Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a 2008 science fiction-superhero film based on the fictional Dark Horse Comics character Hellboy. The movie is a sequel to the 2004 film Hellboy, the director for both being Guillermo Del Toro. Ron Perlman reprises his role as the titular character. The movie is about the rebellion of the ambitious Prince Nuada against humanity in order to rule the Earth.

In 1955, a young Hellboy is told a story by his father involving an ancient battle between humans and mythical creatures. A goblin blacksmith built an indestructible clockwork army for Balor, the King of the Elves, which could only be controlled by those of royal blood, provided no one challenged their right to do so. This 'Golden Army' of 4900 soldiers or "70 times 70 soldiers", devastated the humans so mercilessly that Balor forged a truce with them to stop the bloodshed: man would keep his cities and the creatures would keep their forests. Balor's son, Prince Nuada, didn't agree with the truce, and left in exile, vowing to return when he was needed. The crown controlling the army was broken into three pieces, one piece going to the humans and the other two kept by the elves, so the Golden Army could never be raised again.

In the present, Prince Nuada decides to declare war against the humans wanting to regain his people's lost status. In order to do so, it would require him to collect the three pieces of the crown which controlled the Golden Army. Meanwhile Hellboy and his team stumble upon Princess Nuala who is carrying one of the pieces of the crown along with the map that leads to the Golden Army. With Prince Nuada's determination, the fate of Earth lies in the hands of Hellboy.

The movie is filled with action packed scenes and slapstick comedy. Like the previous movie, I didn't really fancy this one. Though I have to agree that the action scenes were brilliantly done, but other than that nothing really caught my attention. I agree that from the trailers, the movie looks terrific, but I certainly don't recommend it because it turned out to be quite a disappointment for me.

Rock On!!

Rock On!! is a 2008 Bollywood film which released a little over a month ago. Directected by Abhishek Kapoor, the movie stars Arjun Rampal and debutantes Farhan Akhtar and Prachi Desai along with Luke Kenny, Purab Kohli, Koel Purie, Shahana Goswami and Nicolette Bird. The movie is about the reunion of 4 ex-band members in their attempt to relive their glory days as a band.

The plot moves back and forth in time as we learn what Aditya (Farhan Akhtar), Joe (Arjun Rampal), Rob (Luke Kenny) and K.D. (Purab Kohli) do, and did 10 years ago. 1o years ago the 4 youths were part of a successful band named 'Magik'. The 4 of them were living happy and care-free lives. By winning a concert they had gotten their ticket to success. However due to a rise in differences between Aditya and Joe, the band split, causing the 4 youths to go their seperate ways. By now, each of them lead very different lives and all of them are unhappy with their current situations. Fate causes Aditya's wife to meet KD and after some initial awkwardness and hesitation, the four set off again, from where they left, with the goal of rekindling the magic between them.

'Rock On' is truly a sincere and commendable effort to tell a different story. Unlike other Bollywood movies, it is true to life and very identifiable. The music is good but very simple which has caused it to recieve severe criticism. I really liked the movie and I found it to be quite inspiring. This movie is certainly not a waste of time and if you enjoy Hindi rock music, you just might like this one.