With Hellboy II: The Golden Army, filmmaker extraordinaire Guillermo del Toro has crafted a visually extravagant, action packed comic book movie which capitalizes on the promise of the first film and leaves it lying in the dust. 

Hellboy II: The Golden Army re-introduces viewers to the whacky personnel which inhabit the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence: There is the spunky fire starter Liz (Selma Blair), telekinetic fish-man Abe (played by Dog Jones, voiced by David Hyde Pierce), and, of course, everyone’s favourite man/child/devil, Hellboy (Ron Perlman).

In control of the Bureau is political weasel Tom Manning (played by the always entertaining Jeffrey Tambor), who is facing a PR crisis after a scuffle between Hellboy and one of the films many monsters resulted in the public becoming aware of the Bureau’s existence. In turn, Manning recruits an interesting new addition to the team in Johann Krauss (played by James Dodd and John Alexander, voiced by Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane), a German spirit who resides in a containment suit, (thankfully del Toro ditched the annoyingly dull Rupert Evans in order to accommodate Krauss.)   

As the team work on their chemistry, a self exiled ruler from a forgotten time named Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) breaks a century’s old truce and wages war upon mankind. In order to bring about humanity’s extinction, the Prince must possess the missing piece of his late fathers crown to command the invincible and merciless Golden Army. However the last piece belongs to his twin sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton), who has fallen in love with Abe. This gives the Bureau even more incentive to kick the Prince’s butt.

Thankfully, the romance sub-plots work much better this time around. The relationships between Abe and Princess Nuala, and Hellboy and Liz bear unexpected fruits (quite literally in the latter), as well as hilarity (love lorn Abe and Hellboy drinking their miseries away to Barry Mannilow is in contention for scene of the year).

Performances wise, Hellboy II: The Golden Army delivers. The funny and brawly Ron Perlman continues to prove that he was born to play this role, while former 1980s pin up boy Luke Goss delivers an effective villain to rival his turn in del Toro’s Blade II.

Yet let’s not beat around the bus. The films surprising humour and taut performances are only a welcome addition to the films real drawcard: big budget action and visual effects. And in this regard, del Toro has cemented himself as one of the great visionaries of our time. The effects are gob smacking amazing, the art direction is inspirationally fantastic, and the varied creature creations are both original and entertaining. Excellent action choreography enhances its visual surroundings.    

The fact that our red hero is destined to bring forth the destruction of the world places the viewer in a conflict of interest: should we root for the good guy even though he is death incarnate?

The answer to that question also sums up my feelings towards this film: Hellboy may not be perfect, but he will give us quite an entertaining and adventurous ride while he is here.