Which, truth be told, I preferred to "Pan's Labyrinth," the movie that gave Del Toro his Oscar. Not my favorite, but it did put me in a position to say I told you so.
So, with apologies to ABBA, to the 1970s, to disco, to Swedish pop and to the spectacle of Meryl Streep playing air guitar, it was with ease and greedy anticipation that I chose to see "Hellboy II: The Golden Army."
The sequel finds Hellboy - a supernatural demon raised by the U.S. Government and recruited to combat paranormal threats - still fighting with his on-again, off-again girlfriend (Selma Blair), who's still a cross between Catwoman and a Weber grill.
This time, their bickering plays out against the backdrop of a new threat. An angry Elf (Luke Goss) wants to find an ancient artifact that will enable him to activate a mechanical army he'll use to destroy mankind.
Elves, goblins, trolls, magical crowns, ancient truce or curse - I waited a little impatiently for Del Toro to cough up all of this mythology so we could get to the good stuff, which is Perlman's hilariously laconic Hellboy.
I think it's easy to to underrate what Perlman does with Hellboy, because so much of the performance is red body armor and heavy makeup, and he's so often surrounded by computer-generated monsters.
But that's the genius of it. Perlman knows how Hellboy registers, so he doesn't compete or detract by bellowing or gesturing. He's judiciously low-key and economical, lowering the volume on his big, deep voice and remaining studiously unimpressed by what's happening around him. (Confronted with a 10-story monster, Perlman responds with a barely audible, "Oh, crap.")
