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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.
Hollow Man 2 (2006)

Hollow Man 2 (2006)

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Released 27-Sep-2006

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Science Fiction Main Menu Audio & Animation
Featurette-Inside Hollow Man 11, Visual FX Comparison
Storyboard Comparisons
Storyboards-Gallery
Trailer-Ulraviolet, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, When A Stranger Call
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2006
Running Time 87:34
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (54:42) Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4,5 Directed By Claudio Fäh
Studio
Distributor
SONY Pictures
Sony Pictures Home Entertain
Starring Christian Slater
Peter Facinelli
Laura Regan
David McIlwraith
William MacDonald
Sarah Deakins
Jessica Harmon
Sonya Salomaa
Case ?
RPI $32.95 Music Marcus Trumpp


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
Italian
Spanish
Dutch
Hindi
Portuguese
English Alternate Subtitles
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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

Plot Synopsis

    The appearance of this review might prompt you, like I did originally, to think: "I didn't know there was a Hollow Man 2". Well, Hollow Man 2 is one of the latest in a new genre of Hollywood film, the straight-to-DVD sequel to a moderately successful movie. But to be honest, despite me being well-prepared for disappointment, Hollow Man 2 actually isn't all that bad.

    The distribution of straight-to-DVD sequels to moderately successful movies has spread in Hollywood from their biggest purveyor, Walt Disney, to a number of other mainstream studios. For example, the other day I noticed Dr Doolittle 3 will soon be on the DVD rental shelves - if not already. Recently Sony also jumped on this bandwagon with straight-to-DVD sequels to the Cruel Intentions and Wild Things movies. (Sony are also behind Hollow Man 2).

    Hollow Man 2 is scripted by B-movie veteran Joel Soisson, whose writing credits include Highlander: Endgame, as well as straight-to-DVD classics such as The Prophecy 3, 4, and 5, Mimic 2, Dracula II and III, and Hellraiser 8. In the story of Hollow Man 2, it seems the US Government has continued to invest heavily in the technology that can make human beings invisible. After a few years of experiments, since the story of the original Hollow Man took place, a new test subject, a US Special Forces soldier who served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran, Michael Griffin (Christian Slater), has volunteered to test out the new and improved formula and has been turned invisible.

    However, the invisibility drug has a nasty side effect, and finding his mind and body decaying every day, Griffin is now a rogue agent. He hunts down research scientist Maggie Dalton (Laura Regan), who has created an antidote - known as the "buffer agent". Maggie worked for the mysterious and powerfully rich evildoer Reisner (David McIlwraith), but was let go three months prior. Reisner seems to control everything and everyone, from the Government, to Big Business, the Defense Force, and even the Police. Reisner's right hand man is Colonel Gavin Bishop (William MacDonald), who dreams of creating an invisible soldier.

    In fear for her life, Reisner has Maggie given police protection, and so the no-nonsense Detective Frank Turner (Peter Facinelli) and his sweet partner, Detective Lisa Martinez (Sarah Deakins), are assigned to the job.

    However, after Martinez is killed during a break-in at Maggie's house, both Turner and Maggie find themselves on the run from the Police, the Army, and from the invisible man himself, Griffin. Meanwhile, Turner plans to capture Griffin and expose Reisner and Col. Bishop.

    Although the story is decent enough, it's often very dull at times, and packs nowhere near the same punch as its predecessor. But that said, the movie does a lot with its limited budget. In the extras, Ben Grossmann points out that Hollow Man 2 had just 1% of the VFX budget of the first film. Despite that, I thought many of the effects actually look better.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    Overall, the transfer is quite good, as one would expect of a recent film.

    The widescreen transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness is good. For example, consider the detail in the kitchen appliances at 13:59. The black level is also good. But the film appears to have a high contrast, which does limit the shadow detail.

    The colour is excellent, and well saturated. The skin tones are accurate.

    There are no problems with MPEG or Film-To-Video Artefacts. Tiny film artefacts appear infrequently throughout. At times, there appears to be some slight edge enhancement, but I never found it distracting.

    English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Hindi, Portuguese, and English Alternate Subtitles are provided, and the English ones are accurate.

    This is a single-sided, dual-layer disc, with the layer change placed at 54:42. The feature is divided into 28 chapters.

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

Audio

    There are three audio options: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s).

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are generally excellent on the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track.

    The minimal, but atmospheric, score is credited to Marcus Trumpp.

    I wasn't expecting much in the way of surround presence or LFE activity, but the surround sound mix is quite reasonable. The rear speakers are used at times to help carry the score and provide ambience, such as during the car chase at 37:47 or the rain at 79:54.

    The subwoofer is utilised as required, such as the explosion at 27:34.

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

Extras

    For a straight-to-DVD sequel, I was surprised at the quality and quantity of extras.

Menu

    Animated with audio

Forced Anti-Piracy Advertisement

    This overly loud and very annoying commercial blasts away when the disc is loaded.

Featurette - Inside Hollow Man 2 (16:53)

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio, this featurette includes short interviews with the cast and crew, some behind-the-scenes footage, clips from both films, and some rehearsal footage.

Visual FX Comparison (7:23)

    We get to see the evolution of three scenes of original footage through to rough cut, and then the final version.

Storyboard Comparisons (4:46)

    A comparison between some of the storyboards and the final cut of the film.

Storyboards - Gallery

    A collection of 49 stills.

Trailers

R4 vs R1

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

    Hollow Man 2 has been released on DVD in Region 1.

    The Region 4 DVD misses out on:

    The Region 1 DVD misses out on:

    I would call it even.

Summary

    Well worth a rental if you enjoyed the original Hollow Man, but just don't expect too much.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is also good.

    The extras are genuine.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Brandon Robert Vogt (warning: bio hazard)
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using Component output
DisplaySamsung 106cm Plasma TV (42 Inch). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationSony STR DE-545
SpeakersJamo

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