Blade II (2002)
Fantasy, Horror, Action, Thriller • 1h 57m
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Leonor Varela, Norman Reedus, Thomas Kretschmann, Luke Goss, Matt Schulze, Danny John-Jules, Donnie Yen, Karel Roden, Marit Velle Kile, Tony Curran, Daz Crawford, Santiago Segura, Samuel Le, Marek Vašut, Pete Lee-Wilson, Paul Kasey, Andrea Miltner, Ladislav Beran, Jiří Maria Sieber, Bridge Markland, Jamie Wilson, Stuart Luis, Ladislav Mohyla, Jan Malík, Jan Révai, Mário Wild, Tomáš Böhm, Zdenek Bubák, Jan Loukota, Jan Bursa, Petr Krusalnicky, Jaroslav Misek, Karel Vávrovec, Jaroslav Peterka, Miloš Kulhavý, Ivan Mareš, Lennox Brown, André Hyde-Braithwaite, Pavel Cajzl, Olga Lounová, Stephen R. Peluso, John Salvitti, Kenji Tanigaki, Michael Woods
Upcoming
WB 4K Blu-ray teased by Guillermo Del Toro
Additional info
The original DVD has an isolated score and a exclusive easter egg
About the film
Blade forms an uneasy alliance with the vampire council in order to combat the Reapers, who are feeding on vampires.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Criterion 4K Blu-ray also includes exclusive "Reborn Cut"
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray and 2011/2013 Optimum Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Cineverse 4K Blu-ray announced with a new 4K restoration from the original negatives
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray and 2011/2013 Optimum Blu-ray both have issues, up to preference. UK Optimum/Japan Amuse Soft Blu-ray is better, Criterion is worse
Japan Amuse Soft Blu-ray is better encoded than the Optimum, is in the original 1.85 ratio, and has the original colors
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
But has AI upscaling on opticals, see caps
Kino Lorber has 5.1, Lionsgate Blu-ray has 7.1, don't know which sounds better and closest to the theatrical mix.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
The DTS-HD 5.1 on the 4K Blu-ray. The Atmos is compressed. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=22426684&postcount=840
The Director's Cut DVD has some exclusive features like an isolated score track.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray with B&W Extended Director's Cut and Theatrical Cut
Criterion 4K Blu-ray with B&W Extended Director's Cut and Theatrical Cut see Chris's review
Disney 4K Blu-ray has a slightly better Atmos track for the Theatrical Cut
4K Blu-ray is missing the bonus DVD found on the 2 disc Blu-ray
Director: Guillermo del Toro
(caveat: missing bonus disc from previous Blu-ray)
4K Blu-ray is missing extras. Japan Amazon exclusive Steelbook has the missing extras as well as Target and Walmart exclusive extras
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Fox 4K Blu-ray has a less band filtered DTS-HD 5.1 track than the Criterion
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack & Merian C. Cooper
Director: Orson Welles
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)
WB Europe 4K Blu-ray
WB Europe 4K Blu-ray slightly better encoding than Criterion (caveat: missing Criterion extras)
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
All foreign language tracks were pitched too low, replacement disc and Ultimate Knockout Collection disc fixed the error.
The Steelbook and UK standard edition are the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.
Director: Sylvester Stallone
2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray Box Set
2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray Box Set > 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray
2023 disc has a brief moment where the aspect ratio changes from 1.85:1 to 1.78:1, 2024 release fixed the error
Both cuts of the movie are on the same disc and don’t appear to be seamlessly branched.
The Steelbook and UK standard edition are the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.
Director: John G. Avildsen
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc
Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc > Knockout collection original.
The Mono mix on the initial release of the Knockout Collection is a stereo fold-down of the 5.1, it also has a missing piano cue. The replacement disc and the ultimate knockout version fixed the error.
The Steelbook and UK standard edition is the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
Original Knockout Collection release had its 5.1 mix pitched too low, replacement disc and Ultimate Knockout Collection fixed the error.
The Steelbook and UK standard edition are the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.
More Fantasy on Blu-ray
Director: George Pal
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Directors: David Hand & Ben Sharpsteen & William Cottrell & Larry Morey & Perce Pearce & Wilfred Jackson
Mono track is on the included Blu-ray; 4K Blu-ray missing original mono. LaserDisc probably better
Director: Gary Ross
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film. See comparison
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.
Directors: Chris Appelhans & Maggie Kang
"Sing-Along Edition" not included on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray, only available on Netflix Streaming
Director: Lam Nai-choi
88 Films UK or Vinegar Syndrome US Blu-ray (preference)
Different color gradings, 88 Films disc is encoded by FiM but Vinegar Syndrome encode (by Marcus Johnson) is more than robust
Vinegar Syndrome potentially has better audio than 88 Films, due to VinSyn possibly having EQ'd the audio mix after Fortune Star scanned the track in a way that makes it sound too hot, whereas 88 left it alone without addressing that issue. However, no direct comparisons exist
Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Director: John Boorman
Sources: highdefdiscnews.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
(Arrow 4K Blu-ray's mono seems to be out of sync, suggested by comparisons. Issue is TBC officially)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray is FiM encoded, see caps
Arrow LE will have an exclusive 3rd disc which will not be on the standard edition
Theatrical Cut: Austria NSM Blu-ray
Director's Cut: France Metropolitan Blu-ray
Metropolitan got better picture (higher bitrate + better grain + more detail) than Lionsgate
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