22 Jump Street

Keeping this brief, this is no doubt the funniest film I've seen since the turn of the year. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill make a great bromance couple, and although appearing in the disappointing "Ride Along", Ice Cube too is brilliant in this film.

Expect non-stop entertainment as excellent humour is mixed with an interesting yet simple plot, heartfelt moments and exciting action. My only complaint would be that at times it felt a little recycled from the first film. Though having enjoyed that I wasn't too fussed.

More than worth your moneys worth. If you enjoyed 21 Jump Street, then you'd be mad not to see this.

I watched this right after 21 jump street. This started off better for me. I was cracking at "my name is Jeff." I somehow absolutely forgot about that. I had to pause to stop laughing. I still remembered the slam poetry scene, because it felt pretty accurate lol. That's literally what I hear when someone shows me slam poetry. Weird seeing Wyatt Russell in this after seeing his roles in Monarch tv series and Night swim recently. Funniest bit was the Captains daughter bit. I don't know if I remember correctly but Kevin Hart was also sleeping with ice cube's daughter or something in 'Ride Along' too? This keeps happening to him lol. I think it was written better, still dumb and childish, but better. I loved the open relationship/investigation thing, the movie is filled with relationship metaphors throughout. It teased so many jump street sequels and I was laughing because surely your cover could be blown after so many undercover missions. Anyway I enjoyed this much more than the first, certainly got a lot more laughs out of me.

First of all, big complements to the protagonists. The chemistry between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum is incredible. As soon as their on screen you immediately start smiling, just because you feel the need to prepare yourself for something amusing. The jokes are fast paced and relentless, without it being tiresome. More importantly the comedy is actually clever, even during some of the scenarios the are more stupid due to some absurdity.

22 Jump Street is self-aware of what it is, and pokes fun of itself for being a sequel that follows the formula. However, addressing this fault in that comedic way will not be enough for everyone to forgive it. At the other hand, I think this is something that you can easily look past because of how enjoyable the movie is. The requirement of a comedy is to make you laugh, and 22 Jump Street fulfills it totally. Your cheeks will definitely have a good exercise! ;)

Usually remakes aren't very good, with many bombing and being outshone by the original version. But to everyone's surprise 21 Jump Street was a hit, earning 200 million and giving the careers of both Hill and Tatum a big boost to two already big names. Then just like any action, the producers decided to throw more money at the same people hoping for the same result. Usually all this leads to is everything being the same but with more explosions and a bigger pay-check to get the same people back.. Well, that's exactly what 22 Jump Street also does, with as much as possible remaining just the same. The difference being that it's honest about it, with the entire film mocking the regular clichés.

Even the outline of the plot mocks the regular concept of every sequel. Hill and Tatum are constantly reminded to do everything the exact same as last time at every chance they get to say it. The logic being since it worked last time, it'll work again. Only this time they'll throw more money at it to better ensure success. Because increasing the budget is certain to increase the profit. This is one of the many self aware jokes that the film keeps throwing at us. Usually staying fixed on joking that it's a sequel would get repetitive after a while, but the film just keeps handling it in different ways to keep the laughs coming.

It works because of the clever writing which parodies every detail of an action sequel, keeping the jokes fresh and original. They'll make a joke out of everything from the fact that things getting destroyed in car chases costs a lot in the budget to even John Woo's doves being randomly thrown in. At times some of the jokes don't work quite as well, but there's enough hilarious moments packed in to make sure the laughs keep coming and mocks every possible detail of the action sequel.

On top of this, the actors know how to make the jokes work with all the actors having the same charm as last time. Ice Cube gets his angry boss role down to the note, mastering the angry stare and yelling almost every line of dialogue he gets. The cameos from the villains be as over the top as you can get. And just like before, both Hill and Tatum bring their A game in their ultimate bromance together. It was one of the key elements of the first film and the actors chemistry remains just as funny and enjoyable here. If anything more so here, with their conversations growing more like a married couple and a lot more opportunities to be hilariously over the top.

Which is the main reason that 22 Jump Street is one of the few sequels that's better than the original. It's everything that 21 Jump Street was, just bigger and better. With the likes of this, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and the Lego Movie it's clear that Lord and Miller are quickly becoming 2 of the biggest and best names in comedy using both slapstick and mocking clichés to keep the laughs coming strong. I don't know whether they intend to do any more sequels, but as long as they maintain the consistently funny films that they have so far I can only hope that they make as many jump streets as they can.

It's pretty easy to review this one. If you liked the first one, you're in for a treat. It holds up to the expectations and plays cleverly with 'being aware' of making basically the same movie again. The good thing about this flick is, that it doesn't take itself too seriously while at the same time delivering a good and fast paced story with quite some surprises and good action. I basically laughed from the first minute up to the (awesome!) end credits! If you like that type of comedy, this one is for you, as it delivers on point and, without a doubt, is the funniest flick this year so far! Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum have a great chemistry and you can see and feel, how they enjoyed doing this movie. Like the first one, 22 Jump Street does a great job observing the different aspects of college life, students and teachers (or professors for that matter). Everyone who's been to college can relate to those stereotypes (e.g. the pseudo intellectuals, the sport jocks, the art students etc.) and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller ("The Lego Movie") do a great job spoofing those clichés while at same time debunk the downsides and shallowness of those groups or college life in general.

Verdict: Go see it, if you liked the first one. I can't say if it's better, but it certainly holds up. And I liked the first one pretty much. So there you go...