Hellboy II: The Golden Army (From Herald Series)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

4:59pm Wednesday 20th August 2008

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Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the sequel to Guillermo del Toro's 2004 fantasy based on Mike Mignola's comics series, is every bit as fast and furious as its predecessor, melding dazzling production design with wry humour and explosive action sequences. Having sketched the origins of the characters in the first film, del Toro is given free rein here to let his imagination run amok, concocting a dark and bloody fairy-tale full of trolls, goblins and a 9ft tall Angel of Death.

The writer-director's distinctive visual style, celebrated with three Academy Awards for Pan's Labyrinth, is very much in evidence, including a swarm of voracious tooth fairies, who crave calcium and eagerly devour human flesh to extract tasty molars from gums. Children should seriously think twice about putting milk teeth under their pillow.

The clandestine Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development (B.P.R.D.) is struggling to keep Hellboy (Ron Perlman) hidden from prying eyes. After a visit to an Upper East Side auction house, Hellboy and his cohorts Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) are propelled into the media spotlight to the chagrin of B.P.R.D. chief Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor).

Meanwhile, disgruntled prince of the underworld, Nuada Silverlance (Luke Goss), grows resentful of the wasteful humans. He spearheads a revolution, searching for three shards of his father's ancient gold crown, which controls The Golden Army: unstoppable fighting machines created by the goblins. The final piece of the crown is in the possession of Nuada's twin, Princess Nuala (Annn Walton), but she does not share his thirst for world domination. Nuala seeks refuge with the B.P.R.D. but Hellboy's famous "Big Baby" shotgun is no match for Nuada as he storms bureau headquarters and engineers his diabolical scheme.

The film is a triumph of design. The Troll Market, secreted beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, is festooned with weird and wonderful creatures of all shapes and sizes and there is a jaw-dropping fight between the horny hero and a gargantuan Elemental forest creature on a Manhattan street corner. Yet there is much more to del Toro's film than impeccable style.

Perlman carries off his role with gusto, bringing out the humour of his reluctant saviour from beneath the prosthetic make-up as Hellboy contends with so-called domestic bliss ("I would die for her . . . but she wants me to do the dishes!") Jones also comes to the fore as a sensitive soul experiencing love for the first time. If there is a weak link it's Goss, who fails to convey the rage and frustration of his misguided usurper. The relationship between the cigar-chomping, kitten-loving hero and girlfriend Liz moves in unexpected directions, culminating in a life or death choice that poses tantalising questions for the future.

"It is his destiny to bring about the destruction of the Earth. Not now, not tomorrow, but soon enough. Knowing that, you still want him to live?" wonders The Angel Of Death.

Absolutely.

Based on a madcap 1960s television series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart is a comic caper about an accident-prone yet sensitive secret agent who might just be mankind's last, great hope. James Bond and Jason Bourne need not fear: if Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) does save the world, it is the result of pluck and good fortune rather than a perfectly conceived and executed plan.

Carell embraces the film's brand of unabashed silliness without restraint. Whether he's body popping and pirouetting between the laser beams of a security system or attempting to unlock handcuffs using an ingenious mini-harpoon (the darts from which end up lodged in every part of his anatomy), the leading man is a lovable fool.

At times, however, he's perhaps a little too intelligent and capable, straining credibility when Maxwell abandons all common sense to achieve his goals. Carell catalyses a pleasing screen chemistry with the willowy Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada), who has nothing to do apart from try to keep a straight face as her co-star goofs into and out of trouble.

Terence Stamp pays his mortgage for a couple of months as the lifeless, pantomime arch-villain, whose ridiculously theatrical scheme to cause an explosion using Beethoven's Ode To Joy as a trigger is invariably doomed to failure.

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