Presented in either 5.1 or DTS, the film sounds decent when the action picks up. Gunfire comes from all angles when it should, but the LFE channel gets a day off. Even during the films few explosions, the bass never really kicks in leaving everything sounding scratchy and washed out. Ambient noises, particularly in the opening scenes of the airport are nice as are echo effects in the control tower, but the entire package falls flat without any decent bass. Dialogue sounds better this time around, but the source material is a few years younger as well. (***)
Compared to the triple commentary treatment the first film received, the single track here from the director seems limited. However, how many people really watch a film three times for commentaries? Anyway, everything special here is contained on disc 2.
Starting things off are two promotional featurettes. The first making-of aired on Fox (in prime time if my memory serves me right) and runs for nearly 25-minutes. It's obviously a commercial, but behind the scenes footage is always welcome. The second 4-minute short was contained in a press kit for the film. Four deleted scenes of varying length are included and one of them is an alternate take.
Renny Harlin is featured in a brief interview while a short featurette on the movie's villains is included in the same section of the features menu. A short but deep look at two action sequences, the snowmobile chase and conveyor belt gunfight, gives an overview of how these scenes came together. Storyboards are included for the attack on the SWAT team. Visual effect breakdowns show certain scenes in various forms of completion up until the final cut. Finally, three scenes are shown intercut with footage from other stages of the shot. (****)
This is a move that simply slows itself down. It spends too much time trying to reacquaint audiences with characters from the first film and then tacks on even more people. The few action scenes that are included are great to watch, but when you can just get the original, why bother?
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