Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth Blu-ray Movie Review

Jack's back.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 21, 2015

There's not often a middle ground with movie sequels. They're either better or worse than the original and, hopefully either way, in continuation of the original story and not some completely different arc that only exists to capitalize on a brand name. Trancers II does continue the story of future cop Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson), but it's not quite as great as the original film, that picture a gem of low budget creativity and originality. Trancers II, aptly sub-titled The Return of Jack Deth, sees the universe evolve with a natural progression, logical, even, within the constraints and details of its make-believe future world. It sees the character pulled in a couple of different directions while forced to battle some ferocious enemies that block Jack's path to peace and happiness both in the present and the future. While the film isn't as tight and entertaining as its predecessor, it's certainly a fun little excursion back into a world that's equal parts familiar and alien, accessible and complex, entertaining and thought-provoking all at once.

Who's on first?

The year is 1991. Jack Deth has been living the good life on the California coast with his wife Lena (Helen Hunt), sharing a house with the now wealthy Hap Ashby (Biff Manard). But trouble is brewing. McNaulty (Art La Fleur) is being sent back in time to inhabit the body of a distant relative (Alyson Croft) in order to help, but it turns out he's not the only one. Also appearing is Jack's future wife in the body of a young girl named Alice (Megan Ward). Their mission is to once again protect Ashby, whose ancestors will play a key role in the world's future. It turns out Deth's deceased nemesis, Whistler, has a brother named E.D. Wardo (Richard Lynch) who is amassing an army comprised of California's homeless and mentally ill to turn into mindless slaves bent on destroying Ashby and Deth. As Jack fights for the future of mankind, he finds himself in a dangerous love triangle, caught between his current and past (or future, put another way) wives.

Trancers II admirably strives to create smart entertainment, a movie that's fun and breezy and action-packed but at the same time one that's not been dumbed-down to the lowest common denominator. While audiences wholly unfamiliar with the original film will likely be lost, at least for a while and despite some early exposition, the film caters to fans who know and understand the two worlds in which the series takes place and all of the ins-and-outs that make it work and drive the narrative. The picture builds on a number of complex ideas that center on identity, bodily inhabitation, time travel, and a classic clash of good-versus-evil that is essentially a fight for the future that's taking place in the past, or today's "contemporary" (now almost a quarter-century removed from release) society. In essence, the film is unafraid of detail and forcing the audience to pay attention rather than spoon-feed an empty narrative or cover up the absence of a more dynamic story with endless strings of action. In fact, Trancers II is more a dramatic film than it is a classic run-and-gun sort. It works the action into the story rather than build some story around big action scenes, which helps mold it into a movie that's meatier than much of the rubbish with which it will compete for space, attention, and admiration in the Sci-Fi history books.

Yet the film doesn't play unbalanced and favor its story so far above everything else that action is pushed to the back-burner, turned to low, and left alone. While the action is straightforward and appears only in spurts, it's generally well-staged and suitably exciting, with the best moments taking advantage of a holdover from the first film, the "long second watch" that allows its users to essentially pause time, momentarily, and escape an unescapable situation. Still, it's mostly Jack Deth wasting bad guys with his trusty Beretta, but the action's best asset does indeed come from the story around it, from situational awareness and building towards a shootout rather than just jumping from gun battle to gun battle. That allows the largely repetitive nature of the shootouts to feel less unimaginative and more integral to the story, something that certainly helps the movie slip on by its smaller budget and feel bigger and badder than lesser movies operating under similar constraints. Trancers II additionally benefits from another collection of strong performances from every one of its leads, including newcomers Megan Ward and Alyson Croft as two young ladies who essentially appear as one person but in fact portray another.

Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth arrives on Blu-ray with a rock-solid 1080p transfer. This is a handsome, film-quality image that retains a light grain structure that aids in revealing details to their fullest. Close-ups are complex and eye-catching, and general image clarity and definition, even at distance, is impressive in every scene. Colors are well defined and natural, appearing neither too aggressive nor too dull while featuring a fairly diverse palette from red lipstick to green foliage. Black levels and flesh tones don't disappoint. The image does suffer from a few random spots and speckles and random vertical lines, but overall this is a clean, healthy presentation that fans should enjoy from beginning to end.

Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Like most Full Moon audio presentations, this one is merely adequate, offering a fair general sound experience but lacking intensity, clarity, and transparency. Opening title music offers suitable, tangible bass at the bottom, but the midrange and highs are muddy, albeit while enjoying some decent spread across the stage. The track enjoys some light and nicely integrated surround support, such as little hums in the future location and a few minor bits in the psychiatric hospital. Gunfire pops with appreciable presence but hardly much vitality or power. Dialogue plays with a consistent center balance and clarity. Of note is an underlying hiss that runs through the track. Overall, this is a decent enough effort to get by but hardly the full-bodied track fans will want.

Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth contains a commentary, a featurette, a photo gallery, a blooper reel, and several Full Moon trailers.

• Audio Commentary: Charles Band, Tim Thomerson, and Megan Ward offer a breezy, lively track that's fun yet consistently informative, too, covering movie basics, technical details, performances, and much more. The participants share a noticeable camaraderie. Fans will love this listen.
• Videozone (480i, 9:23): A vintage making-of that features cast and crew interviews, which include plot recaps, a discussion of cast camaraderie, new actors to the series, cast and crew relatives who appear in the film, Charles Band's work on the film, and more.
• Photo Gallery (1080p, 1:00).
• Blooper Reel (480i, 7:00).
• Trailers (1080p): Trancers 2, Trophy Heads, Unlucky Charms, Ooga Booga, Reel Evil, Puppet Master, Puppet Master 2, and Puppet Master 3.

Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth is another testament to the success of these vintage Full Moon pictures. It's neither a classic nor a perfect movie, but it's a fully serviceable sequel, a little less than the original but smart and crafty nonetheless, returning all the old favorite characters and building on the world established in the original, not breaking it apart as so many sequels are apt to do. Full Moon's Blu-ray release of Trancers II features high quality video, passable audio, and a few good extras. Recommended in conjunction with the original. Here's hoping Full Moon sees fit to release the rest of the series on Blu-ray.