|
 Movie A- |
Video A | Audio A+
| Extras A | Recommended!
Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman,
Leonor Varela, Normal Reedus, and Luke Goss
director Guillermo Del Toro | New Line Home Entertainment
2002 | Marshal Arts - Action - Supernatural | R | 117 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio
| THX-certified
DTS 5.1 |
Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: Wesley Snipes is Daywalker, our
superhero and a half-breed vampire/human who, unlike typical vampires, is immune to daylight and
does not have any of their other weaknesses such as a ferocious appetite
for blood. Without the insatiable appetite for blood and his love
for the human race, Daywalker commits himself to fighting against
the evil race of vampires. But when a new and more powerful species evolves and preys on both
vampires and humans, the vampire organization calls for a temporary truce and tries to get
Daywalker to help them combat this common enemy. This is no cute
teenage Buffy, The
Vampire Slayer Movie. There are more real and serious action sequences
with lots of gore and awesome world-class special effects that dazzle even the most
jaded of visual special effects fans (I for one).
The martial arts action is pretty awesome, not too
different from the styles exuded in The Matrix. The cinematography
style and techniques are tremendous, also borrowing from The
Matrix and then some. The way the vampires disintegrates
upon death is visually dazzling. The sound design is also world
class. Encoding the soundtrack in both Dolby
Digital EX and DTS ES in the
same DVD, the sound designers put home theater viewers right in the middle
of the action sequences. The aggressive mix takes these
state-of-the-art surround sound formats to their limits.
Though Blade II is a sequel, you don't need to catch
the original Blade to understand this follow-on film. Blade II actually explains
the essential plot of its prequel quite
well. So, if you thirst for a top-rate marshal arts action film,
with dazzling visual special effects and a killer surround sound mix, sink
your fangs into this two-disc Platinum Series New Line release of Blade
II.
Special Features: As a Platinum Edition
release from New Line, you can expect tons of top quality bonus features.
Disc 1: audio commentary by director Guillermo Del
Toro and producer Peter Frankfurt, audio commentary by writer David Goyer
and Wesley Snipes; 5.1-channel isolated musical score
Disc 2: deleted and alternate scenes with director
commentary; "A Pact in Blood" interactive collection of
documentaries; "Director's Notebook" an interactive reproduction
of Director's notes with an intro by Del Toro; art gallery; theatrical
trailers; music video "Cypress Hill and Roni Size "Child of the
Wild West"; Blade 2 video game survival guide; DVD-ROM features
(script-to-screen, original web site, and Hot Spot)
DVD released on 9/3/2002 | Reviewed 9/30/2002
List $29.95 | online $19.42 | order from Amazon.com,
Buy.com
for $19.42
Rent this DVD from NetFlix
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Staff@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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