Last updated 21:59, Wednesday, 27 August 2008

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY: The sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s 2004 fantasy, based on Mike Mignola’s comics series, is every bit as fast and furious as its predecessor, melding dazzling production design with wry humour and explosive action sequences.GET SMART: Based on a madcap 1960s television series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart is a comic caper about an accident-prone yet sensitive secret agent who might be mankind’s last, great hope.

Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart, the accident-prone secret agent, and Anne Hathaway as his straight-faced sidekick in the comic caper Get Smart

Having sketched the origins of the characters in the first film, del Toro is given free rein here to let his imagination run amok, concocting a dark and bloody fairytale full of trolls, goblins and a nine-ft-tall Angel Of Death.

The writer-director’s distinctive visual style, celebrated with three Academy Awards for Pan’s Labyrinth, is very much in evidence, including a swarm of voracious tooth fairies, who crave calcium and eagerly devour human flesh to extract tasty molars from gums. Children should seriously think twice about putting milk teeth under their pillow.

The clandestine Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development (BPRD) is struggling to keep Hellboy (Ron Perlman) hidden from prying eyes.

After a visit to an Upper East Side auction house, Hellboy and his cohorts Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) are propelled into the media spotlight to the chagrin of BPRD chief Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor).

Meanwhile, disgruntled prince of the underworld, Nuada Silverlance (Luke Goss), grows resentful of the wasteful humans. He spearheads a revolution, searching for three shards of his father’s ancient gold crown, which controls The Golden Army: unstoppable fighting machines created by the goblins.

The final piece of the crown is in the possession of Nuada’s twin, Princess Nuala (Anna Walton), but she does not share his thirst for world domination.

Nuala seeks refuge with the BPRD but Hellboy’s famous “Big Baby” shotgun is no match for Nuada as he storms bureau headquarters and engineers his diabolical scheme.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a triumph of design. The Troll Market, secreted beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, is festooned with weird and wonderful creatures of all shapes and sizes and there is a jaw-dropping fight between the horny hero and a gargantuan Elemental forest creature on a Manhattan street corner.

Yet there is much more to del Toro’s film than impeccable style. Perlman carries off his role with gusto, bringing out the humour of his reluctant saviour from beneath the prosthetic make-up as Hellboy contends with so-called domestic bliss.

If there is a weak link it’s Goss, who fails to convey the rage and frustration of his misguided usurper.

James Bond and Jason Bourne need not fear: if Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) does save the world, it is the result of pluck and good fortune rather than a perfectly conceived and executed plan.

Carell embraces the film’s brand of unabashed silliness without restraint.

Whether he’s body popping and pirouetting between the laser beams of a security system or attempting to unlock handcuffs using an ingenious mini-harpoon, the leading man is a lovable fool. At times he’s perhaps a little too intelligent and capable, straining credibility when Maxwell abandons all common sense to achieve his goals.

Carell catalyses a pleasing screen chemistry with the willowy Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada), who has nothing to do apart from try to keep a straight face as her co-star goofs into and out of trouble.

Terence Stamp pays his mortgage for a couple of months as the lifeless, pantomime arch-villain, whose ridiculously theatrical scheme to cause an explosion using Beethoven’s Ode To Joy as a trigger is invariably doomed to failure.

Maxwell Smart is a surveillance expert for secret US agency CONTROL, monitoring and deciphering conversations between counterparts from the Russian agency KAOS. He is keen to prove his worth in the field but the Chief (Alan Arkin) values Maxwell’s talents too much to let him stray from headquarters.

When the secret identities of CONTROL’s operatives around the world are compromised, the Chief has little choice but to promote Maxwell and dispatch Agent 86 to Russia under the guidance of feisty mentor Agent 99 (Hathaway) to track down criminal mastermind Siegfried (Stamp).

With geeks Bruce (Masi Oka) and Lloyd (Nate Torrence) providing technical back-up and buff Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson) providing additional muscle, Agents 86 and 99 uncover a dastardly plot to kill the American president (James Caan) during a televised concert.

Get Smart incorporates many familiar characters and gizmos from the TV series, including Max’s shoe phone and the so-called Cone Of Silence, which allows CONTROL operatives to talk to one another without being overheard.