Hellboy II: The Golden Army

If Hellboy ever tired of putting the world to rights then he could always count on a career in stand-up

He's the Jack Dee of sardonic superheroes as opposed to The Dark Knight's dour Gordon Brown.

And that's what makes director Guillemo Del Toro's Hellboy movies such an attractive proposition - they grab you by the throat while massaging your chuckle muscle.

In this highly enjoyable sequel to his scene-setting debut, Hellboy (Perlman, excellent as ever) has settled into a life of routine: his slovenly homelife with on-off girlfriend Selma Blair takes his mind off the public's increasing irritability with a superhero who makes as much of a mess as he clears up.

Suddenly, he's shocked into action with the arrival of evil Prince Nuada (Luke Goss doing a neat impression of 70s rocker Johnny Winter), a hard-done by heir who wants to reawaken The Golden Army of terrifying legend.

This really is Del Toro's monster's ball. It seems everywhere you turn - from a sweet little old lady who is really a carnivorous maggot to a four-storey high runner bean with a flesh-devouring appetite - there's a freakish behemoth coming your way.

In one memorable scene, the monsters' secret, subterranean flea market makes the canteen in Star Wars look like the Rovers Return.

Yet, apart from drooling brutes, Del Toro's other strong suit is his playful sense of fun. You couldn't imagine The Dark Knight cracking open a six pack, slumping to the floor and slurring along to Barry Manilow's Can't Smile Without You.

When Del Toro is allowed space and time - check out the flesh-mangling attack of the carnivorous Tooth Fairies at a New York auction house - then his sense of action and dynamics is pretty much peerless.

Where The Dark Knight impresses yet never involves, Hellboy is just the kind of superhero you'd like to shoot the breeze with.

Tim Evans