Friday, January 16, 2015

"Trancers 2: The Return of Jack Deth" Blu-Ray Review - Written by Anthony T


Full Moon Features recently released “Trancers 2: The Return of Jack Deth” on Blu-Ray. The film is one of my favorite Full Moon films out of the Paramount era. It’s the sequel to Charles Band’s cult sci-fi classic “Trancers” which was released back in 1985.

The film picks up six years after the first film took place. Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) is living a nice life with his wife Lena (Helen Hunt). But a strange feeling that Jack has interrupts his vacation, as he’s forced back to Los Angeles to protect Hap Ashby as he fears that the trancers are back to complete what they’ve started and kill Ashby. To make matters worse, he finds out the council has send his wife from the future to stop Whister’s brother Dr. Wardo (Richard Lynch) from creating a trancer army to change the future.

What makes “Trancers 2” still worth watching after all these years is Charles Band’s directing on this film. He does a good job with the way that he directs the action scenes and how he approaches the film’s dialogue. Everything had and an intense and film noir feel to it. It made some of the dialogue scenes entertaining and provided action that had a fun filled ride feel to it. This is something that still works twenty three and a half years after its original release. The other thing that makes Band’s direction good was the way that he directs his cast. Whether it’s the way that Band directs his main actors to how they perform on screen, he does a very good job making sure that it has some tension to the scenes. It made the action worth wild and made the dialogue scene keep my interest. It’s what makes his direction of the actors look very good.

Speaking of the acting, I thought it was good. Tim Thomerson is great as Jack Deth. He does a very good job making the character feel like something out of a film noir with a dash of humor. It’s what makes the character very entertaining. It’s also what made the first three films of the series very good. The film also has a very good supporting cast that includes Helen Hunt (Mad About You, As Good as it Gets), Megan Ward (Crash and Burn, Arcade), Richard Lynch (Bad Dreams) and Jeffery Combs (Would You Rather?, Re-Animator).

The screenplay written by Jackson Barr (Subspecies, Bad Channels) was as good as the original. One of the things that I liked about it was the way it had the same level of intensity as the original film. He does a very good job making sure the action scenes have an intense feel to it. This helped made the action aspects work so well. The other thing that makes this good was the way that he develops the relationship between Deth and his two wives. It was done in a way that it kept the tension going between the action scenes and develops the character of his other wife who was mentioned in the first film.

Blu-Ray Extras:

The extras start off with audio commentary from Director Charles Band, Actor Tim Thomerson and Actress Megan Ward. It’s a good commentary track as they talk about the production and talk about some of the cast who are in this film. It’s a fun track that’s worth a listen.

Next on the disc is the film’s behind the scenes featurette that was a part of the film’s videozone which was released on the film’s VHS tape. It features interviews from most of the film’s cast as they talk about the making of the film.

The blu-ray wraps up with a rare bloopers reel, rare photo gallery and trailers from other Full Moon releases.

“Trancers 2: The Return of Jack Deth is a must for fans of the golden days of Full Moon Features. With its action scenes to its story, “Trancers 2” is a fun filled ride.

Review Rating: Four Stars
DVD Extras: Three and a Half Stars

No comments:

Post a Comment