Vivendi Visual Entertainment presents

Bloodrayne 2: Deliverance (Unrated Director's Cut) (2007)

"I ride alone."- Rayne (Natassia Malthe)

Stars: Natassia Malthe
Other Stars: Michael Paré, Zack Ward, John Novak, Michael Eklund, Brendan Fletcher, Chris Coppola, Sarah-Jane Redmond, Michael Robinson
Director: Uwe Boll

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (violence, language)
Run Time: 01h:39m:14s
Release Date: 2007-09-18
Genre: fantasy

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
D	D-	C	B	C+

 

DVD Review

I was probably one of the only people to cut much-reviled director Uwe Boll any sort of slack for his 2005 feature Bloodrayne, yet another of his videogame-to-movie adaptations. Boll regularly takes a lot of heat on nerdy movie message boards for his films, but as I watched the original, I could sort of see the odd glimmer of potential that maybe deserved to be recognized.

It wasn't a particularly good film (not even close, really), but it still had a sense of mindless fun about it, with a little nudity, plenty of severed limbs, Ben Kingsley slumming it as a cartoony villain, and lusty Kristanna Loken getting all blade happy as the medieval-era blood-hungry vampire/human hybrid (aka dhamphir) named Rayne. Now all of that backhanded goodwill I sort of tossed Boll's way is going to go for naught, because this awful sequel has absolutely nothing going for it, and goes at it blindly for 99 long minutes.

For unexplained reasons it is now approximately 100 years later, and Rayne (now played by Natassia Malthe) is roaming the American west as a vampire hunter, decked out in an alluring, form-fitting black duster and fashionably tight clothing. And as luck would have it, Billy The Kid (Zack Ward) just so happens to be a vampire, and has led his fang gang to the tiny town of Deliverance ("the quietest town on the frontier") in order to establish a new vampire compound. Conflict ensues, all leading to an uninspired battle between Rayne and Kidd, with the fate of a frontier nation at stake.

This is basically Boll trying to ham-fistedly emulate bits and pieces of Sergio Leone, as he toploads this one with every simplistic and broad Western cliche and caricature known to modern man. There's the slo-mo galloping horse introduction of our heroine, a rowdy saloon scene (complete with obligatory downing of numerous shots), a shady poker game, and an itchy trigger-fingered showdown, all is intermingled with the pointless vampire nonsense. It's an amalgam of multi-layered dumbness, with Pat Garrett (Michael Paré) playing sidekick to Rayne's vengeful heroine, helping out when it's time for them to assemble a ragtag team of killers to help take on Billy The Kid.

The nonsensical nature of Bloodrayne 2: Deliverance is almost staggering, and the cover blurbs that refer to it as a "heart-stopping adventure" or "exhilarating and action-packed" are outright lies. I'll grant you a scene where Kidd has a number of small children (they're his food supply) strung up in a row of nooses is both disturbing and interesting, but it's one brief sequence in a film that talks about more than it could ever possibly deliver.

This is a sloppy exercise in plotless meandering masquerading as a feature film, and all of the black leather out-of-time sexiness of Natassia Malthe is too little too late.

Rating for Style: D
Rating for Substance: D-

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.78:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	yes

Image Transfer Review: The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is a major disappointment, and for a film that is very, very dark (nearly every scene either takes place at night or by candlelight) there are bigtime clarity issues to contend with. Murkiness and loss of detail are regular problems throughout, as is the presence of fine grain. The few daylight scenes look tolerable, but those are infrequent.

Bad news.

Image Transfer Grade: C
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	yes
Dolby Digital 5.1	English	yes

Audio Transfer Review: The silver lining here is the audio mix, which offers options in 2.0 stereo or Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. Skip the stereo and go with the 5.1 track; it is properly big and encompassing, with galloping horses and swirling vampire sounds moving around in all directions, balanced by a moderately deep level of bass. Voice quality is clear, and the retro-Western score from Jessica De Rooij is full-bodied.

Nice.

Audio Transfer Grade: B 

Disc Extras

Full Motion menu with music
Scene Access with 21 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English, Spanish with remote access
1 Other Trailer(s) featuring Postal
10 Deleted Scenes
1 Featurette(s)
1 Feature/Episode commentary by Uwe Boll, Mathias Neumann
Packaging: generic plastic two-disc keepc
Picture Disc
2 Discs
2-Sided disc(s)
Layers: dual

Extra Extras:

1. Bloodrayne computer game

Extras Review: This is technically a two-disc set (with slipcover), though disc two is the complete PC version of the Bloodrayne video game. I'm not much of a gamer, so I didn't partake, but in terms of usable extras, this one is probably pretty worthwhile if you're into that sort of thing.

The disc with the feature on it is cut into 21 chapters, with optional subtitles in English or Spanish. A chatty commentary track with director Uwe Boll and director of photography Mathias Neumann focuses on the "wet, cold, and miserable" Vancouver shoot, with their heavily-accented patter full of the location troubles (bad roads, fires, weather), generally making the finished product sound much more substantive than it really is.

A block of ten rough-cut deleted scenes— complete with clapper— runs 14m:47s, while a trio of extended scenes present a murky set of nonanamorphic nothingness, with the longest running 01m:22s. The Interview With Director And Cast (14m:41s) covers the usual ground, though Boll's explanation of the storyline seems like it would be better suited as an actual prologue in the film as opposed to just being in his head. A "digital comic book" for the Bloodrayne adventure Tibetan Heights is also included, and sadly I found this more entertaining that the feature.

Extras Grade: C+
 

Final Comments

A dreadful sequel that has very little to do with the original, but addressees the common problem of vampiric cowboys. Any element of promise is dashed brutally against the rocks by Boll's complete lack of storytelling acumen.

I've seen bad movies and this, my friends, is a bad movie. Run away. Run very far away.

Rich Rosell 2007-09-17