SONY has released Troy Duffy's "THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINT'S DAY," a sequel to the original "THE BOONDOCK SAINTS" film of 11 years ago. While the original was overrated, even as a script, it had moments that felt refreshing, and showcased the potential talent buried beneath the self-indulgence of its director.

As the sequel begins, we find those loveable killer brothers, Connor and Murphy have found refuge from the law, living on a farm in Ireland with their maniacal father, Noah.  However, the killing of a priest in church, back in the states, serves as enough justification for the family to venture back, picking up their weapons and continuing their killing spree, rationalized as bringing justice to evil-doers! They're aided by Romeo, a sick fan of their past actions, hoping to join their exploits. At the same time, a pretty special agent, Eunice(Julie Benz) is tracking them.  Unlike the previous, flawed but momentarily engaging film, there's nothing original about this sequel. All of the action, gunfights, and imagery is so over-the-top, it comes across as just plain exploitive. As mentioned above, the original film owed much of its mystique due to an over-praised script, and while little of its dialogue was actually creative, it at least had the semblance of some innovative twists.  "THE BOONDOCK SAINTS 2: ALL SAINTS DAY" offers none of this.  The intended humor comes across as infantile, rather than just dark. Characters get loud for no necessary reason and Duffy seems to think the cursing provides depth that he obviously can't achieve with other dialogue. While Billy Connolly is one of the film's few good features, the rest of the cast suffers due to such a bad script, anyone would look bad reading from it.

SONY has provided the correct 2.40:1 aspect ratio for this AVC MPEG-4 1080p blu-ray.  It's a great transfer. Alternating between slick and well polished, colors are vibrant and pushed to extremes, without ever becoming over-saturated. Detail is often stunning. Due to inky blacks, even darker scenes retain great depth.  Fleshtones appear natural. A transfer whose quality greatly exceeds its content.

SONY has provided a DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix that is close to reference quality. While Duffy's over-the-top direction and writing damn the film, the same heavy-handedness actually enables the mix to entertain, in a top-notch "B" movie environment kind of way.  Gunfire, explosions, and deep bass figure prominently throughout and the fidelity of the lossy mix makes these elements fit in a dynamic manner. A great listen and great demonstration disc.

SONY has provided plenty of extras for whatever fans of the film may exist. Two commentaries are offered. The first with Duffy, and the three main actors, is just awful. Everyone tries to be funny, but only come across as drunk and annoying. The 2nd commentary with Duffy, and later, Willem Dafoe, is actually terrific, even though Duffy has still failed to achieve the sense of complete candor one wishes he had by this time in his career, and near total, self-inflicted demise.

Deleted scenes are completely wasteful, adding nothing to the film, and running under three minutes.

Featurettes are a mixed bag, but "THE BOONDOCK SAINTS HIT COMIC-CON" should definitely be seen, and is arguably the best of them.