Hellboy II: The Golden Army

New review from The Movie Snob

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (D+). I don't know what happened here. Other movie critics have apparently given this movie reviews ranging from good to very good to excellent. Somehow, it left me cold, even though I fairly enjoyed the first one. Ron Perlman (Hellboy) returns as the ultimate reluctant superhero -- he's a big old muscley red-skinned demon-looking guy from another dimension that's at least in the same zip code as hell. He works as a secret government agent when supernatural problems threaten life as we know it. He's also a big slob with a soft spot in his heart for cats, candy bars, beer, and a fire-starting girlfriend played by sad-eyed Selma Blair (Hellboy). A nice flashback featuring John Hurt (Hellboy) as Hellboy's adoptive father sets up the mythical ancient conflict between the humans on one side and the elves, trolls, and just about everybody else on the other. One particularly hot-headed elf, Prince Nuada, is eager to break the age-old truce and bust out the long-lost, indestructible Golden Army against humanity. I usually get into stuff like this, especially when backed with great CGI, but for some reason I just couldn't get into this one. I don't know why.