A Month in Film - August 2008

This summer we have seen countless sequels and franchises brought to the silver screen and this month is no exception.

But as Hellboy II: The Golden Army demonstrates, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

The underdog of comic book adaptations seems to have bridged the gap between the blockbuster and artistic cinema with its latest instalment.

For a mainstream Hollywood film Guillermo del Toro has made a rather alternative piece of work.

The tagline 'Believe it or not he's the good guy' demonstrates the extent of people who saw the original, but this does not matter.

In a fresh new story Hellboy must battle Prince Nuada who wants to awaken the golden army to reclaim the world from the humans.

Del Toro can flit between fantasy and reality so easily.

In addition to these extravagant set pieces and visually inventive fighting, the characters morals are at its heart.

Despite my earlier enthusiasm for Iron Man and The Dark Knight, Hellboy has more of an original identity and is bold in distancing itself away from typical Hollywood.

It is just so much more gothic and visually brilliant than any of the other Superhero franchises.

The key to Hellboy's individuality lies in its European aesthetic.

In a reversal of roles the bad guy actually has a moral posture as he has a legitimate cause to fight for, which in turn changes Hellboy who realises he has no reason to defend the humans who are starting to turn against him.

Hellboy is not guaranteed to save the day which completely defies the superhero genre conventions.

If only the same could be said for Star Wars: The Clone Wars

With no other purpose than to make money and launch a new television series it seems George Lucas is prepared to squeeze every last cent out of this long since dead franchise.

In a plot where all that happens is people run around killing robots, this is simply an excuse for Lucas to go wild with animation.

The only problem is that these special effects themselves are not particularly good.

Special effects are all the franchise has going for it, but now it does not have this to rely on.

With no invention visually or thematically and no John William's score this is just not the Star Wars fans fell in love with.

Although you could pretty much tell Star Wars was going to be dull, at least X-files: I Want to Believe seemed promising.12»