|
|
 |
Jackass: Number Two
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: David Cormack & Noor Razzak (20th January 2007). |
|
The Film
 The beginning of "Jackass: The Movie" (2002) was outstanding. The team was rolling down the road in a giant shopping trolley, slapping and punching one another in the head; bricks exploding onto them and then finally hitting a stall and flying out into the debris. This set the bar pretty high for the rest of the film and it was reached again and again with stunts that Johnny Knoxville, Chris Pontius et al pulled. "Jackass Number Two's" beginning is a less than inspired chasing of the bulls through suburbia; this sets the bar fairly low but this time the boys fail to reach even that. That's not entirely fair, the first half an hour or so are quality and did inspire a lot of laughter amongst me and the people who watched it but after that you just got the feeling that you were watching a half hour episode with an extra hour of filler tacked on to the end. The first stunt sets the tone for how this film will pan out. Chris Pontius puts a 'mouse' sock over his cock and puts said appendage through a knot hole in a wooden enclosure, but oh no, what's this in the enclosure? Yeah, it's a snake. Hilarious guys. From there the obsession with genitalia and bodily fluids becomes more and more bizarre. Horse semen is drunken, a beard is forged from the pubes of the crew (complete with a crab, apparently) and so forth. In fact I'm sure a fairly good case for studying the homoerotic undertones could be made in this film. But that's true of any 'boy's own film' which is precisely the problem with this flick. It's a boy's club. It's a bunch of juvenile males sitting round and farting for each other's amusement. Sure some of the moments are inspired (launching Knoxville on a giant rocket รก la Wile E. Coyote) but for every quality well thought out stunt like that there's a mini dude bungee jumping off a bridge with the bungee cord tied to not a bridge, but a fat dude standing on a bridge. Cut to everyone else in the "Jackass" team laughing themselves sick at the end of every stunt. But watching it this time you just got the feeling that they were laughing for the camera rather than genuinely finding it funny. The show has been running for 6 years now, it's only fair that enthusiasm would slowly peter out. With any film like this it's hard to review properly as really, what can I say about the acting? A dude gets pushed off an ice horse. He leaves bits of his testicles attached to said horse, he looks in pain. Well I suppose that the laughing I talked about above wasn't done very convincingly so they're s**t actors. I think the biggest problem to be found with this film was that the tried to get too smart. Too elaborate. The appeal of "Jackass" the TV Show (2000-2002) and the first movie was that there is something so base about a man being hit in the nuts (see Hans Moleman's entry into the Springfield Film Festival, "Man Getting Hit By Football" for a good example) that we can all enjoy it. Knoxville and Ryan Dunn going over the sand-trap in a golf cart and getting messed up was funny coz they got F****d up. Knoxville getting beaten to a pulp by Butterbean, again, funny because he got F****d up. But Pontius drinking horse semen? Ugh. The best stunt in the film involves Bam Margera's parents and Preston Lacey, I don't want to ruin it, but it's a simple trick. And it's gold. If (and I believe there is going to be) a "Jackass 3", it'd be great if they could just get back to basics and keep it simple.
Video
Presented in 1.78:1, this widescreen anamorphic transfer varies in quality, the entire TV series and movies for "Jackass" have all been shot on DV and it's no different here so quality jumps from nice and sharp to not so great (mainly the smaller mounted cameras and the night-vision stuff is a soft), the overall image is flat, the color quality changes according to location and light levels, blacks are flat but at the end of the day you shouldn't go into this expecting the greatest transfer in the world, because the cameras and shooting style dictate the film's home video look.
Audio
Two tracks are included both in English, one is a Dolby Digital 5.1 and the other a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its 5.1 track. This track isn't going to wow you, it's not dynamic and has limited range, but it presents the audio well enough that it doesn't totally disappoint either, for those unfamiliar this movies is about a bunch of guys doing really stupid and sometimes dangerous stunts, so the sound mix is rather limited, although the music made good use of the surround space. Optional subtitles are included in both English and Spanish.
Extras
Paramount has included an audio commentary, a featurette, some deleted scenes, additional segments, unrated segments, outtakes, a music video, the film's theatrical trailer, some unrated spots, a photo gallery plus a collection of bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up is a feature-length audio commentary with Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, Dave England, Ehren McGhehey, Jeff Tremaine and Dimitry Elyashkevick. This track is like listening to old friends talk about stuff they did back in the day and joke about funny/embarrassing events. And they make you feel like you're one of them because they shared their home videos with you and are now talking about it. In that respect I had a great time listening to these guys talk s**t, make fun of each other and the stunts they performed as well as learn who devised certain stunts among other things. The tone and delivery is light hearted and occasionally humorous, this is one of those tracks that you can share with other people as well as it's a breeze to get through and never feels like a chore. Next up is "The Making of Jackass Number Two" a featurette that runs for 29 minutes 58 seconds. This is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, the genesis of the second film and also shooting the various stunts and pranks. We get interviews with the cast and director as they talk about the crazy stunts, getting back together and also the problems they encountered like being recognised all the time which meant they had to think of other ways to prank people and also led them to actually pranking each other. Following that are 7 "Unrated" additional segments that include: - "Bam Disclaimer" which runs for 15 seconds, Bam Margera warns the audience of the film being gay. - "The Ball Bookmark" runs for 55 seconds, Shamus gets his testicle slammed in a book. - "The Novak Drop In" runs for 29 seconds, Brandon Novak wipes out down a skate ramp without pants and skids on the concrete. - "Wee Man And Bam Elevator Ride" runs for 16 seconds, a naked Wee Man and Bam ride a hotel elevator. - "Penis Tricks" runs for 1 minute 38 seconds, while in India a guy does some freaky tricks with his dick. - "Preston Middle Butt" runs for 11 seconds, a naked Preston Lacy shows us his middle butt while in the pool. - "90 Year Old Music Video" runs for 2 minutes 3 seconds, the old couple sing along to the Peaches song "f*** The Pain Away". Next up is a deleted scenes reel that runs for 15 minutes 59 seconds. Here we see crashing into garbage cans, getting electrocuted on the butt cheek, more old man footage with his balls hanging out, more boxing glove through the wall, Bam takes a dildo to his dick, more anacondas in the ball pool and Knoxville getting treated for his bites, more butt chug footage including Steve-O drinking his butt beer, we also get more gauntlet hits, Bam and cameraman Lance Bangs vomit, Chris Pontius gets a boner while his dick is in the snake encloser, Bam eats some horse s**t, more of the electrified stool, Knoxville snows up Bam's parent's stairway, more of the big green ball and trolley cart launch. Next up are 29 additional segments which include: - "Trash Can Pyramid" which runs for 34 seconds, Steve-O launches himself into a pile of plastic garbage cans. - "The Ding Dong" runs for 3 minutes, this includes many more victims in the fast-inflating pink penis that hits people in the face when ringing the door bell. - "Bell Hop Cart/Flying 69" runs for 1 minute 38 seconds, Steve-O and Chris Pontius get launched down some stairs in a bell hop cart by filmmaker John Waters, later see see the flying 69 move. - "Alaskan Wolf Trap" runs for 1 minute 6 seconds, Bam tries out the trap using his own hand. - "Cow Udder" runs for 1 minute 15 seconds, Preston dressed as a cow feeding two calfs. - "Dildo Tricks 1" runs for 10 seconds, Knoxville drops a dildo onto it's suction cup. - "Dildo Tricks 2" runs for 20 seconds, Knoxville throws the dildo and it sticks to the wall. - "The Shock Phone" runs for 2 minute 37 seconds, the guys use a WWII field phone to shock people with. - "Party Boy Bollywood" runs for 1 minute 24 seconds, Party Boy in a dance sequence in India. - "Wee Horse" runs for 12 seconds, Wee Man shows us his tiny horse. - "Stun Gun Hot Potato" runs for 1 minute 31 seconds, the guys play a game of hot potato with a live stun gun. - "Trash Can Cymbals" runs for 1 minute 16 seconds, Knoxville uses the lids as cymbals as he catches people off guard. - "Poo Piling" runs for 42 seconds, Steve-O is covered in manure. - "Loomis In India" runs for 1 minute 2 seconds, Loomis Fall is wrestled to the ground by a skinny Indian guy. - "90 Year Old: Tourist Photo" runs for 18 seconds, the old man passes out in the middle of getting his photo taken. - "Ugly America" runs for 21 seconds, Knoxville and two Indian guys walk with their arms around each other. - "Me Tattoo" runs for 1 minute 22 seconds, Steve-O gets a pentagram shaped liked a penis tattooed on his chest. - "Wiener Kite" runs for 49 seconds, Wee Man flys a kite that is strung to his penis. - "Three Legged Dog" runs for 41 seconds, Ryan Dunn play fetch with a three legged dog's missing leg. - "Home Made Hang-Glider" runs for 1 minute 12 seconds, Steve-O crashes his hang-glider. - "Half Pipe Drop In" runs for 17 seconds, Bam slams into a garage door. - "90 Year Old: Make-Out" runs for 19 seconds, the old couple make-out in public. - "90 Year Old: Cafe" runs for 1 minute 1 seconds, the old lady accuses a young man of touching her breast. - "90 Year Old: Hollywood Blvd." runs for 9 seconds, the old lady asks passer-bys whether they like sex. - "90 Year Old: Ladder" runs for 1 minute 52 seconds, the old man gets help using a ladder with his testicles hanging out. - "Lobster Claw" runs for 34 seconds, Steve-O french kisses a lobster. - "Dunn Bike Off Picnic Bench" runs for 8 seconds, Ryan Dunn wipes out on his bike. - "Poo Mountain" runs for 46 seconds, Steve-O and Brandon Novak ski down a poo mountain. - "Bird Splat" runs for 59 seconds, a wheelchair man eats a dead pigeon in public. An outtakes reel runs for 8 minutes and includes a series of unusable footage of the guys introducing the stunts, trimmed bits from the end of a stunt as well as on camera comments during stunts amoung other things. The "Karazy" music video follows and runs for 2 minutes 38 seconds, this is a cheapy video made by the "Jackass" crew. The film's original theatrical trailer is next and runs for 1 minute 24 seconds. A reel of 2 "Unrated" VMA spots is included and runs for 2 minutes 6 seconds, these were created for the MTV Video Music Awards. Next is a photo gallery that features 38 images taken during the peoduction of the film. Rounding out the extras are a collection of bonus trailers that include: - "Norbit" which runs for 1 minute 56 seconds. - "Babel" which runs for 2 minutes 30 seconds. - "The Last Kiss" which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. - "Nacho Libre" which runs for 2 minutes 21 seconds.
Overall
|
|||||
|