There is such thing as a great sequel. Immediately springing to mind are The Dark Knight, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Toy Story 2, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back......I could keep going, but the one thing you won't really find on that list are comedy sequels. Why? Because the most common practice is doing the same thing as the first time with different gags. How many times can you really see the Wolf Pack try to piece together the previous night or watch two employees try to convince everyone Bernie is still alive? And come on, if the only thing you have from the original is Chevy Chase, why on earth create the abomination that is Caddyshack II? Basically, 99% of comedy sequels are Grade A garbage. Until now.
Picking up where the first movie left off, Schmidt and Jenko are working undercover narcotic cases, but are doing terribly at it. So their Chief assigns them back to the Jump Street program to repeat what they did in the previous film and infiltrate a school in order to cut off a new drug sensation. This time however, they go to college.
21 Jump Street was so deftly smart because of how they skewer the idea of making a movie based on a Television show from the 1980's. The single funniest thing I heard in the year 2012 was the quote from Nick Offerman (TV's incomparable Ron Swanson) describing the mission to the two rookie cops: "We're reviving a canceled undercover police program from the '80s and revamping it for modern times. You see the guys in charge of this stuff lack creativity and are completely out of ideas, so all they do now is recycle shit from the past and expect us all not to notice." It played on all the tired old tropes and gags, and it made them fresh again.
This time, the team skewers the idea of trying to make something bigger and better than the first time and trying to do what worked the first time. Aside from the run of jokes that occur with the plot, the main comedy again comes from the meta-humor about the film itself. The idea that they are simply trying to do things the same way again but hitting dead ends is a commentary on the thinking of studios. It's so magnificently funny from the perspective of one who can appreciate the fact that comedy sequels usually suck, but they keep coming.
Another brilliant aspect is the "bromance" between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. They have excellent chemistry because they are so vastly different. A friendship such as theirs is rare and fulfilling to the viewer because of their repartee. They play off each other so strongly, that it rivals the chemistry of Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield.
Consider this fact: The first movie was so brilliant, Kurt Russell's son Wyatt turned down a role in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire so that he could be in this sequel.
Jonah Hill excels in his capacity as Schmidt, combining his normal on screen personality with the deftly written screenplay he has crafted.
But Channing Tatum soars in this film. Why? Think Leslie Nielsen in Airplane! Prior to that role, he had done mainly dramatic material. He played his role of the doctor seriously, but it was sidesplittingly hilarious because he was delivering his absurd dialogue in such a straight demeanor. The same can be said for Tatum who plays off his action hero, dramatic lead range with his great character here.
22 Jump Street is the first time a comedy sequel has not only been great, but better than the first. I guarantee you will laugh till it hurts.
A
No comments:
Post a Comment