Better than the first film, Hellboy II -- based on the comic book by Mike Miglia -- continues the story of the title character (played with swagger and self-depreciating gusto by Ron Perlman), a red-skinned, beer drinking, cigar smoking demon raised by humans. He works for the super-secret Bureau for Paranormal Defense and Research (BPDR), along with his hot (literally) gal pal, Liz (Selma Blair, channeling her inner action hero), best buddy, Abe (a sort of human-amphibian played by the versatile Doug Jones) and new boss, Johann Krass (voiced by the Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane), a gas being who inhabits a robot suit for physical contact.
As in Men in Black, the BPDR's mission is to protect mankind from the things that go bump in the night and which we refuse to acknowledge exists. This time they're called into action against the elven Prince Nuada (Luke Goss, looking and fighting like a cross between David Bowie and Jackie Chan), who plans to lead the unstoppable Golden Army against humankind for their uncaring desecration of the planet. In other words, he's (justifiably) hacked that we destroy the forests and meadows to make room for more parking lots and malls. But he's hardly a friendly environmentalist; he's willing to kill his own father and all mankind to achieve his goals.
The result is some grandiose battle scenes (especially the one where Hellboy is fighting a giant plant being with a baby in one hand and a big gun in the other) and an eye-popping array of strange creatures. The astounding makeup effects are by Mike Elizalde, who deserves an Oscar for his work here. The creatures include bad fairies (imagine a cannibalistic Tinkerbell), a many-eyed Angel of Death (Doug Jones, again), a Godzilla-sized forest demon and a critter with a ball 'n chain for a left hand.
Ultimately, the sheer number of creatures and dazzling effects are almost overkill. But del Toro's offsets the action with touching moments (such as the death of one of Nuada's hench-creatures, the last of its kind) and funny ones. In fact, a wonderful, hilarious scene involving Hellboy, Abe and a Barry Manilow song is worth the price of admission.
Hellboy II is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and some language. Running time: 110 minutes. Macsimum rating: 8 out of 10. You can check out the film's trailer on the [url=http://www.apple.com/trailers/]QuickTime movie trailer site[/url].
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