BLU: 21 Jump Street
After high school, Smidt and Jenko join forces at the police academy to get through school so they can become the badass cops they want to be. Schmidt helps Jenko with the intellectual tests while Jenko helps Schmidt overcome the physicalities required for the job and the two become best pals. Once they get in the field, however, they quickly screw up and get sent to 21 Jump Street to join a new undercover squad. Their first mission: to infiltrate a high school and stop a new drug from spreading.
21 Jump Street is based on the 80s TV show that starred a young Johnny Depp but before you start thinking this is yet another Hollywood rehash of former success (think: The A Team) or yet another “back to high school” movie you should realise this film doesn’t take itself too seriously. Actually, it doesn’t take itself seriously at all and that’s perfectly portrayed during the scene where Schmidt and Jenko face their chief and are being told they have to join 21 Jump Street. I quote the Chief: “We’re reviving a canceled undercover project from the ’80s and revamping it for modern times. The people behind this lack creativity and they’ve run out of ideas, so what they do now is just recycle shit from the past and hope that nobody will notice.”
That’s exactly what 21 Jump Street does but with so much tongue-in-cheeck that it’s actually quite fun. And it doesn’t stop with 21 Jump Street itself. Also action movies themselves get laughed with as well! The car chase where Tatum and Hill constantly wonder why nothing gets blown up is a great example. It’s hilarious seeing them shooting at stuff and then nothing happening. It’s that type of clever comedy that makes 21 Jump Street stand out of the crowd from other recent comedy movies.
Don’t expect to be falling of your chair and getting tummy aches from laughing, though. There’s plenty of fun scenes present, but in the end the movie isn’t truly hilarious. The standard clichés still pop up all over the place and the plot twists can be seen coming from miles away. Still, 21 Jump Street does better than most of these rehashes and as such deserves some credit.
The image looks very well, but unfortunately the high-def nature of the movie makes that CGI stands out too much. Whenever CG is applied, you easily notice it which is a shame. Other than that, there’s nothing to complain about, just like with the DTS-HD soundtrack that’s perfect for a dialogue-driven comedy. Whenever there’s action on the screen, the surrounds and subwoofer come into play nicely, but never at the expense of dialogue. Excellent stuff.
Next to the almost obligatory commentary track and 30 minutes of deleted scenes there’s also just over 30 minutes of features present but unfortunately most of it is very promotional in nature.
6.0
BLU: The Raven
UK Charts get overthrown