Wednesday, June 18, 2014

"22 Jump Street" Movie Review





        










            22 Jump Street is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and it stars Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, and Ice Cube. In this film, we have the exact same plot of 21 Jump Street, except that the actual work place for the main characters in 22 Jump Street and 21 Jump Street, and that they are investigating a college and not a high school.

            Though, this film does understand the fact that the plot of it is very similar to the first one. There are jokes regarding action movies, comedies, and movie sequels in general. The comedy is not straightforward; it is very subtle. I never felt that the jokes went too far, and I never felt a scene existed to have a joke. Some of the jokes were very conversational, and some of it even seemed like improvisation, which is always a plus for the movie. Almost all of the comedy hit. It was handled very well.

            Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are both very good in the film apart and excellent together. They both deliver the comedy well and are very good in the dramatic elements of the film. Though, they have excellent chemistry together. The two actors really seem like they are friends and, without them, the film would not be nearly as good. Ice Cube in this film was also great. He has much more to do in this film than he did in 21 Jump Street, and he uses the material he has perfectly.


            I was never truly bored during this film. There are some times when the jokes are a bit inconsistent and there are less of them, but for a very bit portion of this film, the comedy was used very consistently and the film was very enjoyable. The plot is actually very interesting, and the action scenes are also engrossing. I had a very good time watching this film.

            But I do have flaws with this film. For the most part, the dramatic elements of the film were not effective. They were very clichéd, and were even ripped directly from the first film. I thought the dramatic elements of the first film were surprising and actually well thought-out. Here, though, the dramatic elements do not work because of how familiar they are. This also causes some of the characters in general to be uninteresting. That is why some portions of this movie were not as enjoyable as others. The film was aware the plot was similar to the plot of the first, but it was not aware that the dramatic elements were ripped from the first.

            I felt that some events of the narrative connecting the second act to the third were very sudden and did not have much depth. Some things just randomly happen and we do not really get to learn about them. The events also go by way too fast, and the film skips over some things to get to the third act quicker, so it seems the end of the second act and the beginning of the third are very rushed.

            While some of the action in this movie is well-handled and engrossing, some of the action had a bit of a quick-cut and almost shaky style that was supposed to exhilarate the viewer, but for me, it just lowered the quality of the action. There is also use of slow-motion in several scenes here, and while sometimes effective, for the most part it does not add anything to the movie.



            Overall, I had a very good time watching 22 Jump Street. I laughed at almost all of the jokes and the actors did a great job. The plot was interesting and some of the action was engrossing. But the drama in the film did not work, there were clichés in the film, some of the events were skimmed over when writing the script, and some of the action in the film is mediocre. The film has flaws, but I do think that it is worth checking out and do recommend it.

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