Predator 2 (1990/Fox Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B+ Extras: C+ Film:
C-
The
opening scene in Predator 2 (1990) quickly
let’s us know just how bad the film is, we are flying over a jungle location
(which makes us think back to the first film) and then suddenly we see the
skyline of a modern day Los Angeles as we fly closer. If this poor attempt at a clever
juxtaposition doesn’t telegram the tragedy of filmmaking that is about to
ensue, nothing will. From there we get a
text stating that it’s 1997 and the world is at chaos, but nothing could
prepare the world for the Predator, which is about to show up on some drug
dealers as they are in mid-battle with the police force.
We’ve
already covered this mess of a sequel on DVD; you can read about that here. All of the elements that made the first film
memorable and become a fan favorite are immediately sucked out of the 2nd
installment, including replacing Arnold with a second-rate Danny Glover, who
apparently was getting a paycheck between the 2nd and 3rd
Lethal Weapon on this dud.
All of
the video and sound issues that plagued the various DVD editions are also
present on this Blu-ray release, which will likely upset fans who have been
hoping for a HD release to correct many of those issues. The first is the 1.85 X 1 AVC @ 35 MBPS High
Definition 1080p transfer, which still shows the muggy video playback problems
that the DVD had, while the film attempts to have a smoke-filled room quality
at times, much like Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop
made three years prior, the skin tones, grain structure, and color fidelity
make this Blu-ray release look more like something you’d see on VHS. Several scenes in particular show poor level
of resolution which can be seen on Glover’s face from time to time, grain is
almost constantly a problem, and the overall presentation is drab.
The audio
quality on the other hand is far more engaging and the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio lossless
mix is incredibly lively and booming, which doesn’t mean that it is
issue-less. In fact at times it almost
seems like the mix is boosted to such a point that it becomes almost annoying
and not thrilling like good audio mixes are.
The other impression that this gives is that the original mix has been
pumped up to a level to impress to the point where it’s far too weak to really
work well, although some of the gun battles do give the surround illusion that
the mix is lively, it’s refinement is where the issues really lie. Fans of big booming blasts and just low end
presence may feel otherwise, but make no mistake; this is not a good
representation of the film. By
comparison there is a lossy Dolby Digital Surround mix that when toggled
between gives a more accurate presentation of the mix, despite it feeling lower
in overall volume and punch.
Extras
are the same as the previous DVD that we covered, which with the poor technical
qualities on this Blu-ray make it a hard sell from the DVD, in fact, most will
await a box set that includes this and perhaps the Alien franchise as well, let’s hope they get the video and audio
issues resolved by then.
- Nate Goss
