Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

I was stoked for "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." The director/co-writer Guillermo del Toro is one of my favorite filmmakers, having made "The Devil's Backbone," "Hellboy" and the stellar "Pan's Labyrinth." But this sequel to the 2004 film about a demon hero trapped on Earth and doing good for the U.S. of A. is a let down.

It's a visual delight with some of the best makeup and VFX I've seen in years filling, but never overwhelming, the screen. Yet the first film's heart is missing this go round. Is it the near absence of the brilliant John Hurt as comic book hero Hellboy's adoptive father, who appears only briefly in a long and wordy prologue set in the 1950s? Or it that the villain elf Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) is just not that memorable? Nuada certainly wrecks havoc on New York City, notching up a high body count, but he never connects to Hellboy (the brilliant Ron Perlman) the way that the Rasputin character did in the first film.

Worse yet, once I learned that Nuada has an angelic, kind twin sister (Anna Walton) who shares any pain/injury with her brother, well, the ending is apparent. The lack of drama is surprising. The sister falls for Abe (Doug Jones), but that love is never challenged. What if the sister turned sides -- however briefly -- to save her evil brother and Abe was forced to kill her? Or what if Abe saved the villain, thus putting Hellboy in danger? Del Toro certainly offers the visual delights, fantastic mythology and spectacular action he's known for, but I sense we're on autopilot. A bit of a bummer. A great bummer. But a bummer. B