Sure, I know.  That phrase ("it's clobbering time) is credited to The
Thing of the Fantastic Four.  But, that guy is a pipsqueak compared to
Hellboy.  In fact, in many ways, most of the superhero or comic book
films this year are girlie compared to the
punch-first-ask-questions-later style of Hellboy.

Hellboy has a really big task on his hands this time around.  As the
film opens up, we are told of an ancient war between the human world
and the fantastical world.  It resulted in much bloodshed and hatred
among the two factions.  But, in the end a truce was forged.  The
humans developed their cities while the creatures (goblins, trolls,
and everything else you'd expect from a "Harry Potter" or "Chronicles
of Narnia" or "Lord of the Rings" film) retreated into the forest.
This truce did not sit well with Prince Nuada (Luke Gross).   After
many eons of planning and waiting, he now launches his offensive
against the Humans by trying to awaken the Golden Army, a terrible
force of destruction.

It's actually not a bad bit of lore.  But, what makes "Hellboy 2"
unexpectedly fresh is the visual presentation of the film.  When I
reviewed the original in 2004, I wrote: "Hellboy" (Ron Perlman) and
his aquatic and psychic companion, Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), are
inspired efforts in make-up and imagination."  However, that has been
ratcheted up two notches as Director Guillermo del Toro infuses into
this project the same visionary imagination that he brought to his
previous masterpiece, "Pan's Labyrinth."

New York City, where the film takes place, is pretty much a world unto
itself.  Yet, if you walk through a portal below the Brooklyn Bridge,
you enter an entirely different world altogether.  Words really don't
do the visual experience any justice.  I can only say that the
imaginative forces at work created an end product that is even more
wondrous than the Star Wars universe.   In most summer action films,
the audience is really just waiting for the next action sequence to
begin.  In this film, we eagerly await what new fey beast would
appear.  Whether it was the Tooth Fairy or the Angel of Death or the
Forest Elemental, I had this kind of childlike awe.

Yet, for all the artistry that it does accomplish, there is something
that feels askew.  I almost think, though, that Hellboy and company
really didn't deserve this level of beauty.  I had the same odd
feeling about "Wall-E".  On the one hand, that film featured a dark
and dystopian future of barren despair.  Meanwhile, it also featured a
cruise ship filled with people on an endless vacation.  The two didn't
quite mesh together.  That's the same odd feeling that I got here.
Hellboy obviously gets his training from the Bruce Willis School for
Tough Guys.  So, there's a certain rough-and-tumble atmosphere that's
established here.  But the mystical creatures seemed somewhat out of
place.  They are better suited if either: a) they were used in a
not-so-pugilistic-kind-of-film or b) if any of the characters were on
a path of new discovery where these creatures could amplify their
breakthroughs.  But Hellboy doesn't like to learn and prefers using
brute force.  Meanwhile, Abe Sapien is psychic so he knows everything
anyway.

Yet, I really liked what I saw, and "Hellboy 2" could be the sleeper
hit of the summer.  It's hard-nosed, brass-knuckle fun.  And thanks to
the colors and the creativity, it is a bizarrely beautiful film as
well.  The result is a summer movie that's more consistent and
great-to-look-at than other big films of similar ilk, like "Ironman"
or "Hulk" or "Hancock".

Grade:  B+

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