Hellboy II: The Golden Army (12A)

Having delivered a winner with 2004’s Hellboy, Guillermo del Toro has bettered himself with a sequel that puts the fun back into superhero franchises.

Tired of complex, misunderstood fuss bunnies who can’t pull on a Lycra suit without having an emotional meltdown? Then warm to the original big clunking fist that is Hellboy, the wisecracking red devil to dark knights everywhere.

For those yet to make his acquaintance, a formal introduction is in order. Big Red, as his friends know him, is one of our ain folk. Kind of.

Spirited from the netherworld by an unholy alliance between the Nazis and Rasputin, the infant Hellboy was discovered off the coast of Scotland in 1944, adopted by a kindly scientist (played by John Hurt), and now works for the FBI’s Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence.

With filed-down horns on his head, sarcastic humour pumping through his veins and a left arm that can punch anything to kingdom come, he’s the roughest of diamonds who only shines for his girl Liz and his best pal, half-man, half-fish, Abe.

Hellboy II finds the trio on the hunt for evil Prince Nuada (played by Luke Goss, late of Blade II and Bros fame). As explained in the overlong if gorgeously realised prologue, Nuada has come from another world in search of a crown that will enable him to lead the titular army against mankind.

Over the bones of this story writer-director Del Toro drapes a film that is heavy on the drama when it needs to be, while never forgetting the need for beauty and wit amid the wham-bam.

When it comes to deadpan humour, the cigar chomping Hellboy (Ron Perlman), leaves every other fantasy action hero six feet under. In a daring display of political incorrectness, there’s even a joke involving Hellboy’s new boss, a German, that dares to mention the war.

Given the nature of Hellboy’s work, there’s plenty of scope for Ghostbusters-style mayhem and Men in Black-tinged humour. Del Toro has a gift for creating weird and wonderful universes where the bizarre and the everyday collide, and his Manhattan is an endlessly fascinating place.

In Pan’s Labyrinth, the Mexican director’s imagination brought forth the stuff of nightmares. In Hellboy II there are still a few creations that look like they’ve scurried out of a Bosch painting, but on the whole the monsters are of the early Star Wars, family-friendly variety, especially in the troll market scene.

Whatever lurches into view, the audience knows Hellboy will get even with it or die trying. Mike Mignola’s Dark Horse Comics creation is an Everyman kind of superhero. He’s a guy’s guy, particularly when it comes to his lady.

The relationship between Hellboy and feisty Liz (Selma Blair) is a thoroughly modern affair, a union of equals. They’re a believable couple, even if he’s bright red and built like a brick outhouse and she’s tiny with a tendency to burst into flames. Devoted as he is to Liz, Hellboy can’t help being an insensitive big lug sometimes, and the strains in the relationship are starting to show.

As war erupts on the domestic and other fronts, Hellboy’s vulnerabilities break out like a rash. The violence on the streets, captured in a series of spectacular set-pieces by del Toro, is escalating.

The battle to keep the bureau and its staff under wraps is being lost. Hellboy and his kind are becoming public figures, the downside of which is that he comes into contact with selfish, unthinking, insensitive humanity as never before.

During the meeting of unequal minds with Joe Public and the media, even Hellboy’s sense of humour and sense of loyalty are put to the test. In his case, hell really does turn out to be other people.

Superhero in Torment Shocker; I can sense you yawning fit to burst. We’ve all sat through that movie before, particularly this summer when it has been standing room only for brooding saviours.

Yet there’s a genuine sense of darkness lurking in the heart of Hellboy which his humour only serves to highlight. For all his glibness, he knows that he’s the sheriff in a town that doesn’t want him, the circus freak whose performances leave the public wanting less, the monster where a god should be.

Perlman, one of the hardest working yet relatively unknown actors outside Hollywood, has made Hellboy his own – an intriguing, thoroughly likable hero with a subversive edge. When del Toro is done putting him to the test the way is left clear for further instalments.

Sometimes you begin to wonder if any superhero will ever retire. Spider-Man 12 anyone?

This is one story, though, that grows more satisfying the further it carries on.

Hellboy might have been made in Scotland from girders, but watching him being bent out of shape by fate and Del Toro is devilish good fun.

When it comes to doing exactly what it says on the tin you can't really fault this one. It has Hellboy, it has a Golden Army and they proceed to beat the living daylights out of each other.

And, as a smart unpretentious monster movie, this really is a whole lot more satisfying than some of the overhyped and overblown stuff we’ve had to sit through this summer. Does anyone even remember Speed Racer or was it just a bad dream?

It’s been four years since the first Hellboy movie, although there was an animated feature in between, and director Guillermo del Toro has been busy in the interim establishing himself as the new master of horror with Pan’s Labyrinth and The Orphanage.

This is nowhere near as good as either of those two films which are much more invested in the Mexican director’s cultural background. In this one he simply has fun and that’s a product that’s been in short supply this summer.

There is no brooding subtext here. This is just a knock-em-down, drag-em-out monster movie in which the big red Hellboy (Ron Perlman) goes toe to toe with just about anything – I especially liked his battle with a giant troll.

I’m told incidentally that this film has more monsters in it than any other – 32 different varieties apparently.

I didn’t count them but they look impressive and highly inventive.

The plot, such as it is, concerns Hellboy and his colleagues in the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence facing up to a threat from elf prince Nuada (Luke Goss) in his underground kingdom.

Nuada is unhappy with what we are doing to the planet. Rather than doing an Al Gore PowerPoint presentation he decides to invade with his horde of flesh-eating fairies.

It’s up to Hellboy and the BPRD to stop him as he tries to regain the pieces of the shattered crown that will give him ultimate power.

There’s a subplot about the BPRD’s attempts to remain a covert organisation despite Hellboy’s very conspicuous public appearances – how hard is it to stay covert when you’re eight feet tall and crimson – but since no-one gets hit I doubt the fans will be too bothered.

The cast have settled into their roles now after the first one and there’s an easy chemistry between Perlman and Selma Blair as the incendiary Liz Sherman and Doug Jones’s Abe the amphibian.

Perlman and Jones, in particular, enjoy some nice moments, including one that guarantees you’ll never think of Barry Manilow in quite the same way again.

Goss makes a decent enough villain and he’s worked hard at his acting career after his pop star days, so we shouldn’t grudge him his big moment.

Hellboy II is big, brash and colourful and careers through its two hours with ear-splitting ferocity.

In short, it’s just what the fans were expecting and it should fit the bill exactly.