Hi-def Hellboy 2 gives fantasy blockbusters a good name

While Chris Nolan's Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight is anchored to the real world, Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy revels in its fairy-tale universe. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army will transport you to a world that's fanciful in the extreme; where there's a 'Troll Market' beneath the Brooklyn Bridge and tooth fairies are not only real - but ravenous and unlikely to disappear when fed some coins.

Based on Mike Mignola's comic books, this isn't really a superhero movie at all; it's a wildly imaginative creature feature that never loses the courage of its convictions (unlike the aforementioned The Dark Knight).

Layer upon layer of glorious fantasy detail has been etched onto the screen, and it's all there to be examined in this glorious 1080p24 AVC encode. Indeed, there's so much of note crammed into every frame that I'd suggest that if you haven't seen the movie in hi-def, then you haven't really seen it at all.

While I liked the original Hellboy, I positively love this sequel. It's way smarter, tonally richer and altogether more engrossing. From the opening stop-motion/puppet animation, which sets up the back-story, to the naturalistic character-play between Red, Abe and Liz, it just zings.

The screenplay, by del Torro, is pacey and fun; despite the extended running time, it sweeps without lethargy to a satisfying conclusion, and still finds time for cute genre-references - look out for the movie theatre promoting 'See you next (W)ednesday', a reverential nod to John Landis who used the phrase as his onscreen signature, and the reoccurring Universal monster pantheon.

The performances are also note-perfect. Ron Pearlman makes Mike Mignola's rock-handed creation a believable hero, while Jeffrey Tambor ably covers for John Hurt (who supplies only a first reel cameo).

Luke Goss is buff and sympathetic as the unworldly elfin Prince Nuada. Keen for his supernatural kin to reclaim the earth from mankind, he'll stop at nothing to unleash the unstoppable titular army. But as a villain he's given a run for his money by the behemoth Wink, a fabulous fantasy fiend.

Some have criticised the movie for being a protracted Muppet Show, but that's grossly unfair. Set and character design throughout is stunning, and seemingly owes much to Pan's Labyrinth.
The artful mix of CG, model work and prosthetics is literally mind-blowing -
del Torro seems to have borrowed his cast of forest elementals, trolls and miscellaneous creatures from the Tolkien vivarium. Only in this movie, the gags are better. And you won't leave LOTR: Return of the King with Barry Manilow's Can't Smile Without You looping in your head.

Image quality on the 2.35:1 transfer is superb. There's tangible depth and clarity to the hi-def picture. It perhaps doesn't pop in the way some other shiny BD discs do, but at times it feels like you can see forever into the image. Colour fidelity is just divine throughout., with a preponderance of red and gold hues.

The soundtrack is an exemplary 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix. With a strong Danny Elfman score, gorgeous articulation, astounding dynamics and an LFE that seems to stem from the bowels of Hell itself, this is one movie you'll want to play snippets from time and again, just to remind yourself how great it sounds.

The extras are time consuming. In what I regard as a bit of a cheat, the Making of... documentary In the Service of the Demon, is supplied on a separate DVD in SD. While the BD itself is Region free, the DVD is Region One, which means you almost certainly won't be able to play it in your UK BD player.

The episodic documentary is at least exhaustive though, clocking in at over two hours. The highlight on the BD is a tour of the Cantina-esque Troll Market sequence by del Toro.

Although not Profile 1.1 PIP enabled, there's audio chatter from Jeffrey Tambor, Luke Goss and Selma Blair, plus a fabulous commentary from the director; there's also a short animated Motion Comic epilogue, some deleted scenes and a Comic Book Builder (of which del Toro says: ‘You can make it as obscene as you want, and e-mail it to your enemies').

My Hellboy 2 came from leading importers Movietyme, and shipped with a great lenticular slip-case. Viewed on one angle it's Ron Pearlman, flip it and it morphs into Mignola's comic artwork. Overall, very cool.

Universal, Region free Blu-ray, £19, Movietyme import
HCC VERDICT: 5/5