This is another entry in my Complete Score Breakdown Series, focusing on the complete scores to films that have had abbreviated previous releases or have gone unreleased.
Today we are looking at Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) by Danny Elfman.
Danny Elfman’s 2008 score to Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army showed the composer firing on all cylinders in my opinion, showcasing all kinds of versatility and serving his greatest of strengths in the realms of action, fantasy, and drama – with healthy doses of quirk, natch. Of course it was difficult not to see Marco Beltrami return to score the sequel after his brilliant score to the first film, but once you move past that fact and are able to appreciate Elfman’s take on the decidedly different Hellboy sequel universe, there is tremendous fun to be had. Del Toro and Elfman, at least in the case of this film, were a perfect match in terms of combining their warped senses of twisted imagination and creative wonder and serving up colossal entertainment.
The score features multiple tones and moods ranging from odd colors and vibes, heart-wrenching drama, hardcore action, mystical fantasy, and wonderful, palpable atmosphere. The existing 57-minute CD does a good job of representing all of these facets of the score, but the fact of the matter is that when all is said and done, and after I’ve done my diligent CSB, the complete known amount of score written for the film runs approximately 92 minutes, so there is a ton of great music still out there in the ether, just waiting to be enjoyed for those that like this kind of thing, and I’m willing to bet there are quite a few. The amount of unreleased music runs approximately 35 minutes.
The film version of the score (at 81 minutes) runs shorter than the total known amount of music (92 minutes) because some of the CD tracks are edited a bit for the film and one CD track, “Hallway Cruise”, is completely unused in the film. What’s more, two CD tracks have much lengthier alternate film versions in the movie: “Where Fairies Dwell” is nearly 3 minutes longer in the picture, and “Market Troubles is almost 2 and ½ minutes longer in the picture.
If you haven’t guessed it by now, yes – I strongly feel as though this score should have an expansion some day. I would love to hear more of the Hellboy thematic material that I feel was underdeveloped on CD and well-developed in the film. There is a more quirky, bouncy, almost fantasy/jazz music in the film that wasn’t on the CD (“Saved By An Emergency”, “We’re Out”). And of course, there is a copious wealth of heavy action material unreleased that simply must be made available: “The Forest God” (for the scene prior to the “The Last Elemental” cue scene); the full “Where Fairies Dwell” film version cue; and the “Final Confrontation” fight between Prince Nuada and Hellboy.
CURRENT CD RELEASE RUNTIME: 59min 25sec COMPLETE SCORE RUNTIME (AS HEARD IN FILM): 81min 05sec ALL KNOWN ORIGINAL MUSIC WRITTEN FOR THE FILM (INCLUDING UNEDITED CD TRACKS, UNUSED TRACKS, AND/OR ALTERNATE FILM VERSIONS, WITH NO IDENTICAL DUPLICATION REGARDING FILM TRACKS & CD TRACKS): 92min 50sec
UNRELEASED SCORE RUNTIME: 35min 35sec
Complete Score Cue Titles and Cue Times (unreleased cues named by me for the sake of identification):
+ – previously unreleased (or includes previously unreleased material)
1. Introduction (3:35) 2. Hellboy II Titles (1:05) 3. Training (0:47) – (edited from CD track) 4. The Auction House (2:30) 5. Good Days, Bad Days (0:30) + 6. Saved By An Emergency (1:40) + 7. Where Fairies Dwell (7:03) + – (extended alternate film version) 8. We’re Out (0:37) + 9. Father and Son Pt. 1 (0:47) – (segment from CD track “Father and Son”) 10. Pregnancy Test (0:23) + 11. Father and Son Pt. 2 (5:11) – (segment from CD track “Father and Son”) 12. Mein Herring (0:30) – (edited from CD track) 13. Teleplasty (1:26) 14. Fragglewump (0:55) + 15. A Troll Market (1:15) 16. The Royal Seal (0:33) + 17. Market Troubles (7:08) + – (extended alternate film version) 18. Green Bean (1:09) + 19. The Forest God (3:10) + 20. The Last Elemental (4:10) 21. A Big Decision (1:05) 22. Abe and Nuala (0:43) + 23. A Link (1:20) 24. Bad Temper (0:38) + 25. Enemy at the Gate (0:52) + 26. Women / Nuada Infiltrates (2:51) + 27. The Spear (2:00) 28. A Dilemma (2:52) 29. Defiant Liz (1:51) + 30. To Antrim (1:08) + 31. Doorway (3:30) 32. A Choice (3:57) 33. Ready (0:42) + 34. In the Army Chamber (6:05) 35. Final Confrontation (3:45) + 36. Finale (3:47)
Current CD Release Track Titles and Track Times:
1. Introduction (3:37) 2. Hellboy II Titles (1:18) 3. Training (1:50) 4. The Auction House (2:28) 5. Hallway Cruise (1:35) – (unused in film) 6. Where Fairies Dwell (4:17) – (cd version) 7. Teleplasty (1:21) 8. Mein Herring (1:05) 9. Father and Son (6:02) 10. A Link (1:29) 11. A Troll Market (1:21) 12. Market Troubles (3:41) – (cd version) 13. A Big Decision (1:10) 14. The Last Elemental (4:11) 15. The Spear (1:47) 16. A Dilemma (2:55) 17. Doorway (3:35) 18. A Choice (3:58) 19. In the Army Chamber (5:47) 20. Finale (6:06)
