Hellboy II The Golden Army 4K Blu-ray Review & Comments

Simon Crust

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That's a disappointing score.
 
That's a disappointing score.
But correct given the problems with the 4K video quality. I will still buy this when I get a 4K Blu-ray player though, and since I have a Full HD Blu-ray player in the parlour, I will play the 4K disc for the new DTS:X sound and simultaneously play the Full HD disc for the original video.
 
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Unless they have messed the DTS-X up,it should be a total blast as the old DTS-MA track was already reference quality and a subwoofer demo material with plenty of sub-20hz action.My PB12-Ultra/2 was literaly dislodging the door of the room!
 
I truly bloody love this film and quite like a bit of oversaturated colour. Preferable to undersaturation as seen in Spiderverse, IMO. Cas, do you know if there are plans to release both films? I would buy this if I could get hold of the original along with it, but it doesn’t look like it’s available. Which is baffling. o_O
 
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do you know if there are plans to release both films? I would buy this if I could get hold of the original along with it, but it doesn’t look like it’s available. Which is baffling. o_O
Y

It's coming but the first film is with Sony and Golden Army is with Universal. del Toro said recently that Sony are letting him do a new 4K scan and Atmos mix which explains why it's taking a bit longer. Should remove the bitter after taste of Hellboy(2019).
 
Y

It's coming but the first film is with Sony and Golden Army is with Universal. del Toro said recently that Sony are letting him do a new 4K scan and Atmos mix which explains why it's taking a bit longer. Should remove the bitter after taste of Hellboy(2019).

Great info! Thank you.
 
Film 9
Picture 6
Sound 10
Extras 6
Overall 6

Not sure how the scoring is working but I make the overall almost 8?!?
 
So.... It's a divided opinion on the picture, yet he gives it 6. 6/10=D- in the US, failing or almost failing entirely. I don't think he really expressed how much he clearly hates the picture. Extras =6? I dunno, but to me extras really shouldn't figure as much into the overall score as picture and sound. Maybe that's because I never watch them (I'm behind 50 movies as it is; I don't really care how the wall in set #13 was made or watching a cut scene of Red taking a leak....

Even so, my math skills must be failing as 31/4 <> 6 overall score.... God he must have REALLY hated that picture!!! (or the lack of extras???)

I know I'm buying it for the DTS:X soundtrack. I'll move it to the 2K version for playback with Kodi or Zidoo if the 4K picture sucks so bad. The rest doesn't matter one iota, IMO.

Let's try (6+10)/2=8 for a more realistic score. A 6? I'd fire the guy for failing math if nothing else. It should have least gotten a 7. I'd half weight the extras either way and still give it an 8...IF I agreed about the picture. What's wrong with saturated colors? It's a comic book film! This baby is a 9.
 
The DTS-X is neutered and is not full.bandwidth like the DTS-HD MA 7.1 track on the BD as per the graphs posted in AVS forum's. Similar to JP and FF 2/3.
 
The DTS-X is neutered and is not full.bandwidth like the DTS-HD MA 7.1 track on the BD as per the graphs posted in AVS forum's. Similar to JP and FF 2/3.

I assume you mean the Ultimate List of Bass in Movies thread? Yeah, I just looked at that. I guess that means this review deserves a 6 for a different reason, then (wipe that "10" from it!) I guess I'll pick up the old BD instead. Neural X does a better job half the time anyway than the mixing guy when it comes to putting content on the ceiling anyway. I've been disappointed with at least 50% of the Atmos/X titles out there in that regard. Killing the bass and dynamic range on top of that? Even worse.

I'm afraid with Disney buying 20th Century Fox their discs are going to be next on the neutering block and I mean REAL neutering, not just a sub-20Hz filter and a relatively small reduction in dynamic range.

Yeah, I wondered about Jurassic Park. I don't think I've heard a truly scary bass mix from that movie since the original DTS Laserdisc release (which I still have). I wonder if I can rip that track form the LD and move it to the digital BD rip. The DTS:X mix has nary an overhead effect anyway. Frankly, Neural X seems to do better than half the Atmos/X mixes out there in that regard. Oddly, I don't recall how the Blu-Ray mix sounded. I'd have to dig it up and compare it directly with the laserdisc, I suppose.
 
Unless they have messed the DTS-X up,it should be a total blast as the old DTS-MA track was already reference quality and a subwoofer demo material with plenty of sub-20hz action.My PB12-Ultra/2 was literaly dislodging the door of the room!
Unfortunately they did

Blu-Ray

7Rw8urt.png


UHD BD

gMHBf4i.png
 
Unfortunately they did

Blu-Ray

7Rw8urt.png


UHD BD

gMHBf4i.png

Shame on Universal!I think i can mux the DTS-MA track with the new 4k video,but i dont have a surround setup anymore,so i will leave it for now.
 
The DTS-X is neutered and is not full.bandwidth like the DTS-HD MA 7.1 track on the BD as per the graphs posted in AVS forum's. Similar to JP and FF 2/3.

When will reviewers start making awareness of this in their reviews?
Doing this is should result in a max score of 4 out of 10.
I compared them both and the difference is that big that the 10 score is just not being honest to the public
 
The movie is a great reminder why make-up and practical effects are thousand times better than unncecessary overuse of CGI
 
The DTS-X is neutered and is not full.bandwidth like the DTS-HD MA 7.1 track on the BD as per the graphs posted in AVS forum's. Similar to JP and FF 2/3.

When will reviewers start making awareness of this in their reviews?
Doing this is should result in a max score of 4 out of 10.
I compared them both and the difference is that big that the 10 score is just not being honest to the public

I'm just going to guess and say that most people don't have bass response below 20Hz and so most of them wouldn't even notice. ;)

From what I've seen at AVS, there are people OBSESSED with sub-20Hz bass and they are fools! They WILL go deaf early in life and they will bloody well deserve it, IMO. No, I'm not just saying that because I'm jealous that my bass response starts falling off at 22Hz.... :p

But a '4' because they filtered the bass below 20Hz? Meh. Your priorities aren't right, man. It's about the CEILING man! The CEILING! Like as in a ceiling fan ain't gonna cut it. You need speakers up there! Preferably TEN of them! Without TEN, your opinion don't count. It has to be 34.1.10 or it doesn't count! These reviewers need to stop with these puny 7.1.4 Atmos reviews and start telling us how it really is with a 34.1.10 setup!

If you're just going to have to make do with 1 sub, especially in those smaller UK houses, it better be a good one like this one from Tennessee (MARIANA 24SR 24" SUBWOOFER) which is the pinnacle of sealed subwoofers. Get these reviewers one of these and they'll bloody well notice the difference! No more "10" ratings with filtered bass! Hmmm, Bass Ale....Black & Tan. Excuse me...I need to go mix up another beer. If only I had a sticky toffee pudding to go with it!
 
I'm not seeing any significant "filtering" (so much as the original DTS 7.1 mix seemed to have overblown deep bass levels relative to the rest of the mix, which may or may not have been intentional given not every mixing booth has infrasonic playback and the parts above that may have been considered "too loud" by the guy that made it more even with the rest of the spectrum. In other words, YOU might love that crazy 10dB bass increase, but others may not enjoy their picture frames falling off the walls when the bass at the bottom is FAR LOUDER than the rest of the entire soundtrack) in that graph until 20Hz in the DTS:X Hellboy as BOTH mixes start to drop somewhat at 30Hz. At 20Hz, you can tell it's an actual high pass filter (a few peak levels are slightly lower as well, but output is at least fairly consistent across the bass band). Again, MOST people don't have significant response (including these people reviewing it; that guy is using a Klipsch sub) below 20Hz and you tend to only "feel" it there not "hear" it unless it's at ungodly (and therefore also 'wrong') levels.

What I'm saying is this idea that the DTS:X mix deserves a "1" as the comment suggests to that review is extreme. 0.01% are going to notice the difference and apparently they live on this and AVS forums. Frankly, if I had read that review first (which suggested the regular BD had the 2008 mix, I would have bought the UHD and made a version that had BOTH tracks and I could swap compare with KODI on the fly, assuming I get an infrasonic sub at some point. There are also more things to a soundtrack than just flipping BASS. But apparently some don't get or CARE about those aspects. They are addicted to the room shaking and that's all they care about.
 
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