Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!

Greetings again from the darkness. What we expect in a documentary is a presentation of the topic in a manner slightly slanted towards the filmmaker's beliefs. What we hope for in a documentary is to learn something new or to be exposed to a different way of looking at a subject. We don't typically expect a great many laughs or even a film with significant entertainment value. For those who recall Morgan Spurlock's 2004 Oscar nominated SUPER SIZE ME, you likely won't be surprised that his latest is heavy on humor and entertainment, and a bit light on education. Still, his formula works - and we allow ourselves to be dragged along.

Spurlock kicks the film off by announcing that he wants to open his own fast food restaurant. He proceeds to confer with some celebrity chefs, a marketing firm, and a business strategist. Capitalizing on his success as a documentary filmmaker is a key element to the strategy, and of course, his mission is to once again expose the fast food industry for perpetuating myths of healthier fast food options.

He legitimately asks, "Have things gotten better?" We are meant to interpret this as ... have things gotten better since 2004 when Spurlock documented his self-imposed all-McDonalds food every meal for an entire month. It's at this point where the research kicks in. Facts and statistics are discussed. We learn that 44% of us eat fast food regularly, and that chicken overtook beef a couple of years ago as the protein of choice. We first assume this must be due to consumers making the "healthier" choice, but then we are informed that fried chicken outsells grilled chicken - and the gap is widening.

The most interesting segment of the movie occurs as the buzzwords and their meanings are discussed. Having "nutrition" broken down from a marketing perspective truly exposes the outright fraud being perpetrated on the public. "Health Halo" is the moniker applied to descriptions like "fresh", "all-natural", and "no added hormones". Even "crispy" is used in place of the more accurate "fried", which is obviously a word no consumer would associate with healthy food. Spurlock is in his element when providing a startling visual for what qualifies as "free range" according to the FDA.

'Big Chicken' is compared to 'Big Oil', as 5 corporations control 99% of the chicken farming industry: Tyson, Perdue, Pilgrims, Koch Foods, and Sanderson Farms. We get an explanation of how these corporations apply enormous pressure on the farmers, keeping them in a constant state of debt - or worse for farmer Jonathan Buttram who has been blackballed for helping Spurlock make this movie. Spurlock bounces from Columbus, Ohio to Boulder, Colorado to Tennessee to Kentucky to Washington, D.C, to Alabama; and from Chick-Fil-A to Wendy's to 7-11 to Popeye's, and even to McDonalds - Spurlock's first visit in 12 years to the establishment that put him on the movie map.

Very little new information is provided here, but Spurlock does what he does best - entertain with examples of extremes. While his "fried grilled" chicken sandwich is a publicity stunt, the real story is how menus and labels are used to manipulate the consumer, many who don't seem to much care.

My Rating : 7/10

Morgan Spurlock knows a thing or two about making a documentary film and fast food. 'Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!' is an excellent and necessary expose on the Big Chicken industry - it's a showcase of how unnatural the whole value chain of the chicken industry is, how the chickens are treated unnaturally to make them grow fast, the unfair treatment of the farmers and the clever use of marketing tricks to give a false perception of the final product.

Superb documentary - engaging, eye-opening and transparent filmmaking.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Over ten years after his ground-breaking documentary Super Size Me had a dramatic impact on the fast food industry, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock returns to the film that made his name, with the sad realisation that nothing much fundamentally has changed. However, the most popular 'junk food' now has become chicken, which calorifically is the best of a bad lot. But all is not as it seems, as Spurlock delves into the inner machinations of the American chicken industry, and how they twist things to make them not as they seem, whilst endeavouring to set up his own chicken store, where everything is as natural as it claims.

Super Size Me was a small, independent film, with a high concept regarding one guy's determination to eat nothing but fast food for a month, that went on to have quite a cultural impact, resulting in various big name franchises (chiefly McDonalds) adopting a more balanced, healthier menu. This (typically belated nowadays) follow up film (which I only learned about when I saw it featured on Amazon Prime) has received even less publicity (premiering on these shores in January of this year despite being released in 2017!) and won't have anywhere near the same outcome (marred even more by Spurlock's alleged #MeToo indiscretions.)

Despite being on far less of a pedestal, Spurlock approaches his new project with the same passion he spearheaded his original 2004 film with, whilst not forgetting to inject it with plenty of light relief, which his naturally affable personality allows with no problems. Whilst he seemed to be highlighting general ignorance with regards to healthy eating practises last time, here he seems to be honing in on outright corruption, highlighting the chicken industry's exploitation of the poor, oppressed farmers forced to go along with their plans, and the corporate duplicity with regards what the public are told is really (for instance) 'free range' and not 'hormone injected.'

The 'eat nothing but junk' gimmick was what drove much of the first film, and with the novelty not as strong here, it doesn't have quite the same kick. But aesthetically, there's nothing wrong with it, Spurlock guiding it all along with the same gusto that made the last film work so well, and only marginally less so here. ***

Now, the sequel, subtitled "Holy Chicken!", was supposed to come out all the way back in 2017 exclusively on YouTube, of all places. However, because of some controversy surrounding director and star of the film, Morgan Spurlock, it didn't end up coming out until 2019. I'm not going to get into the controversy here since it isn't relevant to the film, but I will briefly go over my thoughts on the first movie. While it is a well-made and entertaining film that raises some good points, the whole "eat nothing but McDonald's" experiment portion of the film is deeply flawed at best and possibly outright fraudulent at worst. Still, I enjoyed it for what it was. The sequel is not about eating nothing but, say, KFC for a month. It's actually about Spurlock opening his own fast-food franchise that sells "grilled crispy chicken sandwiches" using all the same tactics that other fast-food restaurants use to trick people into thinking their food is healthy. He doesn't try to hide any of it from his customers, in hopes to educate them about fast-food marketing tricks. He also becomes a chicken farmer in this documentary and exposes corruption within the chicken farming industry. He shines a light on how poorly the farmers are treated and how they really grow chickens for meat. I thought this documentary was very interesting and well-made. I'd actually argue that it's better than the original since it doesn't have the whole experiment aspect to it which has since been proven to be likely exaggerated or influenced by other factors. I'd recommend checking this out, it's very educational and a fun watch. Now, after the controversy that came out recently some might feel uncomfortable with supporting Spurlock's work, which I understand. Personally, I feel like I can separate the artist from the art on a case-by-case basis. This is a case in which I think I can. Spurlock personally came forward completely unprompted and confessed to what he did rather than getting called-out by someone else and denying it like so many others, which I do respect. Also, this documentary has nothing to do with his personal life, which is also a big factor. Anyway, I'm rambling and getting off-topic. This is a good movie. Check it out.

'Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! (2017)' attempts to pull the curtain back on the new craze of so-called 'healthy' fast food, focusing specifically on chicken-based chains such as Chick-fil-A. It goes about doing this by showing host Morgan Spurlock (whose admission of sexual harassment kept the piece in purgatory for a couple of years) attempt to start his own fast food restaurant. For a while, it isn't clear exactly why he's doing the very thing he condemned in the movie's predecessor. The way in which he seeks to erroneously market his food as healthy, his chicken as humanely cared-for, his intentions as pure is all just a little too unironic for my liking. Plus, the picture is shot and edited in a bizarrely chaotic, almost amateurish fashion. Eventually, though, something clicks and the affair's true intention becomes crystal clear. Though it isn't the most outwardly scathing of exposés, it's certainly a condemnation of the thuggish culture surrounding 'big chicken' (five chicken-farming companies who provide birds for the entire United States) and the way in which they mislead the general public (which, to be fair, the fast food chains themselves also do), bully farmers and basically make their own rules. There are many eye-opening moments in the movie, especially as it moves into its second half, and its exploration of what goes on before the food arrives at our tables is often actually a little upsetting (thankfully, there's no footage of the killing floor itself). Spurlock is an engaging host (if not necessarily, by his own admission, a great guy) and, once it's clear that he intends to use the information he's gaining as activist ammunition, it's easy to want his experiment to succeed. When everything comes together, it's incredibly satisfying. The picture's pay-off is nearly ingenious; it's the sort of thing that makes you smile because it's so clever and it eliminates any remaining doubts that your host may have truly sold out to the dark side. In the end, though, will it make a difference? Its predecessor did seem to have some effect - after all, this 'new' health craze can't have come from nowhere (though it obviously didn't solely originate with a single documentary) and McDonald's did remove the 'super size' option suspiciously close to the thing's release. If anything, though, I think the movie just proves how willing people are to put their blinders on if it means they can have a clear consciousness. It's not like this stuff is a state-guarded secret; you can find out all sorts of stuff about the food you eat simply by going online. If you show most people a chicken, they'll consider it cute and wouldn't dream of killing it - much less eating it. If you walked into a kitchen with that same chicken and emerged with a fried chicken sandwich, those same people would wolf it down like an animal. Documentaries like this try to show us that we aren't free from blame, that our choices do have an impact whether we like it or not. At the very least, they're able to show us the companies that feed us aren't above lying to us; in fact, that's their very foundation. Ultimately, I think that the film is better than its predecessor, primarily because its central concept is resonant right the way through. It's enjoyable, yet informative and it's told from a very relatable perspective. I just kind of wish that the denouement delved a little deeper into Spurlock's post-'grand opening' plan. 7/10.