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'Hellboy II: The Golden Army'

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BY RAFER GUZMÁN | rafer.guzman@newsday.com

With the release of its second installment, the "Hellboy" franchise is now officially weird. A mix of conventional pulp, self-conscious snark and grotesque fantasy, the films defy easy categorization, which is intermittently a good thing. "Hellboy II," like its 2004 predecessor, has a middling story line, but it's made memorable by the dark, freaky visions of director Guillermo del Toro. And this time, his imagination runs wilder than ever.

Ron Perlman returns as the cigar-chomping, beer-guzzling demon superhero. He's still working for a secret government agency and hanging out with his unlikely friend, the erudite fish-man Abe Sapien ( Doug Jones). Hellboy is also having problems with his pyro-kinetic girlfriend, Liz ( Selma Blair), a real hottie. All that gets put on hold when news comes of a robbery-massacre at a Manhattan auction house. The Tooth Fairies were involved -- and these aren't the kind that fluff your pillow.

The culprit is Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), an ancient scion who looks a bit like the singer for a Finnish metal band. Blond-haired, red-eyed and mad at the world, Nuada is collecting the pieces of a crown that will allow him to command a dormant army of unstoppable robot-warriors. His only soft spot is for his twin sister: If you prick one, the other bleeds.

Nuada is one of many creations -- including a roaring flower-monster and a multieyed angel of death -- who outshine Hellboy. His pat wisecracks and smirking attitude still don't add up to a compelling character. The previously underused Abe Sapien, who this time gets his own romance going, steals the film in a hilarious scene involving a sappy Barry Man.ilow tune. There's also an amusing new good guy named Krauss who's quite literally an empty suit. (He's voiced by "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane.)

In the end, it's Nuada who delivers a surprisingly moving manifesto about the mythical creatures who haunt us humans: "If we die, their world will be the poorer for it."

(PG-13)

PLOT The demon superhero who fights for good must save humanity from an unstoppable troop of ancient warriors.

CAST Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones

LENGTH 1:50

PLAYING AT Area theaters.

BOTTOM LINE Hellboy's smirking persona is again only half convincing, but director Guillermo del Toro saves the day by creating (and voicing) a cast of memorably freaky creatures.