Bad Santa 2 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was a fine visual presentation.
From start to finish, sharpness looked strong. With virtually no softness on display, the film looked concise and well-defined. No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, and edge enhancement was absent. I also failed to detect any source flaws.
In terms of colors, the movie featured good old orange and teal, with an emphasis on the former. Within those parameters, the hues looked positive. They showed nice clarity and breadth and came out well. Blacks were dark and deep, while shadows appeared clear and smooth. I thought the movie consistently looked great.
I thought that the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Bad Santa 2 seemed fine but it didn’t excel because of a lack of ambition. Like most comedies, the movie featured a limited soundfield that strongly favored the forward channels. It showed nice stereo spread to the music as well as some general ambience from the sides.
Panning was decent, and the surrounds usually kicked in basic reinforcement. A few scenes opened up better – mainly via street sequences – but most of the movie stayed with limited imaging.
Audio quality appeared good. Speech was natural and distinct, with no issues related to edginess or intelligibility. Effects sounded clean and accurate, with good fidelity and no signs of distortion. Music was perfectly fine, as the score and songs showed positive dimensionality. This track was good enough for a “B-“ but didn’t particularly impress.
The Blu-ray provides both the film’s theatrical version (1:32:16) as well as an unrated cut (1:34:50). The extended edition includes four new or longer scenes, none of which seem consequential. Both versions of the film remain similar, so neither works better than the other.
We get an Alternate Opening (1:00), an Alternate Ending (2:49) and four Deleted Scenes (2:41). The “Deleted Scenes” simply repeat the added footage found in the Unrated Cut, so if you viewed that version, you’ll find nothing new. The four scenes offer a little more character info but nothing great.
The “Opening” shows Willie at work, while the “Ending” alters the trajectories of Willie and a few others. Neither does much to stand out as interesting.
A Gag Reel goes for three minutes, 59 seconds. This mostly offers goofs and giggles, but it throws out some alternate lines as well. Those make it more interesting than usual.
Next comes a featurette called Thurman Then and Now. It lasts two minutes, 27 seconds and gives us comments from director Mark Waters and actors Billy Bob Thornton, Brett Kelly, Tony Cox, and Kathy Bates. They talk about the Thurman character and Kelly’s performance. It lacks much to make it worthwhile.
Just Your Average Red Band Featurette fills two minutes with remarks from Kelly, Thornton, Waters, Bates, and actors Christina Hendricks, Jenny Grigino and Ryan Hansen. They offer banal comments about the film that are punctuated by crude remarks. Once again, we get little of substance.
An Original Animated Series called “That’s My Willie” occupies three minutes, 51 seconds. It offers cartoon adventures that show the experiences of Willie and Thurman since the first film. These lack humor.
A 35-second reel called Jingle Balls offers a musical interlude. It takes many of the movie’s smutty bits and plays them with them with holiday song accompaniment. It’s just as lame as it sounds.
Some promotional elements appear under Trailers and Spots. This area features two Santa 2 trailers along with four TV spots.
The disc opens with ads for The Infiltrator, A Walk In the Woods, 99 Homes and The Dark Horse. Sneak Peeks provides promos for Bridget Jones’s Baby, Last Days in the Desert, Knight of Cups, Song of Lahore, Break Point, 10000 KM, Samba, Eden, I Smile Back and Learning to Drive.
Because the original film offered a delightfully cynical experience, I hoped Bad Santa 2 would offer more of the same. Unfortunately, the sequel lacks its predecessor’s insight and wit, as it focuses on cheap crudeness without any wit or cleverness whatsoever. The Blu-ray boasts excellent visuals along with decent audio and insubstantial bonus materials. Fans of Bad Santa should avoid this execrable spinoff.