Movie Review:  Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2008)
     Director:  Guillermo Del Toro
     Cast:  Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss, Anna Walton, John Hurt
     Plot:  In 1942, The Unided States sent a squad of specialists to an island off the coast of Scottland to stop a Nazi plot to unleash armageddon upon the world.  Upon stopping them, the specialists discovered a demon child with a large stone hand - and decided to name him Hellboy (Perlman).  He likes TV and candy.

And right from there, Del Toro begins what I would call one of the most fun and imaginative movies I've seen in theaters in years!  Like something out of a classic Jim Henson flick, this movie has more creatures and laughs than anything else you've seen this summer - with a solid dose of KICK ASS!

The movie opens with a flashback sequence utilizing marionettes, telling the story of the war between the Goblin King and the humans.  The Goblin King was losing the war, and commissioned a troll to build him a Golden Army - one that would obey his every command, would be invincible, and would feel no remorse.  Upon the slaughter of the humans, the Goblin King felt sorry, and called a truce - one that humans have forgotten over time.  The King's son, Prince Nuada (Goss), was exiled from his own people - but returns in modern times to find the Golden Army, and seek his revenge upon the human race!

Enter the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD).

After the events of the first Hellboy flick, Hellboy and Liz Sherman (Blair) are living together at the base, but things aren't going as well, as you might have expected.  She can't stand the guy's mess and army of cats, and Hellboy is sick of hiding in the shadows and not ever having anyone know about the work that he does for the BPRD.  The higher-ups in Washington decide to bring in a specialist named Johann Krauss, who is actually made up of ectoplasm.  Under his leadership, he tries to keep Hellboy in line and command this team of demon hunters. 

But when the forces of darkness attack a gathering of humans, bearing the official seal (used only in a time of war), Hellboy and company must muster their strength, overcome their differences, and fight to save the world. 

If you didn't read it above, I'll repeat it again here:  this movie was FUN!  When I wasn't laughing, I was thrilled with the action and special effects of the movie.  There wasn't a moment that I felt bored, or that the movie dragged  - something the first movie suffers from a bit due to the amount of exposition required to get all of the character's origin stories out. 

While this movie will probably do better on DVD than in theaters (I've gone to see the movie twice now, and both times the theater was just about empty), I hope that they make another one.  The characters are fun, the world they live in is interesting and full of imagination, and their continuing tale would be fun to see diverge from the comics a bit.  See where these characters go after the events of the end of the movie (no spoilers here, folks). 

Go see this movie.  Rent it or buy it on DVD.  It's so much fun.  It's like being 7 again!  Only without all the awkward pimples and braces....