REQUIRED VIEWING: Hellboy 2

I just got in from seeing HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY with a couple of friends, and let me tell you folks....it's good. Very good. It's a visual feast.



In a nutshell, Hellboy and his compatriots Liz, Abe Sapien, and newcomer Johan Kraus, come into conflict with Prince Nuada, an elf. Y'see, centuries ago there was a war between mankind and magical beings that ended in a truce. The elves had gained control of the Golden Army, a host of murderous automatons, but were horrified by the brutality they caused. King Balor had the crown that controlled the Golden Army broken apart, one piece with the humans and two with the elves. Now, in the present day, Nuada has decided that mankind is a menace and must be wiped out, and he sets out to reform the crown and reactivate the Golden Army for a final war against mankind.

That thumbnail description doesn't do justice to the film's outrageousness. There's visual treats like the Troll Market (move over, Diagon Alley!) and the Angel of Death, and there's the more subtle things like the complex relationships between Hellboy and Liz, Abe Sapien and the Princess Nuada, Kraus and everyone else, and Nuada and Nuala. One thing the HELLBOY flicks have been good for is three-dimensional villains. The first HELLBOY had Rasputin, devoted to the service of his dark gods, but he also had a steamy love affair going with she-Nazi Ilsa, and you could really believe the two were totally hot for each other. This time around, we have Nuada's complex relationship with his sister, hating her and loving her all at once, and a couple of times there seem to be suggestions of incest, but I could be wrong. And it doesn't take much to see Nuada's point, either; that mankind's greed and materialism is destroying the world. At times Nuada comes across less as a raving evil maniac, but as a tragic idealist who goes too far and is undone by his hubris.

Director Guillermo del Toro, whom I adore, goes to town on his trademark clockwork imagery, and seems to be having a great amount of fun. The first HELLBOY worked despite what seemed to be a fairly limited budget. It's obvious the sequel had a much bigger budget (let's face it, del Toro is a hot property, what with the acclaimed PAN'S LABYRINTH under his belt and THE HOBBIT coming up) and he's having a blast doing all the stuff he was dying to do. The one caveat is that there isn't enough time to take it all in, especially in the amazing Troll Market scene. But that's what repeat viewings and DVDs are for.

Go see it, folks, I won't give you any peace until you do. GO!