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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Blade II (Blu-ray) (2002)

Blade II (Blu-ray) (2002)

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Released 12-Apr-2017

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action Audio Commentary-x 3
Featurette-Blade II: Blood Brothers
Featurette-Comic Book Origins
Featurette-The Vampire Mystique
Featurette-Damaskinos Blood Bath
Notes-Director's Notebooks
Featurette-Making Of-The Blood Pact
Featurette-Sequence Breakdowns
Featurette-Visual Effects
Notes-Script Supervisor's Notebook
Gallery-6
Deleted Scenes-+/- commentary
Storyboards-Blade II Video Game Survival Guide
Alternate Audio-Alternate Sunrise Music
Teaser Trailer
Theatrical Trailer
Music Video-Child Of The Wild West: Cypress Hill and Roni Size
Notes-Percussion Instruments
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2002
Running Time 116:52
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Guillermo Del Toro
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Wesley Snipes
Kris Kristofferson
Ron Pearlman
Norman Reedus
Leonor Varela
Luke Goss
Case ?
RPI ? Music Marco Beltrami


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 7.1
English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0
German Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1
Czech Dolby Digital 5.1
Russian Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
German for the Hearing Impaired
Spanish
Portuguese
Czech
Hungarian
Russian
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Blade (1998), directed by Stephen Norrington, about a half vampire / half mortal man who hunts vampires, was an unexpected success and so Blade II resulted with a new director in Guillermo del Toro. The difference in tone between the two films is analogous to the change between Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986); from smaller beginnings the later in each series become a full on combat film.

     As Blade II starts Blade (Wesley Snipes) rescues his friend and mentor Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) from two years of captivity by vampires and returns with him to Blade’s workshop run by Scud (Norman Reedus). There they are visited by two vampires, Asad (Danny John-Jules) and Nyassa (Leonor Varela), emissaries from the Head of the Vampire Nation, Damaskinos (Thomas Kretschmann). Although Blade and the vampires are enemies, something worse has arisen that is a threat to both vampires and humans; a super-strain of vampires called Reapers led by Nomak (Luke Goss) who are impervious to the weapons which kill vampires. Damaskinos wants Blade to lead his elite Blood Pact, a group that was originally formed by Damaskinos to kill Blade, to destroy the Reapers. The Blood Pact are led by Nyassa and include Asad, Reinhardt (Ron Perlman), Snowman (Donnie Yen), Chupa (Matthew Schulze) and the red haired Verlaine (Marit Velle Kile). Blade agrees, but is aware that some of the group have different agendas. But as their hunt descends into the sewers of the city, it seems that treachery is more widespread than Blade imagined.

     Guillermo del Toro is a director with an intensely visual flair and a supernatural / Gothic inclination which informs most of his films from big, noisy blockbusters such as Hellboy (2004 / 2008) to smaller stories such as Cronos (1993) or Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). Following the excellent Cronos and the less regarded but interesting Mimic (1997) and The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Blade II was del Toro’s breakout US hit, showing all his stylistic flourishes and colours. Blade II, with scenes mostly at night, in darkened rooms, underground tunnels or sewers, has a very dark palate; even the costumes of Blade and the Blood Pact are black, with only the red hair of Marit Velle Kile and light reflecting on the costumes as contrasts. But del Toro as is his want adds deep, saturated yellows, blues and reds to some scenes that are intense and stunning, such as Damaskinos’ blood bath, which suggest the influence of Italian giallo master Mario Bava.

     Yet, first and foremost, Blade II is a film of almost continuous energetic and chaotic action sequences with guns, an array of edged and blunt impact weapons plus martial arts hand to hand punches, kicks and jumps. Each fight is however distinctive. I had not been aware that the fight choreographer of the film was the one and only Donnie Yen, an Asian superstar who is now the most prolific “go to” kung fu man in Chinese cinema with credits including Ip Man and Painted Skin (both 2008), Bodyguards and Assassins (2009) and 14 Blades (2010), to name just a few. As a fight choreographer he brings to Blade II some kung fu moves that are more balletic and traditional martial arts amid the mayhem, in contrast to the fights coordinated by Jeff Ward, the fight coordinator from Blade, which are more brutal. Yen deserves to be better known in the West, which perhaps his role in Rogue One may remedy!

     In Blade II del Toro uses a combination of visual effects, prosthetics and CGI that mostly works very well; the Reaper Maw, for example, is very effective and still shudder inducing! Most of the CGI still looks effective by today’s standards, including the disintegration of the vampires when exposed to light; less convincing is where Blade or the Reapers fly around the ceiling or walls using what the filmmakers call “digital doubles”. The acting throughout is strong; Snipes just “is” Blade, while Luke Goss is an excellent adversary and Thomas Kretschmann, Leonor Varela and del Toro stalwart Ron Perlman are all excellent. The only role that jarred for me was Norman Reedus who seemed on occasion to be channelling Dennis Hopper from Apocalypse Now!

     Blade II is a horror film and a colourful and action packed roller coaster ride, rather than a vampire film as such. There are twists and betrayals, most of which are fairly obvious, but the ending adds a poignant touch unusual in such films. This is Guillermo del Toro finding top form, and from there he has never looked back.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Blade II is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     This film has a very dark colour scheme, with scenes at night, in dark rooms or underground but it adds contrasting sections of deep, saturated yellows, blues and reds which the print copes with without issues. Blacks generally are solid and scenes with the light reflecting off the black costumes are clean and clear although with so much black and muted lighting shadow detail is hidden and there is a fair bit of noise reduction. Detail can be soft, but close-ups are strong. Other than as noted, artefacts are not evident. Skin tones are fine and brightness and contrast consistent.

     Subtitles available are English for the Hearing Impaired, German for the Hearing Impaired, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Hungarian and Russian. English subtitles automatically translate the sections of non-English dialogue.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio choices are English DTS-HD MA 7.1, English DTS-HD MA 5.1, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Hungarian and Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 plus 3 audio commentaries, all Dolby Digital 2.0.

     In a word: wow! Dialogue is clear. During the numerous fight scenes the surrounds and rears reverberated with shots, explosions, the impacts of punches and kicks, bodies crashing into walls and general mayhem. In the non-action scenes, such as stalking Reapers in sewers or in a large house, the sounds of running water, the creaks of boards and footsteps added to the tension. The sub-woofer added boom to the action, but was never overdone.

     The score by Marco Beltrami used a lot of percussion added to the brass and strings which was very effective. The soundtrack also included a large number of mainly rap tunes by the likes of Ice Cube, Paul Oakenfold, Busta Rhymes, The Crystal Method and Mos Del & Massive Attack among others.

     I saw no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     With three audio commentaries, copious featurettes, notebooks, script pages, storyboards and stills this exhausting range of extras will tell you everything you need to know about the filming of Blade II except who made the tea. Or maybe I missed that. Most, but not all, were on the previous DVD release of some years ago which was reviewed on this site here.

Commentaries x 3

     Director Guillermo del Toro talks candidly and non-stop about the film. He is an entertaining speaker and covers, among other things, how much he enjoyed the shoot, how he came to the project, his intentions and style of shooting, the film’s themes, the colour scheme, the action choreography, the cast, make-up effects, vampire lore, literature and anatomy, the sets, budgets and where doubles were used.

     Director Guillermo del Toro and Producer Peter Frankfurt sit together to discuss the film, although del Toro does more of the talking. This is a more chatty, humorous and friendly commentary and they speak about their intentions and influences, the look of the film, the style of the fights, the comic book moments, the lighting, the colour palate, the design of the uniforms among other things. A bit of information is repeated from the del Toro commentary, but this is still an entertaining listen.

     Writer David S. Goyer and Actor / Producer Wesley Snipes provide a chatty and non-technical commentary with a lot of laughs and comments about how “cool” a scene or effect is. They talk about the difference between the two Blade films, various other cast members, del Toro, Snipes’s character as Blade as well as anecdotes from the filming. Another decent commentary track, worth a listen.

Director’s Notebook

     This starts with del Toro’s notebook of sketches and notes, some of which he used in developing Blade II’s effects. There are 10 pages and the remote is used to advance to the next page. On some pages are “buttons”; hit enter and see del Toro comment with film clips. The sections of additional footage are Ninja costume (2:04), Reaper design (2:48), Reaper anatomy (2:05), Anime style action (2:49), Architecture design (3:14) and Reaper skin and Damaskinos’ makeup (1:53).

Blade II: Blood Brothers (10:22)

     Writer David S. Goyer talks about developing the script of Blade II with del Toro, the difference in look between the two Blade films and the influence of del Toro; a lot of film footage is included.

Blood Pact

     This is a long “Making of” (approx. 82 minutes) that has been chopped, often abruptly, into the sections below, the chopping made more obvious because there is no ‘play all’ option. There are extensive sections of behind the scenes, stunt and on-set footage and interview contributions in most sections by Guillermo del Toro, producer Peter Frankfurt and writer David S. Goyer plus, in the relevant sections, comments by the production designer (Carol Spier), prosthetics and creature effects supervisors, visual effects supervisor, costume designer (Wendy Partridge), fight choreographer (Donnie Yen), stunt coordinator, star Wesley Snipes and composer Marco Beltrami. The content of each section is clear from the note in the brackets:

Comic Book Origins (5:19)

     Guillermo del Toro, Peter Frankfurt and David S. Goyer talk about the comic book origins, spirit and tone of Blade II.

The Vampire Mystique (5:19)

     Guillermo del Toro, David S. Goyer and cast members Marit Velle Kile and Leonor Varela discuss the appeal and allure of vampires including the differences in various cultures.

Damaskinos Blood Bath (4:22)

     On-set footage of preparing the bloodbath and one scene’s principal photography.

Alternate Sunrise Music (1:13)

    An alternative music take for the scene as the Blood Pact get ready for action.

Percussion Instruments (Stills)

    Sixteen silent text screens explain the various types of percussion instruments from around the world used in the film’s score including lesser known drums such as a Crotales, Djembe, Taiko or Kenkeni. Use the remote to advance to the next screen.

Sequence Breakdowns

     For each of the sequences there are individual subsections covering Original Script (not for the Caliban sequence) (text, use the remote), Shooting Script (text, use the remote), Storyboard / FX Breakdown (text, use the remote), Scene in Film (film footage), and On the Set (on set footage of filming the sequence). For each sequence and every subsequence you must return to the menu, which can get tedious. As well some text sections are very extensive – for example the Blood Bank storyboards total 133 screens alone! The sequences are:

Visual Effects

     This consists of three sections, the last with seven subsections. The first two look at digital effects, the last practical effects.

    Synthetic Stuntmen (6:04): a sequence where digital doubles were used, including before and after comparisons.

    The Digital Maw (3:25): the digital development of the Reapers’ opening maw.

    Progress Report: a look in the workshop at the development and testing of various practical effects including body doubles, prosthetics, Reapers’ heads and body parts and animatronics. There is no play all option. The sections are:

Script Supervisor’s Notebook

     207 images, notes and script pages. Silent, use the remote to advance to the next screen.

Unfilmed Script Pages

     The script pages for three unfilmed scenes. Silent, use the remote to advance to the next screen. The three sections are:

Art Gallery

     Various sketches and drawings. Silent, use the remote to advance to the next screen. The sections are:

Storyboards

     172 storyboards. Silent, use the remote to advance to the next screen.

Deleted & Alternate Scenes (24:29)

     These deleted / extended / alternate scenes can be played with or without a commentary by del Toro and producer Peter Frankfurt. Mostly they were cut for pacing and rhythm reasons. There is a play all option.

Music Video (3:40)

     Cypress Hill and Roni Size: Child of the Wild West.

Trailers

     The Teaser Trailer (0:37) and Theatrical Trailer (1:53) for the film.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     Our version is the same as the US release of Blade II.

Summary

     Guillermo del Toro took the Blade character and turned Blade II into a horror action film, with vampires. Blade II has all the colours, Gothic flourishes and touches we have come to expect from del Toro plus full on chaotic action mayhem and decent effects so that the film, although made in 2002, still stacks up very well against more recent action thrillers. Blade II is definitely worth revisiting on Blu-ray!

     The video is good, the audio spectacular. The extras are so extensive as to be overwhelming.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Wednesday, May 03, 2017
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE