Young Guns II Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Young Guns II Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 29, 2018

Neither Young Guns nor its sequel Young Guns II are amongst the most legendary and storied of cinema's vast expanse of Western genre films, but they are star-studded, dependable, exciting, and well-made movies. They are Westerns for a more contemporary audience, made decades removed from the genre's heyday of John Wayne and Gary Cooper and Clint Eastwood or any other of the most recognizable and distinguished genre performers. The Young Guns films follow the exploits of Billy the Kid, portrayed by Emilio Estevez, in what may very well be his career-defining role. In the part, he's as brash as he is bold, unnaturally skilled with the gun, seemingly able to escape any situation, and his performance elevates him towards that special rank of legendary Western actors. In this sequel, Billy and his gang are hunted by the law and one of their own and face their most violent challenges yet in the dusty and bloody Old West.

It's been a year since The Regulators last rode together. William H. Bonney, a.k.a Billy the Kid (Estevez), has formed a new gang, which includes "Arkansas" Dave Rudabaugh (Christian Slater) and Pat Garrett (William Petersen). Warrants have been issued for The Regulators' arrest. Jose Chavez y Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips) and Doc Scurlock (Kiefer Sutherland) are rounded up and arrested but freed before hanging during a brash raid in which Billy, Rudabaugh, and Garrett, disguised, as part of a lynch mob, come to their rescue. As tensions in the gang mount, particularly as Rudabaugh clashes with Billy for leadership and with Chavez y Chavez over his heritage, Garrett leaves the gang and is approached by Governor Lew Wallace (Scott Wilson) and cattle rancher John Chisum (James Coburn) and made an offer he cannot refuse to spearhead the hunt for Billy the Kid and his gang.

The film follows the government’s efforts to corral -- and kill -- Billy the Kid, using a man familiar with his new gang's inner-workings to do the job. Pat Garrett, the man history says shot and killed Billy the Kid, is bribed with a position of power -- Lincoln County Sheriff -- and $1,000 to do the job. The film opens with an elderly Bonney recounting his tale to a lawyer who insists that he's lying about his identity since it's "common knowledge" that Garrett succeeded in his mission. From the beginning, the audience knows that accepted history will not be followed so strictly in this tale, but the film builds an engaging narrative, anyway, as the gang faces external obstacles and inner turmoil and will have to fire more than a few bullets to stave off the numbers on their trail and the bounties on their heads.

Beyond several intense and well crafted shoot-outs, one of Alan Silvestri's more unsung scores, and a classic Jon Bon Jovi song, the film, like its predecessor, is probably best known for its assemblage of an all-star cast. Despite good looks and smooth faces as the norm rather than the exception, the actors capture the period grit with fierceness and character beats with finesse. Estevez is quite good as the young gunslinger. He portrays the character as cocky and as a bit of a showman as time and the situation permit. He's cautious but quick to the draw and, if he cannot be, he knows his team is there with him, backing him up when he deliberately lets his guard down or his gun belt to fall into the dust in an effort to lure a few of Chisum's men to their deaths. Estevez manages to walk the fine between between building the character as a somewhat fun figure and a deadly outlaw. He's surrounded by a wealth of talent that he manages to coral, and not simply because he plays the lead character. He plays well against legendary performers like James Coburn and his contemporaries like Kiefer Sutherland and Christian Slater, all of whom nestle into character and follow Estevez's lead.

Young Guns II Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Young Guns II rides onto Blu-ray with a very good, though imperfect, 1080p transfer. At its best, the presentation is very cinematic and highly agreeable. It maintains a fairly healthy grain structure and presents details with firm complexity and a number of complexly defined visual delights. Rough earthy terrain -- grasses, dusty surfaces, rock formations -- are a highlight, as are filthy and dusty clothes where frays and fabric materials are clearly defined. Guns are a delight in close-up. Wear on wooden stocks and bluing are common sights. It's not the sharpest transfer on the market, but but this is a nice looking presentation and very filmic and firm in many scenes. Colors fare well despite a general absence of rich, robust hues. Nicely saturated blue skies stand distinctly apart in a few scenes from otherwise flat, earthy colors that define almost everything else: clothes, horses, structures, the world in which the movie takes place. Viewers will note some mild flickering and slightly elevated blacks, both evident when Billy meets Governor Wallace in chapter three as well as a nighttime exterior in the same chapter. A few compression artifacts are visible in lower light, such as in the darker backgrounds of an interior scene in chapter four around the 38-minute mark. A few speckles interfere with several scenes but rarely rise to a bothersome intensity. The good far outweighs the bad with this one. Viewers should be delighted with what Sony has done.

Young Guns II Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Young Guns II blasts onto Blu-ray with an energetic and willing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The track delivers a hearty amount of deep bass within the opening title music, which boasts solid instrumental and choral clarity as well as relatively wide front side spacing and a healthy surround component. Music throughout the film soars in a similar presentation. It pushes fairly hard and while precision is not exact it's a lot of fun. Gunfights overplay their hand a little, too, favoring energy and volume over precision and finesse, but like the music, shootouts are a fun ride and the track proves very complimentary to the movie's tone and style, even if it's not sonically immaculate. Light environmental supports drift into the listening area to help better define some of the arid Old West locales. Dialogue is clear, center positioned, and nicely prioritized even in pitch gunfights.

Young Guns II Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Young Guns II contains a featurette and a trailer. No DVD or digital versions are included and the release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Making-Of Featurette (1080i upscaled, 4x3, 6:51): The cast discusses how the sequel continues from and exceeds the original film while covering plot and character details. The piece ends with a clip of Jon Bon Jovi's Blaze of Glory.
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p 1:56).

Young Guns II Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Young Guns II may not be a classic, but it's a memorable, entertaining, and highly watchable (and re-watchable) Western blessed with good cinematography, a first-rate cast, a wonderful score, and a solid story around which all the other components gravitate. Sony's Blu-ray lacks a comprehensive special features package but it does deliver quality 1080p video and enjoyable multichannel lossless audio. Highly recommended.