In all the flurry surrounding The Dark Knight’s July 18th release, people are overlooking some movies that might have otherwise garnered a lot of attention. One of them is Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s popular supernatural action movie.

Guillermo del Toro gained a devoted cult following after the release of his visionary fairy tale Pan’s Labyrinth, which drew in the exact sort of people who were thrilled to find out that he’d be directing The Hobbit movie in lieu of Peter Jackson.

Hellboy, though flawed, was an enjoyable and sometimes inspiring film. With Ron Perlman in the role he was born to play, lending a sarcastic twist to a story laden with ancient darkness, how could it go wrong? And if del Toro took a few tips from Lovecraft when he created his apocalyptic tentacle monster, well, that’s all right. Both men were visionaries obsessed with the supernatural, though I think del Toro might well be the better writer.

Hellboy’s most endearing quality was its satisfying conclusion, which gift-wrapped the “why” of the titular character and handed it to the audience, topped with a bow. It’s nice when things have an explanation. It’s nice when things come together.

It doesn’t need a sequel, certainly. But I’m not opposed to the idea of one. Selma Blair has cleaned up nicely, and appears to feature a little bit less in the plot. (Maybe it’s just me, but while her character was interestingly written, I didn’t feel like Blair quite pulled it off.)

Rather than keep mucking around in the same old territory, del Toro has taken Hellboy and crew to a new setting: fantasy. Elves, trolls, and fairies become the villians instead of the obvious. Much better. In the house of Mirkwood, dead Legolas lies dreaming.

It has a certain ring to it.

Luckily, Hellboy was subtle in its moments of brilliance. Del Toro shouldn’t have too much difficulty living up to it. Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens on July 11th. If nothing else, you can bide your time until that Batman movie or whatever comes out.

Popularity: 3% [?]