Blade II (2002) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Action |
Menu Animation & Audio Dolby Digital Trailer-Canyon Audio Commentary Audio Commentary Isolated Musical Score Scene Selection Anim & Audio Featurette-The Blood Pact (+ Active Subtitles) Featurette-Sequence Breakdowns (Scripts, Set, Storyboards, Scene) (6) Featurette-Visual Effects (3) Notes-Notebooks (3) + Introduction Gallery-6 Deleted Scenes-+/- commentary with Introduction Featurette-Blade II Video Game Survival Guide Notes-Theatrical Press Kit Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailer Music Video-Child Of The Wild West-Cypress Hill and Roni Size |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
Running Time | 112:02 (Case: 117) | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
RSDL (58:55) Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 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 | Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music | Marco Beltrami |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX (448Kb/s) English dts 6.1 ES Discrete (768Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Isolated Music Score Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | Yes, including joints ("tokes"). |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
The story, such as is provided between all the fighting, is that there is a new sub-species of Vampire, known as the Reaper. Reapers have a voracious appetite, and worse, anybody - vampire or human - bitten (actually, more like eaten) by a reaper will become a reaper in a matter of hours. For this reason, the reaper population is exploding, and looks set to destroy all the vampires. That's a good thing, right? Well, problem is, it would then be time to get started on the humans. It is for the former reason that the leaders of the vampires turn to the one man they know has the power to stop the reaper menace, and it is the latter reason they use to secure his assistance.
The strengths of the original Blade are carried through here and amplified, while new director Gillermo Del Toro brings a few tension-inducing moments to the franchise. Unfortunately, there is little made of Blade's association with the vampires, and they behave more like a bunch of unruly children than dangerous killers who are only held back from finishing Blade by their fear of the Reapers. The CGI effects in Blade II are of a rather variable quality. At times "CGI stuntmen" are used, and they are extremely obvious, and really detract from the quality of the fight scenes (although even Del Toro admits this). At other times, the effects are extremely well blended and work incredibly well. The fight scenes, apart from the obvious CGI scenes, are also extremely good. A conscious effort was made to stay away from the "wire-fu" style as much as possible, so many of the scenes are grittier and more physical than the recent trend.
Performance-wise, there is little to say - as little was demanded of the actors. They were either there to kick or be kicked, and not much else. In that regard they do well. Of the few principals, Wesley Snipes doesn't so much as act, but rather pull various facial expressions through the film. Does that matter? Not really - he has the Blade "cool" to make up for it. Kris Kristofferson grumps his way through the movie, while Leonor Varela as the "love interest" and Norman Reedus as Blade's new sidekick don't exactly make a striking effort for the advancement of their careers. The only actor who really holds his own here is Ron Perlman as the bully of the Blood Pack (the vampire hunting group sent to work with Blade), giving a depth to the character that was easy to see.
The most impressive aspect of Blade II is the fighting. Some of the scenes are silly, but for the most part they are very energetic and worth watching. The final fight makes exceedingly good use of CGI to create what may well be one of the greatest fight scenes committed to celluloid, as the uber-Reaper and Blade go head-to-head in what is very much a battle of super-hero proportions. This is a comic book movie, and it makes no pretensions to anything else. There is not even a sub-title to go along with Blade II. It is pure, unashamed, popcorn fun, and for that reason, it just may be the new blueprint for action movies in the years to come.
Presented at the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 (although the way in which it is shot feels much wider), this transfer is 16x9 enhanced.
This is a very sharp transfer, although not the sharpest that has ever been produced. It has a very natural and film-like look, as the detail is readily apparent on the screen, but not quite to the point of leaping off. There is very little in the way of excessive film grain, the most severe being the first few opening shots of the House Of Pain club from 35:20 on, although there is often a very minor amount of background grain. The shadow detail is just as good as the sharpness, displaying incredible detail in even the darkest of conditions, and for a movie about vampires set mostly at night, that is extremely important. There is no low level noise.
Colours are superb. The blacks are dark and rich while the highlights are wonderfully vibrant. It is truly amazing how many different shades of red can be used to depict blood.
There are only two compression artefacts throughout the transfer. The first is quite noticeable macro blocking during the high-grain sequences in the House of Pain from 35:20, although as this is a high-movement scene, filmed with a moving camera, in extremely variable lighting conditions, so it certainly would not have been easy to encode. The second is some very nasty posterization on the blue (sun) flare from Blade's sword at 52:41. Both artefacts are only present very briefly (the latter for only a few frames), but they are distracting. There is some very mild aliasing, but it is infrequent, with the worst occurrence being on the joint being smoked by Scud from 62:11 to 62:18. Film artefacts are not a problem, with only a very few small flecks marking the image.
The subtitles are well-paced, easy to read, attractively rendered, and are generally accurate. There are a number of words that differ, but the intent is usually the same. The only real problem during the period in which I sampled the subtitles came at 8:20 when two lines of dialogue were not subtitled at all.
This is an RSDL formatted disc with the layer change taking place at 58:55 during Chapter 14. It is a fairly noticeable layer-change as it occurs during a moment of high audio level, over a moving shot. Both the audio drop-out and the freezing of the shot point it out quite obviously.
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Overall |
There are six (yes, you read that right - six!) audio tracks present on this disc, all intended for English speaking listeners. To start with there is the original English dialogue in one of three configurations - DTS-ES 6.1 discrete (at 768 Kbps), Dolby Digital 5.1 EX (at 448 Kbps - note that this track is once again not flagged as being an EX track), and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (at 192 Kbps). In addition to those, there are two audio commentary tracks, both in Dolby Digital 2.0 (at 192 Kbps), and finally an isolated score track in Dolby Digital 5.1 (at 384 Kbps). The rest of this audio section will refer to the first two tracks - the original audio surround tracks.
Dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times. There are no issues, even with some of the lower-pitched or slightly drowned-out sounds. Audio sync is as good as can be expected for a big actioner, with no glaringly obvious problems, but a few niggling ones largely related to one character whose entire dialogue was re-dubbed in a different accent.
The music consists of score music by Marco Beltrami, and contemporary club and R&B pieces. The score is relatively mundane, as Beltrami lives up to his usual mediocrity, being quite uninventive and rather straight-forward. It is somewhat of an indictment on the score that the contemporary pieces work so well, although the exception to this rule is the final credits, where removed from the action, only fans of the particular musical genre will enjoy it.
This is one of those soundtracks that make the investment in a large complement of speakers for a surround-sound system seem very much worthwhile. The surrounds are used constantly, carrying not only the normal music and ambient noise, but many, many directional sound effects. They are used for both general "back" effects, and a large number of quite subtle single-point uses. The centre-back channel also comes into its own, providing an anchor for the wall of sound that is thrown from the rear speakers.
The subwoofer, as would be expected, gets an intense workout. As well as the score, there are gun shots, explosions, and car engines that all make use of the subwoofer. Most impressive, however, is the use of it during the House of Pain sequence. There will rarely ever be a better reason for having a dedicated LFE channel - when the characters are in rooms adjacent to the club, the high-frequency sounds of the club music are well muted, but the sub is still going off at almost the same intensity as in the club, providing a truly immersive experience.
As for the battle between Dolby Digital and DTS here, the results are essentially even. The Dolby Digital is a little more aggressive and has more intensive bass, while the DTS is better integrated and presents a seemingly tighter rear soundstage. It is really down to personal preference as to which one is better - I favour the mix used for the DTS. Both tracks leave the 2.0 for dead - this movie was meant to be experienced on more than two speakers.
A final point to note here is that the Region 1 version of this DVD contains in its credits menu a statement that the soundtrack has been rear equalised for home use. What this means is that the rear equalisation function on most surround amplifiers should actually be turned off for Blade II. This credits pages does not appear to be accessible on the Region 4 version of this disc, and so the information is not available to Region 4 users. Whether that means we have a different soundtrack that has not be rear equalised or not is impossible to ascertain, however it is most likely we have the same audio master used for the Region 1, and in that case it will have had the same rear equalisation applied.
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Subwoofer | |
Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The video quality is stunning. The only problems are extremely brief, and it is almost unfair to pull the transfer up for them - but it has to be done.
The audio quality is right up there with the best ever. This soundtrack will disappoint exactly no one.
The extras are extensive, put together with much care, and very much worth the effort to watch them. It will be impossible to look at the splatter horror/action genre in the same way again!
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Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using Component output |
Display | Loewe Xelos 5381ZW. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Onkyo TX-DS787, THX Select |
Speakers | All matching Vifa Drivers: centre 2x6.5" + 1" tweeter (d'appolito); fronts and rears 6.5" + 1" tweeter; centre rear 5" + 1" tweeter; sub 10" (150WRMS) |