Title: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
BD-50 Dual-Layer Disc/2 Disc Set
Video: 1080p/AVC MPEG-4
Audio: 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Aspect Ratio: 1:85:1
Subtitles: English, Spanish, and French
Run time: 120 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Rating: PG-13
Player used for review: LG BH200
My take: (the breakdown)
After the success of the original Hellboy Hellboy II had some big shoes to fill and it just did not quite do that. Don't get me wrong because this movie is actually rather decent, but it just doesn't have the originality of the first movie. The story again focuses on Hellboy, Liz, and Abe as they battle the unknown forces of evil. Except this time they face Prince Nuada (an elf) and his quest to obtain the missing pieces of his father's crown to awaken the Golden Army. It is written that the Golden Army is indestructible so it is up to our good guys to stop him before he collects all the pieces of the crown. As with the first one I can only recommend a purchase for fans and a rental for everyone else.
The transfer on this Blu-ray title is a little more hit and miss compared to this first installment. Colors are extremely bright and detailed and we know Del Toro likes to use plenty of them. Flesh tones seem to be accurate as well. The few problems lie in the far off shots. Closeup shots are extremely fine detailed, but it seemed many of the shots that opened up just didn't seem as clear (like when the Golden Army is shown). At least blacks are resolved and there was no edge enhancement of any kind (getting harder and harder to find this on new releases). This is definitely another noteworthy transfer from Universal.
The audio is on par with the video for this Blu-ray release. We get a 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix that is extremely well done in most respects. Dialogue is extremely stable and well understood. Your bass is active most of the movie and does its job quite well. The side and rear surrounds are used quite often and you will realize the purpose of a 7.1 system with this title. Other than some overpowering loudness in some scenes I had absolutely no issues with this sound mix from Universal.
We get a fairly extensive supplemental package with this Blu-ray release. I won't list them all, but we get nearly making of features spread across the Blu-ray disc and the DVD disc. Also included are some still galleries and deleted scenes. The DVD copy also contains an Windows Media or iTunes digital copy. Sadly, all of the extra features are in 480. Why this is I have no idea.
Movie: 7/10
VQ: 9/10
AQ: 9.5/10
Supplements: 7/10
Final word: Purchase for fans and a rental for everyone else
As always thanks for reading folks.