Hellboy II: The Golden Army
July 11

Guillermo del Toro could have made almost any movie after Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), but he chose to go back to what he knows, a sequel to his 2004 cult hit, Hellboy, whose following probably stems as much from Mike Mignola’s comic as it does from the original movie. Ron Perlman is once again the devil’s spawn with a big fist who fights assorted demons and creepy-crawlies—in this case, creatures led by a supernaturally empowered psychopath who invades Earth with plans to eradicate humanity. Under the auspices of Universal rather than Sony Pictures, the special effects seem to have been given an upgrade; early stills are as visually splendid as Labyrinth.

GEEK SPEAK
Matt Streets, manager of Graham Crackers Comics (77 E Madison St, 312-629-1810)

Some people study art. Others study medicine. Streets studies Hellboy with the zeal of a Ph.D. candidate. A fan of the horned hero for six years, Streets owns (and has read) every Hellboy storyline available in print, not to mention a T-shirt, lighter and a smattering of action figures.

Reasons to be hopeful “The first movie was pretty true to the spirit of the comics, and if they keep that, this one will be great. Hellboy 2 looks like it has the same feel but with more action.”

Possible pitfalls “When they do a sequel to movies, they sometimes try to overextend themselves, put in more special effects and lose focus on what made the movie a success in the first place.”

Fascinating Hellboy fact? “Hellboy works for BPRD, which stands for Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. It’s almost like an X-Files department of the government.”

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