban cigars are featured in a couple of scenes.
• Hellboy is depicted eating brand-named candy bars in a couple of scenes.

Coarse language

Hellboy II contains some infrequent low-level coarse language, putdowns and name-calling.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Hellboy II - The Golden Army is the sequel to the 2004 film Hellboy. It is an action fantasy adventure targeted at older adolescents and adults. The film depicts a world full of magic, fantasy and horror with many supernatural and demonic creatures. Hellboy is a reluctant hero who often feels like an unwanted freak and is judged by the public by his appearance, rather than what he does.

You might wish to discuss with your children the values implicit in Hellboy’s behaviour. For example, rather than being a mindless follower, Hellboy continuously questions and evaluates the rightness of his actions and how his actions affect others.