Story Synopsis:
In a world where mediocre sequels are almost guaranteed to follow a box office hit, “Blade II” is a strong action-packed blend of horror, fantasy, and spectacular Donnie Yen-choreographed martial arts. A half-vampire, half-human hybrid, Blade (Snipes) chose the good half of his genetics, becoming a merciless vampire hunter with and an arsenal of deadly weapons. When he discovers that his former mentor Whistler (Kristofferson) is not dead, but has been infected with the vampire virus, Blade is further surprised with the fact that vampires want to make peace with him. A mutated super-vampire species is preying on both humans and vampires, and the bloodsuckers desperately need Blade’s help. The Blade character was created for Marvel Comics by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. (Suzanne Hodges)

DVD Picture:
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85:1 DVD exhibits images that are sharp and nicely detailed, with excellent depth and dimension throughout the mostly dark picture. For the fullest appreciation, view in a completely blackened room. Contrast and shadow delineation are quite satisfying. Colors are rich and vibrant, with bold bloody reds, and deep endless blacks. Edge enhancement can be quite bothersome when apparent, but , thankfully, is not always present. (Suzanne Hodges)

Soundtrack:
This DVD features a DTS-ES® (Discrete and Matrix 6.1) and a Dolby® Digital Surround EX™ soundtrack, both of which were the result of a new remix at MiCasa Studio, and feature very extensive back surround engagement. If you're in search of that certain soundtrack that really places you into a 360-degree listening space, you won't need to look much further than this one. The sonic spectacle of dynamic, poignant sound effects, liberally placed all around you will definitely provide for some fantastic entertainment. The music score is a wonderful recording, as is the rest of the soundtrack, and is very nicely dovetailed into the sound mix with exemplary spatiality on its own. The dialogue sounds remarkably natural with compelling spatial consistency. The sounds of gunshots, swordfights (such as in Chapter 5), and various metallic “hits” have quite a bit of content in the upper-end of the spectral range, so at or near reference level they'll definitely make their presence known with quite a bit of tonal sparkle. What seems to make one soundtrack stand out from so many others is the effective use of spatiality with sonic settings that are subtle, as well as those that are prominent in nature. And this soundtrack is one of them. You just get this constant sense of being enveloped, and being locked into a sonic world of expansiveness. A great example is the rain scene in Chapter 15. Of course, a major contributing factor to this soundtrack's wonderful soundfield rendering is the back surround channel, which comes into play with significantly enhancing the perception of dimension behind you. And the low-end? That speaks for itself. Bass extension, well below 25 Hz, is to be encountered from all channels! Because there are moments where all channels, including the aggressively engaged .1 LFE can become very active, there could be a tendency for your subwoofer to be challenged, especially if your system uses bass management. The Dolby Digital Surround EX soundtrack is excellent on its own. The DTS-ES version seemingly imparts an additional layer of low-end presence and dimensional coherence. This soundtrack simply gives you intense entertainment, remarkable creativity, and great home theatre show-off material-all in one. An isolated Dolby Digital score is also included. (Perry Sun)