Hellboy II: The Golden Army

While this sequel isn’t as good as the original, it still has enough goodness to put it over-the-top. Guillermo del Toro is back in the director’s chair, and Ron Perlman is back in the suffocating red makeup for another go as the Dark Horse comic character. When an ancient crown shows up in a New York auction, the creepy Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) shows up to claim it. The crown is the key to controlling an army of killer robot type things, and Hellboy must stop him from enlisting their help in a war against humans. Del Toro provides some eye-popping sequences, including a spectacular battle with a forest monster, and the exciting finale. But the original’s dark sense of humor gets a little muddled in this effort, which is a little sappy and silly. Perlman remains, perhaps, cinema’s strangest superhero, and his performance is a likeable one. I just didn’t like when the film skidded off into goofy territory, especially with Hellboy’s love life.