2004's Hellboy was a critical success (81% on Rotten Tomatoes) but didn't exactly set the box office on fire (making $99 million against a $66 million budget), somewhat explaining why it took a whole four years to get the sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, off the ground. A significant improvement over the original film, Hellboy II benefits once again from Guillermo del Toro's flair for visual majesty, with the movie's outstanding visual effects and production design serving as a potent tonic to that summer's gritty, ultra-realistic The Dark Knight. In addition to this, the movie is just a lot of fun: it hasn't got a single moment of serious regard for itself, and is just interested in being entertaining rather than profound. Ron Perlman again delivers a marvelous performance as the title character, easily one of the most accurate renditions of a comic book character to date, and the supporting characters on both sides of the protagonist are an absolute blast to behold. Bounding along at a breathless pace and easily one of del Toro's best directing efforts to date, Hellboy II should be held to be a classic comic book sequel. Why, then, does nobody talk about it anymore? Despite critical acclaim (87% on RT) and a significantly better financial showing than the original ($160 million profit against an $85 million budget), Hellboy II is a mostly forgotten comic book movie. One possible explanation is that it was ill-advisedly released just a week before The Dark Knight, with the shadow of The Joker essentially being the only film-related thing anyone could talk about that month.