by Thomas Ferguson

I was absolutely mesmerized by the trailer for Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. It was visually stunning and very intense. The movie instantly made a spot on my ‘must see' blockbuster list for the summer. Only days before my screening of this new installment, I rented the original and loved it!  Unfortunately, the verdict on its sequel is still out.

Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is up to his old brute force tricks in Academy Award nominated Spanish writer/director Guillermo del Toro‘s (Pan’s Labyrinth) new big budget spectacular. This time, mankind is in serious trouble when  a merciless dictator from the underworld breaks an ancient truce between humans and his mystical people.

He is “hell bent” on destroying humankind with an unstoppable army of golden soldiers who savagely kill any and everything that get in the way. This slaughter will be the revenge he has been plotting for centuries.

The Bureau of Paranormal Research led by Hellboy, his fiery girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair), and aquatic psychic Abe Sapien (Doug Jones)  travel between both worlds to locate and protect a crown piece that holds the key to unlocking the tomb that has held the dormant army for centuries.

Like I said earlier, I just saw the original Hellboy and was absolutely blown away with it’s creative storyline and visual effects. I thought to myself, “How did I miss this one?”, when it was originally released in 2004. Needless to say, I was anxious for the sequel, which began with a bang!

Visually speaking, Hellboy 2 actually surpasses it’s predecessor. Huge special effects, stunts, and kick-butt fight sequences. The problem with this installment is lack of story. I also thought the villain in this version was too over the top and a bit too predictable. There is a plot point between him and his twin sister that just didn’t work for me.

That being said, there is some really good stuff here. Some great comical relief moments, but for some reason, I was not completely satisfied as an audience member. Again, I find myself on the fence on yet another movie. I want to recommend this movie, but I can’t fully. It’s not a bad movie, but not good enough when you compare it to the original.