Hellboy II is awesome. In a summer full of great movies, this is another one that will rank in my top three - it's up there with Iron Man and Speed Racer, though I don't know if I consider it quite as good as either. But it might be. It's outstanding. From the performances of our heroes (props to Doug Jones to making himself sound enough like David Hyde Pierce that the continuity isn't a huge issue for me) to the villians (Luke Goss, best known for being Nomak in Blade II, is totally different as the Prince) and terciary creatures (nearly all of which are done practically and beautifully), this is outstanding stuff. I think it's equal to the first in my eyes, but I'm hesitant to say much more. Do I have any gripes? Well, I guess Jeffrey Tambor's character, Manning, doesn't seem to grow as much as I expected after the end of the last one, the makeup on adolescent Hellboy in the opening sequence doesn't really work, and I wish they didn't tease us so much for a sequel we may or may not get to see (including one tease that seems like a total repeat of the first movie's plot). The rest is great across the board. The action is better than ever, too, and you can actually spend some time wondering to yourself how justified the "villian" really was in his actions. That's really all I got to say about that, other than the fact that you absolutely should see it and try to support the creation of a possible third entry.

Maria and I actually saw it at midnight on Thursday. The crowd, sadly, was small and not terribly enthused about it compared to what I'm used to from midnight crews, but they did laugh in all the right places. As for Maria, she also loved it. She's big on Hellboy and company. What's not to like?

Now then...

Check out the series of Hellboy II commercials that have been running; they're loaded up on awesomeness. Here's a collection of them all in one video. There are two crossovers with "Chuck," one with "American Gladiators," one with "Ghost Hunters," one with the "mun2" Latino cable network, three with "Inside the Actor's Studio" and a Public Service Announcement thrown in for good measure. I love them.

One more bit of Hellboyization: This article in The Hollywood Reporter details how hard it was to get this sequel made at all, and is a good read despite how much it summarizes the basics of the struggle that eventually led the franchise to switch studios from Sony to Universal. We're lucky we got it.