Cast: Ron Pearlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Doug Jones, Luke Goss

Dir: Guillermo del Toro

Rating: 4/5

Despite being one of the most highly underrated movies when Hellboy was released back in 2004 director Guillermo del Toro and cast led by Ron Pearlman are back for the second instalment of this unlikely franchise Hellboy II: The Golden Army it was just one of a long line of superhero movies that graced cinema screen this summer but one I was personally looking forward to.

After an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Now, it's up to the planet's toughest, roughest superhero to battle the merciless dictator and his marauders.

He may be red. He may be horned. He may be misunderstood. But when you need the job done right, it's time to call in Hellboy.

Along with his expanding team in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development, pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair), aquatic empath Abe (Doug Jones) and protoplasmic mystic Johann, the BPRD will travel between the surface strata and the unseen magical one, where creatures of fantasy become corporeal.

And Hellboy, a creature of two worlds who's accepted by neither, must choose between the life he knows and an unknown destiny that beckons him.

The sets are dazzling, the CGI is second to none and the characters are some of the most larger than life than you will see on the big screen all year which makes this sequel one of the most unforgettable experiences in recent months. Comic book fans may have been spoilt this year with the likes of Ironman and The Dark Knight but Hellboy gives us one last action hero to enjoy before the Oscar contenders start rolling out over the next few weeks and Ron Pearlman and co really do not disappoint.

Pearlman is quite simply brilliant as the wisecracking, couldn't really give a shit Hellboy who is experiencing a few domestic problems of his own. The friendship between the cast is obviously as Pearlman and Doug Jones, in the role of Abe, banter well together and the pair singing Can't Smile Without You really is a treat!

Guillermo del Toro's imagination just spills onto the screen as he once again brings a series of unforgettable characters to the screen, and while Hellboy II may not quite be on a par with Pan's Labyrinth you won't see another comic book movie like it.

However Selma Blair's character of Liz is drastically underused and the personal issues between her and Hellboy seem to just clog up the action, but that really would be my only criticism.

While so many comic book films are a carbon copy of those that have gone before it Hellboy II: The Golden Army has the balls to have a personality of it's own and a look, in terms of it's characters and visuals, of it's own that sets it apart from the rest.

Golden Army is the work of one of the industry's best and most innovative directors who is not afraid to try something new in this genre of movie and he, and his cast, have developed an franchise that is nothing like anything else.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is released 8th December

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw