One has to hand it to Mexican director Guillermo del Toro for his boundless imagination.  Ever since I saw his first horror flick CRONOS, I have never failed to be entertained less enthralled by his work – the best thing being his last film, EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO (PAN’S LABYRINTH).  PAN’S LABYRINTH is the most important and its creatures, themes and atmosphere play a large part in HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY.

Based on the graphic comic books, HELLBOY 2 follows Hellboy’s (Ron Perlman) quest to save the human race from the evil Prince Nuada (Luke Goss).  The prince is after relics that would awaken the golden army of the film title that he will use to conquer the humans and rule the entire world – top, middle and under.  Like most fantasies, it is the same fight of good v.s. evil but writer/director del Toro leaves a mark and packs quite the punch.  Del Toro gets the audience involved with the goings-on pretty quickly.  The audience is brought up to date with the raison d’etre of Hellboy (discovered in 1944 Scotland) in the first few minutes of the film so that there is no need for the audience to be familiar with the first film. 

Despite a rather awkward start, Del Toro builds momentum consistently towards the climax.  When you think the film has topped itself, Del Toro surprises with something better – be it a more spectacular battle or monster – around the corner.  Like PAN’S LABYRINTH, HELLBOY 2 contains bouts of violence such as a knife pressed deeply into Princess Nuala’s (Anna Walton) cheek (in PAN”S LABYRINTH, the captain’s was split wide open) or a huge conker bashing the hero’s head in.  The CGI and special effects are impressive with the final battle between the heroes and the Golden Army being the most striking.  The killing of the evil Prince Nuada posing a dilemma (as hurting him also hurts the princess Nuada, as they are twins) adds a nice twist to the story.  The film also goes against convention with an ugly hero and a handsome villain.

But it is del Toro’s vision that marks HELLBOY 2 above this year’s other comic book movies, IRON MAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK.  HELLBOY 2 is very much more alive with action, humour (visual and verbal), visuals (the monsters and scenery as in the hills of Northern Ireland) and a romance that actually works.  Del Toro has created a unique blend of comic book graphics action and adult fairy tale fantasy – something so obviously related but hardly done before.  Audiences can note that there is so much going on with every scene.  The Red Man rules for sure!