Tetsuo II: Body Hammer Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 8, 2020

Note: This version of this film is available as part of Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto.

There are two names which American film fans may need either outright introductions to or at least reminders about when coming to Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto. The first name is that of Shinya Tsukamoto himself, a fascinating cult figure with a rather long and impressive filmography as a producer, director, actor, writer, editor, cinematographer, production designer and art director (one assumes if the IMDb had a tab for craft services contributions, he'd be listed there, too), but who is still kind of curiously unknown by the general public at large on this side of the pond. The other name that may come into play with regard to this handsome new set released for the North American market by Arrow is Third Window Films, a label that releases Blu-rays in the United Kingdom and which has in fact put out previous editions of several of the Tsukamoto films Arrow has included in this set. For that reason, fans or at least those interested in “comparison studies” are encouraged to visit our listings for the Third Window Films’ releases of Tetsuo: The Iron Man / Tetsuo II: Body Hammer, Tokyo Fist, Bullet Ballet, A Snake of June, and Kotoko, not just for Svet Atanasov’s thoughts about each of the films, but also to be able to do side by side looks at screenshots as well as to size up supplemental features on each release. (A sixth film offered in this set from Arrow, The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo, looks like it's included as a supplement on Third Windows' double feature offering the two Tetsuo films.) The Arrow set does at least offer ten films in one nicely aggregated and designed package which includes a rather beautiful hardback book, which may at least recommend the set to those trying to save a little shelf space, if nothing else.

One of the things that Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto does a great job of detailing is Tsukamoto's growth as a technician over the course of his career, even when he can be trafficking in at least some of the same sorts of material he may have in previous films. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer would seem to be a sequel to Tetsuo: The Iron Man, but there are only tangential connections between the two similarly named properties at best. That said, even this early in Tsukamoto's career, but with admittedly three years between the release of Tetsuo: The Iron Man and this film, you can easily see Tsukamoto becoming more adept at storytelling, while also beginning to delve into things like color.

Once again, Tsukamoto offers a somewhat opaque plot that features a man (Tomorowo Taguchi) whose son is kidnapped by a bunch of thugs, and who , like characters in the first film, begins transforming into a metal-human hybrid. Things get even more surreal when that hybrid becomes a weapon that unleashes some furious vengeance on the kidnappers while also leading to tragedy. You can sense Tsukamoto trying to wrestle with fashioning a more relatively comprehensible narrative in this feature, but it may have been all for naught. The basic revenge underpinning is completely straightforward and understandable, but the film is still filled with such weird and hallucinatory imagery that trying to make real "sense" out of anything seems like a fool's errand.

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tetsuo II: Body Armor is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. Arrow's insert book offers only very generic data on all of the transfers in this set, with aspect ratios (at times misstated) and audio data detailed, and with a simple statement that the "high definition masters were provided by Nikkatsu Corporation". Svet's review of this film came out in 2012, and without any other information to the contrary, I'm assuming that this presentation was culled from the same master that Third Window Films utilized. Like Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Tetsuo II: Body Armor was shot on 16mm, though as should be obvious from the screenshots, Tsukamoto added color to the mix for this film. A lot of scenes are bathed in the same kind of blue tones he would go on to exploit in several of the other films included in this set, but there's also quite a bit of material here that is either skewed toward or outright lit in kind of faintly burnished umber or orangish tones. As a result, fine detail levels can ebb and flow, but on the whole this is a commendably organic looking presentation. Some of the more hallucinogenic moments can either be almost monochromatic (see screenshot 1) or weirdly warped or otherwise tweaked (see screenshot 4), and it seems to be Tsukamoto's preference to favor some of these stylistic elements over traditionally clear, sharp, well detailed imagery.

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Tetsuo II: Body Armor features a clanging, industrial soundtrack which is offered in Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. Like the first film, this audio presentation is filled with weird effects and almost random noises, along with smatterings of dialogue. Fidelity is fine throughout the presentation, and I noticed no issues with regard to damage, distortion or dropouts.

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As can be seen in the last screenshot accompanying this review, this disc offers three films. I'm listing all of the supplements on the disc, since while some supplements are ostensibly specific to one feature, there's still a certain amount of spillover.

• Audio Commentary on Tetsuo: The Iron Man by Tom Mes


• Audio Commentary on Tetsuo II: Body Hammer by Tom Mes


• Audio Commentary on The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo by Tom Mes


• An Assault on the Senses (1080p; 16:31) is a really appealing visual essay by Jasper Sharp that covers a lot of material, and is an especially good starting point for those not already overly familiar with Tsukamoto.


• Archival Interviews with Shinya Tsukamoto can offer interstitial text questions followed by Tsukamoto's answers. In Japanese with English subtitles:

  Tetsuo and Tetsuo II (1080p; 18:57)

  
  

  The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo (1080p; 5:48)

• Trailers

  Tetsuo: The Iron Man Original Japanese Trailer (1080i; 3:00)

  
  

  Tetsuo II Original Japanese Trailer (1080i; 3:18) looks like it's sourced from old video with some tracking problems at the bottom of the frame.

  
  Tetsuo I and II UK Trailer (1080p; 2:00)

• Image Galleries

  Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1080p; 1:40)

  
  

  Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1080p; 1:10)

  
  

  The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo (1080p; 00:30)

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tetsuo II: Body Armor tries, valiantly perhaps, to inject more of a traditional plot into Tsukamoto's seemingly unavoidable love affair with metal penetrating flesh, but it's the film's visceral imagery that really ends up having the most impact. This film didn't quite resonate with me as strongly as the first film did, but Arrow has provided another offering with solid technical merits and outstanding supplements, for those who are considering a purchase.