"Hellboy," Mike Mignola's epic comic concoction of government conspiracy, the occult, Nazis, and a cigar chomping red protagonist spawned directly from the depths of moral depravity has long been considered one of the most intense graphic rides in the history of the medium. Geek-cum-director Guillermo Del Toro ("Cronos," "Mimic," Blade II," etc.) crafts his film version of "Hellboy" as a labor of love with constant care and nobility as only a true fan can, while avoiding the usual pitfalls of adapting a complex work one loves: Del Toro doesn't lose those of us unfamiliar with the comic or waste time with clumsy exposition. This is a comic-book origin tale, on par with Tim Burton's "Batman" or either or the "X-Men" films, with a level of intelligence absent from most films (American or otherwise, you snobs) today, let alone adaptations of graphic novels.

More importantly, "Hellboy" is one of the most entertaining action extravaganzas of the past several years (not named "Kill Bill") and if there is any justice in this cold, cruel world it will rake in enough cabbage to compete with "The Passion" and spawn the promised franchise. While the previews have suggested a bizarre cross between the "Blade" films and the unwatchable "League of Extraordinary Gentleman," "Hellboy" is actually a living comic book. There are characters you care about despite or even because of their, say, giant fish eyes or two foot horns. This is not spectacle for spectacle's sake, but a world where superheroes exist just under the surface of the collective conscience, and Del Toro makes the audience not only except this, but enjoy it, relishing in the characters and adventures and investing in their relationships and tragedy's.

All this and a Nazi assassin named Kroenen who makes Darth Maul look about as scary as wheel-chair-bound Franklin in the original "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But more on him later.

The story opens in the 1940s, where Adolph Hitler has gained the assistance of long-dead (even then) mad monk Grigori Rasputin, to open up a portal to Hell and retrieve the ultimate evil from some sneaky World War II related world destruction. Luckily, Prof. Bruttenholm, the paranormal advisor for President Roosevelt shows up in the nick of time with a handful of marines. They close the portal and kill of most of those involved, but not before a little red demon-baby emerges from the flames. The Prof. takes the young Hellboy under his wing, and raises him at the very-secret Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

Sixty years later, we meet Hellboy (now Ron Perlman) again, who ages at a much slower rate than humans (he's in his early 30s). Hellboy is a sarcastic, caustic creature who lifts weights and cares for kittens when he's not ridding the world of monsters for our protection. The Prof, now in his 80s (in the form of John Hurt, who gives the character charm and gravity unexpected in a comic flick), still runs the Bureau, but is slowing down and hoping to groom a successor in young FBI agent John Meyers (Rupert Evans). Hellboy's partner is the fish-like Abe Sapien, a telepathic water-breather with a knack for reading ancient texts and an unholy love of spoiled eggs. We meet these characters through the eyes of Agent Meyers, and like him we soon forget how strange they look. By the time Rasputin rises from the grave to induce Hellboy back into furthering Ragnarok, the audience is more concerned with plot and characters than appearance.

Perlman is perfect as Hellboy, playing his internal conflict between his love of the pyrotechnic Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and his desire to close of as a brooding anti-hero (which is impossible, showcased in a hilarious and almost touching scene Perlman shares with a young boy on a rooftop). The studio wanted someone more bankable than odd character actor Perlman, and rumor had it both Vin Diesel and The Rock were mentioned to play the character. Del Toro fought tooth and nail to get Perlman underneath the red makeup and shorn horns, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude. Hopefully this will raise perlman's stake in Hollywood, and we'll see the gifted actor in a few more big-budget geekfests.

The rest of the cast and characters are fun and engaging, and I won't spoil any surprises of their introductions or interactions. However, I must return for a moment to Kroenen, Rasputin's loyal right-hand-man. From the first shot of him, clad in an SS uniform producing spring-loaded knives from his sleeves, the audience is aware they've just seen the coolest character in the whole film. Kroenen, addicted to surgery and so fast with a weapon he makes Jackie Chan look like the fat guy from "The Butterfly Effect," Kroenen is cool because you want to watch him, not because the filmmakers have decided, ahead of time, that they want him as the "cool breakout character" (I'm looking at you, George Lucas).

This is why "Hellboy" works. A film by a director who understands that excess is fine as long as it's grounded in something we care about, and an audience (especially one of horror or comic-book fans) respond to characters they love, not characters they're told they should love by cynical studios trying to cell 32 ounce cups at Taco Bell. "Hellboy" is why we go to see big budget movies, or at least why we should, and I hope the Box Office reflects this for a long time to come.