Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!

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. ***

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.

Morgan Spurlock is back but thankfully is not again gorging himself on junk food to make himself sick to wean us all off junk food. Many may try to deny it but his first movie was seminal, and made a far bigger impact than many insiders are willing to admit. Not that it has stopped the junk food juggernaut, and this movie takes another step to raise points again on the inhumane parts of the industry.

To get it out the way, there have been allegations made against Spurlock from his personal life which are public which have overshadowed this documentary. This review is not the appropriate place to discuss them, but I can see why it led to a more muted response from some to its release.

Anyhow, Spurlock in this documentary is as affable and witty as ever, showing the chicken rearing and fast food industry reality, but also importantly the disgusting abuse of the farmers by the oligipolies who ultimately pull the levers. I liked the honesty and I respected the farmers in this too, but sadly there was no positive conclusion to the battle for the farmers. Hopefully that will come with support from this movie.

This film is not revolutionary as was the first one, mainly as Netflix has seen a huge growth in similar style documentaries in recent years which also have exposed the truth about the food industry. Nevertheless it's very informative and issue raising.

This film is not asking you to go vegan, it's just asking you in a friendly way to think again about our food industry. That is something to admire. I honestly would urge people to watch this. It has heart and is genuine. Biased maybe but the counter arguments are not going to wholly add up.

Go out, self serve and gorge yourself on this documentary. You'll learn something good, and hopefully will help play a part to direct the food industry into better practises.

Interesting film which does a great job of showing how the fast food/meat industry lies to us about the damage eating their food does to our health and cover up how horrifically the animals are treated. I don't agree with everything Spurlock does in the film and I don't think he goes far enough with what he shows, but still interesting to watch

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.