Hellboy II: The Golden Army has no bad scenes and about five great ones, the best of them as memorable as anything in sci-fi & fantasy cinema. It’s a far out fairy tale, more fun (and more weird) than the first Hellboy, but it lacks the satisfying coherence of a great start-to-finish story like Pan’s Labyrinth or the original Star Wars.

The tone of Hellboy II is set as the film opens with our hero’s adoptive father reading a fairy tale to him. Say goodbye to demons, say hello to elves, trolls and fairies. In this way Hellboy II feels more like Pan’s Labyrinth than the first Hellboy.

There’s a Troll Market scene, which is a long, cool drink of distilled joy. As Hellboy and friends explore the market nestled beneath the Brooklyn Bridge (where else would trolls hang out?) every monster, every activity, every backdrop is eye-popping. It’s reminiscent of the Mos Eisley cantina scene in Star Wars (”I don’t like you either!” and Ben Kenobi cuts off a guy’s arm), but the Troll Market is even better than Lucas’ Mos Eisley. Hellboy’s essentially Han Solo and Chewbacca in one guy, as dangerous as he is funny. …Read more