A fantasy in comic-book disguise: beautiful, exciting and fun

Rating: 9/10 (22 October 2008)

With the first Hellboy, there was a feeling that for all the good things in it (Ron Perlman especially) Guillermo del Toro wasn't allowed to do all he wanted. Now, with the success of Pan's Labyrinth, not to mention Universal instead of Sony, he has been granted complete freedom, and the result is Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the second best sequel of 2008 after The Dark Knight (Indiana Jones is a) a number four; b) a different genre, and therefore doesn't count).
Beginning in true del Toro fashion, Hellboy II starts with a flashback where Professor Broom (John Hurt, still good), the protagonist's adoptive father, fills the same function as in the first movie and introduces us to the story, only this time he does it recounting an old legend, according to which the king of an ancient non-human race made a truce with mankind so that everyone would live in peace. Just a story, Hellboy says. Wrong: the king's son, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), having witnessed the "horrors" of modern society, intends to declare war on all humanity and resurrect the dreaded Golden Army, mechanical soldiers who feel no hunger, no need to sleep and most of all no mercy.
Another job for the BPRD, then, only there are a few problems: Hellboy (Perlman), is going through a rough patch with his girlfriend, the "fiery" Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), and keeps getting noticed by the public during missions, which drives his boss (Jeffrey Tambor) crazy. For that reason, the ghostly Johann Krauss (voiced by Seth McFarlane, aka Peter Griffin) is assigned to make sure Red, Liz and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones, this time doing the voice too) stick to protocol. Then the new threat materializes, and before there's time for Hellboy to say "Oh, crap!", the world as we know it is once again facing complete annihilation.
The story of the Golden Army isn't to be found in any of Mike Mignola's comic books. In fact, he and del Toro came up with it specifically for the film, knowing that kind of premise would allow the director to go crazy with his imagination, be it weird creatures or new, fantastic worlds. From a merely visual point of view, Hellboy II is one of the most beautiful genre films of recent years, a clear indication of why Peter Jackson chose del Toro to direct The Hobbit. Sure, his depiction of the Troll Market is no Middle Earth, but a brief scene featuring a Hell- like dimension (and Jones playing the Angel of Death, a direct descendant of the Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth) is a striking reminder of Mordor.
That's where the LOTR comparisons end, though: Nuada is no Sauron, and Hellboy sure as hell (pun not intended) is no Frodo, which is exactly why we love him. Perlman, now wearing the part like a second skin, is as oddly cool as ever, with his cigar, bad temper and no- nonsense attitude ("I'm not gonna kill him, Abe. But I will kick his ass!"). Del Toro even allows the story to get more personal, with careful focus on the bizarre love story between Red and Liz, which results in Blair getting more screen-time and giving a proper glimpse of her talent (plus, Rupert Evans is gone - good). Goss is a rather good villain, though slightly less menacing than Kroenen and blatantly overshadowed by two things: the sidekicks (the always reliable Jones and Tambor, with additional help from McFarlane) and most importantly the actual Golden Army - when it appears, it's one of the most amazing set-ups ever in a fantasy/superhero picture.
In short: virtually everything you could expect from a good sequel: laughs ( check out Hellboy and Abe getting drunk), emotion, action, suspense and much, much more. Let's hope del Toro does get around to making the promised trilogy closer (though it would take a while, what with The Hobbit and all): it's hard to resist the charm of good old Red.