2021 Mini-Review Compilation

2021 MINI-REVIEWS: 

By Nico Beland

 

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH: 

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4 

APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS AND A24

The Tragedy of Macbeth offers a faithful and riveting retelling of the classic story helmed by an electrifying performance by Denzel Washington (Glory, American Gangster, Flight) and a magnificent solo directing debut for Joel Coen (The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, True Grit (2010)!

THE COURIER: 

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4 

LIONSGATE AND ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS

The Courier delivers a gripping old-school spy caper with a thrilling fact-based story and a brilliant performance by Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Marvel Cinematic Universe) at the center of it!

 

DEMON SLAYER: THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN: 

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4 

FUNIMATION FILMS

Demon Slayer: The Movie: Mugen Train will be most enjoyed by fans of the incredibly popular anime series, but newcomers will still get a gorgeously animated and exhilarating thrill ride with a colorful cast of characters, exciting action sequences, and a lot of blood!

KING RICHARD: 

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4 

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Thanks to an electrifying performance by Will Smith (Men in Black trilogy, The Pursuit of Happyness, Concussion) as well as a bold and heartfelt, fact-based script, King Richard sets a new standard for sports biopics that lovingly pays tribute to two of the greatest athletes in American history!

Cyrano review

CYRANO:

PETER DINKLAGE SHINES IN THIS WELL-CRAFTED AND POIGNANT MUSICAL! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

MGM

Peter Dinklage as Cyrano

 

            Peter Dinklage (Elf, Game of Thrones, Avengers: Infinity War) goes from Tyrion Lannister to a singing Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano, the new film from director, Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Darkest Hour) and is a musical take on the classic stage play named after the titular character. I should make this perfectly clear, I am not familiar with the original play or story, so I will not be able to compare this screen adaptation to the stage version. 

            I went into this film as a moviegoer and as a Peter Dinklage fan (I mean, it’s a musical starring Dinklage…come on!) with the only knowledge I have being from the trailer, which I saw in theaters several times, so I got the basic gist of it. For a movie in which I was literally the only person in the theater (There were more people when I saw Cats…think about that for a moment!), I had a really good time with this film. 

            It isn’t a perfect film, and you could make the argument that Steven Spielberg’s version of West Side Story is the far superior musical out in theaters right now, but I still think a lot of really good things came together to make this musical entertaining and engaging. The songs and musical numbers are top notch and lively, but they never overshadow the heavier and more dramatic moments, the costume design is amazing, the plot, while familiar does a unique take on the love-triangle trope, and Peter Dinklage giving a million percent from start to finish.  

            The film follows Cyrano de Bergerac (Dinklage), a man who stuns with his powerful wordplay and skillful swordplay, but due to his short appearance, he’s convinced that he is not worthy of the love of his longtime friend, Roxanne (Haley Bennett-The Magnificent Seven (2016), The Girl on the Train, Thank You for Your Service), who has fallen in love with someone else. The other man is Christian de Neuvillette (Kelvin Harrison Jr.-12 Years a Slave, It Comes at Night, The Trial of the Chicago 7) and though Cyrano understands his social status and physical appearance would keep them forever apart, he offers his poetry skills to Christian as an effort to bring him and Roxanne together. 

            The film also stars also stars Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ready Player One, Marvel Cinematic Universe) as De Guiche and Bashir Salahuddin (Snatched, A Simple Favor, Marriage Story) as Le Bret. 

            Overall, Cyrano may not be a game-changing musical or one that will appeal to everyone, but those familiar with the story or anyone who was intrigued by the trailer and the novelty of Peter Dinklage starring in a musical (like I was), this is a very entertaining and beautifully told, albeit uneven film. For the most part, I was completely engrossed in the story, songs, dancing, and characters, but I felt the sequence where Cyrano and Christian are drafted into a war goes on for a bit too long and I started to slightly check-out, however it brought me back shortly afterwards and there were a couple of effective moments during it, I just thought it could have been trimmed down a little. 

            One of the things I really appreciate about this film is while there is technically a love-triangle, they don’t do the whole bit where the two men become bitter rivals and Christian is made out to be the bad guy. They could have easily done that, but both Cyrano and Christian understand how complicated love is and they try to help each other out with it. 

Even when Christian discovers that Cyrano is in love with Roxanne, they don’t do the misunderstanding cliché, which I thought they were going to do at first. However, instead of doing the entire routine where they mope and dope for most of the remaining runtime, it’s literally just one scene and it’s quickly resolved. 

            Despite the original play not being a musical, I’m relieved the songs and musical numbers weren’t an afterthought, all of them move the story along, never distract from the plot or characters, and all of them are performed extremely well. Some of my favorites include both versions of Someone to Say (which was the song that plays in the trailer) and this solo by Dinklage where he’s singing about his height and appearance, which is an absolute delight. 

            Let’s finally talk about Peter Dinklage…he is the best thing in the movie! From the way he speaks to his mannerisms, singing voice, and his chemistry with Christian as well as his determination to confess his love to Roxanne, while also supporting Christian’s love for the same woman, you want to see him get the girl and because his character is an extremely flawed individual it makes it all the more compelling and powerful, Dinklage plays the role incredibly well and I consider it to be one of the most overlooked performances of the year. 

            If you’re looking for an entertaining musical and have already seen West Side Story, I’d recommend checking out this version of Cyrano. I can’t promise a masterpiece, but if you want an interesting twist on a classic story with great acting, energetic musical numbers, and hard-hitting drama, this is definitely one to experience for yourself. 

Uncharted review

UNCHARTED:

NOT A VERY GOOD UNCHARTED MOVIE, BUT A MODERATELY ENJOYABLE AND SILLY, IF NOT EXTREMELY BARE-BONES ADVENTURE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg in Uncharted

 

            Tom Holland (The Impossible, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Onward) goes from friendly neighborhood, Spider-Man to bartender turned adventurer, Nathan Drake in Uncharted, the highly anticipated film based on the beloved PlayStation video game series and the second feature film based on a PlayStation franchise after Ratchet & Clank in 2016. The film is directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland 1 and 2, Gangster Squad, Venom) and is one of many projects released under the newly formed, PlayStation Productions. 

Let me put this out there, while I have played some of the games (Most notably the ones released on PS3), I wouldn’t call myself a know-it-all Uncharted fan who came into this movie ready to nitpick it and acknowledge the things they do right. The games are incredibly fun, don’t get me wrong but I don’t hold them nearly as close to my heart compared to other video game franchises (One in particular is getting a second movie in a couple of months!), I do see the appeal and whenever I do pop one of Nathan Drake’s adventures into my PlayStation consoles, I always have a good time with them. 

Now, we have this movie with Holland, hot off Spider-Man: No Way Home as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, The Fighter, All the Money in the World) as Sully, which had people both interested and scratching their heads when the project was first announced. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect with this movie especially after the critical and box-office failure of the Ratchet & Clank movie, I guess to this movie’s credit it’s being distributed by a major studio (Sony/Columbia Pictures) and not a lesser-known subsidiary and it has two enormously successful and popular actors as the leads. 

As charming and charismatic as Holland and Wahlberg are, their casting choices did raise some eyebrows. The Nathan Drake character in the game looks a lor older and more like Nathan Fillion (Who coincidentally portrayed the character in an Uncharted fan film) than Tom Holland and the in-game version Sully doesn’t resemble Mark Wahlberg in the slightest and is more like an old man than the dude from The Happening. 

Not dissing Holland or Wahlberg, at this point it should be established that I have mad respect for both of them and even when I see something with them that doesn’t 100% work, I’ll see them in something else afterwards that does. Okay, enough buildup let’s finally dive into the film! 

Now that I’ve seen the movie, I can gladly say that Uncharted is…fine! Fans of the games will appreciate how it pays homage to them and seeing them recreate iconic moments from the games in live-action, Holland and Wahlberg have a likable charm whenever they’re together, and the action sequences are quite exciting, but the film doesn’t really do anything new with the story and instead rehashes various adventure movie tropes and dialogue, ever seen Indiana Jones, the Tomb Raider movies, or National Treasure? Then you’ve seen Uncharted without even knowing it! 

The film follows part-time bartender and full-time street-smart thief, Nathan Drake (Holland), who was separated from his brother at a young age, being recruited by treasure hunter, Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Wahlberg) to embark on an adventure to locate the fabled fortune of the Magellan expedition from 500 years ago. However, what starts off as a simple heist suddenly explodes into a race against time as the ruthless, Moncada (Antonio Banderas-Desperado/Once Upon a Time in Mexico, The Mask of Zorro, Shrek franchise), who claims to be the rightful heir to the treasure is hot on their tail and will stop at nothing to reach the treasure before them. 

The film also stars Sophia Ali (Faking It, Grey’s Anatomy, The Wilds) as Chloe Frazer, Tati Gabrielle (The 100, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Owl House) as Jo Braddock, and Rudy Pankow (Outer Banks) as Nathan’s long-lost brother, Sam Drake. 

Overall, Uncharted offers exactly what it advertises, a standard run-of-the-mill adventure with charming leads, imaginative, if not implausible action sequences, and a very bare-bones and familiar narrative. For some, that’ll be what they’re looking for, but for those looking for more substance in their cheesy adventure film, you should probably look somewhere else. 

It’s hard to say whether or not this is a good Uncharted movie as it is filled with various references and homages to the games and it at least visually captures what an Uncharted movie should feel like, but the casting of Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg and Nathan and Sully stick out unfortunately. Honestly, you could have taken the Uncharted name off this movie and it could have been its own franchise, but if it has to carry the Uncharted I.P., I’m glad the filmmakers at least tried to make it resemble the game. 

I think the most glaring problems with this movie are the repetitiveness of the script and underdeveloped characters, a lot of adventure and heist movies involve certain characters backstabbing one-another in order to accomplish their own deeds, but literally every single character that isn’t Nathan Drake backstabs left and right, sometimes in only the course of a couple of scenes, I didn’t mind it the first couple of times, but as it kept happening I didn’t feel like I was in suspense, I was just irritated by it, and even by the end you don’t feel much growth between the characters, I mean, what if they betray each other all over again in Uncharted 2 if it ever gets made? 

For what the film lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in the action department with the highlights being the sequence where Tom Holland is falling out of a plane and jumping from crate to crate to get back inside, which is ripped straight from the games and a delightfully ridiculous climax involving two pirate ships being suspended by helicopters and flying in the air while Holland fends off the bad guys in a sequence that honestly puts every Pirates of the Caribbean action sequence to shame. This is the kind of mindless cheese I look for in a silly blockbuster like this and it did not disappoint. 

Uncharted is what it is, a standard adventure movie with the charismatic, Tom Holland Mark Wahlberg as your guides and a lot of over-the-top action, corny dialogue, and familiar storytelling. If you’re looking for a fun, dumb movie to turn your brain off for, this might be your movie, but if you’re looking for something with more meat, then I’d suggest watching Spider-Man: No Way Home again, then watch either The Departed or The Fighter, and just pop in one of the Uncharted video games into your PlayStation. 

Death on the Nile review

DEATH ON THE NILE: 

WELL-CRAFTED WHODUNIT SEQUEL IS SUSPENSEFUL, BUT TREADS FAMILIAR WATERS! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY STUDIOS

One of these people committed a horrific murder in Death on the Nile

 

            Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet (1996), Thor, Belfast) returns to direct and don the mustache once again as detective, Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, the highly anticipated follow-up to his 2017 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel, Murder on the Orient Express. I really enjoyed Branagh’s version of Murder on the Orient Express, I don’t think it’s his best work, but I found it to be a very entertaining and gripping caper with an all-star cast, striking visuals and cinematography, and a mystery that kept me guessing, the same is true for this movie to an extent. 

            This marks the third adaptation of the Death on the Nile book with the previous two being the 1978 film version and a 2004 episode of the TV series, Agatha Christie’s Poirot. The film also had a very interesting release history like many other recent Fox films such as The New Mutants, Free Guy, and The King’s Man as it was originally scheduled to be released in 2019, but was pushed back until 2020 for reshoots, then several times in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, until finally landing a February 2022 release. 

            I didn’t really have any expectations going into Poirot’s second case outside of my thoughts on the first film which I revisited the night before, which was my first time watching it since the theatrical release. Coming out of it, I can say that Death on the Nile is…about the same as what I thought of the 2017 Murder on the Orient Express, which was good and had an excellent cast, but the film at times is a little disjointed. 

            The film follows Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot (Branagh) taking an Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer across the Nile with newlyweds, Linnet (Gal Gadot-Fast & Furious franchise, DC Extended Universe, Red Notice) and Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer-The Social Network, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Call Me by Your Name). However, their dream honeymoon suddenly turns into a nightmare as someone is murdered on the ship and everyone onboard is a suspect, resulting in Hercule to once again do what he does best, find out who the culprit is and crack the case. 

            The film also stars Tom Bateman (Creditors, Snatched, Cold Pursuit) reprising his role as Bouc, Annette Bening (American Beauty, Being Julia, Captain Marvel) as Euphemia, Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek, Despicable Me 1 and 2) as Linus Windlesham, Ali Fazal (Furious 7, Victoria & Abdul) as Andrew Katchadourian, Dawn French (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Coraline) as Mrs. Bowers, Rose Leslie (Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Morgan) as Louise Bourget, Emma Mackey (Sex Education, Eiffel, Emily) as Jacqueline “Jackie” Bellefort, Sophie Okonedo (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Hotel Rwanda, The Secret Life of Bees) as Salome Otterbourne, Jennifer Saunders (Muppet Treasure Island, Shrek 2, Sing 1 and 2) as Marie Van Schuyler, Letitia Wright (Doctor Who, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sing 2) as Rosalie Otterbourne, and Ann Turkel (The Fear, Touch Me, Déjà Vu) as Meredith Wilson. 

            Overall, Death on the Nile is the kind of film that can be easily recommended in under five seconds. Did you like the 2017 Murder on the Orient Express? You did, then you’ll probably like this one also. 

            It isn’t trying to be a game-changer in the murder-mystery genre, but instead plays more like murder-mystery comfort food that’s reminiscent to other iconic films of said genre, like Scooby-Doo for adults…kind of. The plot is pretty much the same as its predecessor except set on a boat instead of a train and you do start to catch on to who the possible suspects are going to be as the film progresses, but it still allows the audience to figure it out and at times throws you a few unexpected curveballs.

            Kenneth Branagh is once again great as Hercule, he’s funny, charismatic, and he even has his share of heartfelt moments whether it’s a possible love interest or reflecting on his past and trying not to tear up. Branagh in this movie is what you’d get if the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes was more human and less like a cartoon. 

            Branagh also excels at directing his co-stars, which once again is an ensemble cast of very recognizable actors. Tom Bateman, who I often forget was in the previous film is a lot more prevalent this time around and even has a very funny introduction where he’s flying a kite on top of a pyramid for no reason. 

            Russell Brand is almost unrecognizable in this very restrained performance that plays against type from the characters he usually portrays and is excellent whenever he’s onscreen. Even the side characters who don’t have as much screen-time still manage to make an impression whenever present. 

            The cinematography is breathtaking, and the visuals are stunning, watching on the big screen and especially in IMAX with the sweeping shots of the ship on the Nile and of Egypt, it feels like you’re right there. It also helps that you have a director who’s practically a master at shooting films that look big and epic, even the real world will look like something out of a fantasy world with Branagh behind the camera…and in front of it too. 

            However, the film is very disjointed especially during the beginning which feels like it has multiple opening scenes that don’t really correlate with the rest of the story that much. You got a black-and-white 1917-style opening with Kenneth Branagh fighting in World War I that shows the origin behind his big mustache with awkward-looking de-aging effects that raises more questions than give answers and could have easily been taken out as it doesn’t really come back in the rest of the film, but once the characters get on the ship and murders start happening, it quickly picks up from there. 

            Also, at times the film will cut to shots of CGI fish in the water that look artificial and fake and there’s some odd-looking green-screen effects to the point where you’re wondering if the characters are really there or not. 

            Death on the Nile offers another well-crafted murder-mystery with a star-studded cast and a lot of suspense, even if it treads familiar waters. It isn’t perfect, but there are so many positive aspects to this film to make me overlook (most of) the flaws. 

Moonfall review

MOONFALL:

LATEST ROLAND EMMERICH DISASTER IS BIG ON SPECTACLE, BUT EVEN MORE SO ON STUPIDITY! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4 

LIONSGATE

The moon is knocked out of orbit and causing a wave of disasters on Earth in Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall

 

            Director, Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012) is back to cause more chaos and destruction…only this time on the moon in Moonfall, the latest disaster film in his filmography. Emmerich is a very divisive filmmaker, some of his films are good albeit extremely flawed like Independence Day, Stargate, The Patriot, Anonymous, and Midway, while others such as 10,000 BC, Independence Day: Resurgence, and Godzilla…not so much. 

            But sometimes there comes a film from him that’s so ridiculous and chaotic that it’s fun because of how stupid it is like The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and White House Down. Say what you will about his disaster films, but the guy knows if he’s going to make a dumb, overblown movie with a lot of destruction and carnage, he’s going to make a big dumb, overblown movie with a lot of destruction and carnage that are all style with little substance. 

            For the longest time, the 2009 movie, 2012 was my trophy winner for the absolute dumbest Roland Emmerich film at that point. With a lot of special effects (Which were quite impressive at the time), scientific inaccuracies, stock disaster movie characters, stilted acting from Amanda Peet, sequences that are so absurd and stupid that it becomes borderline self-parody, and some of the dumbest dialogue ever put into a script that make the screenplays for Michael Bay’s Transformers movies look like The Godfather. 

            Things changed when I went to see Moonfall, which is now officially the new trophy winner for the stupidest Roland Emmerich movie I’ve ever seen…and I loved every minute of it! If you thought 2012 was dumb, this manages to outdo that film in the idiocy department in every way imaginable, and it’s kind of amazing because of it. 

            After a tragic incident in space where a mysterious force attacks a 2011 Space Shuttle Mission and kills one of the crewmates, astronaut, Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson-Watchmen, The Conjuring franchise, Aquaman) is fired because nobody believes him about the force that attacked them. Ten years later, it turns out the exact same entity has knocked the moon out of orbit, causing a string of disasters to occur on Earth and is on a collision course to wipe out all of humanity. 

              To combat this, Brian is reunited with his former colleague and NASA astronaut, Jo Fowler (Halle Berry-X-Men franchise, Swordfish, Monster’s Ball) and with the help of conspiracy theorist, K.C. Houseman (John Bradley-Game of Thrones, Patient Zero, Marry Me), the three of them set a course to the moon in order to stop the alien entity from destroying the planet, but these three heroes soon discover a dark secret about the moon and that it may not be as it seems. 

            The film also stars Michael Peña (End of Watch, Ant-Man 1 and 2, The Martian) as Brian’s rival, Tom Lopez, Charlie Plummer (Not Fade Away, All the Money in the World, Lean on Pete) as Brian’s son, Sonny Harper, Kelly Yu (So Young, The Ex-File 3: The Return of the Exes) as Michelle, Donald Sutherland (The Italian Job, Cold Mountain, The Hunger Games franchise) as Holdenfield, Eme Ikwuakor (Ink, Extant, Inhumans) as General Doug Davidson, Carolina Bartczak (Brick Mansions, X-Men: Apocalypse) as Brian’s ex-wife and Tom’s current wife, Brenda Lopez, and Maxim Roy (19-2, Shadowhunters, Bad Blood) as Gabriella Auclair. 

            Overall, Moonfall starts off as your typical dumb fun disaster movie with all the destruction and tropes you know and maybe love, but then as it goes on it somehow finds more ways to dig deeper and deeper into complete utter nonsense to the point where it’s practically an unintentional comedy that’s still a million times funnier than Pluto Nash. I guess imagine the movie, 2012 times eleven, but even that description doesn’t sum up exactly how completely bonkers this film gets. 

The dialogue is delightfully awful and reminiscent of the cheesy dialogue found in disaster films from the 1990s. It’s filled to the brim with clichéd lines and recycled exposition found in other films of the genre as if it was written by a computer (Some of my favorites include “The sand in the hourglass is running out!”, “I’m gonna get you the Hell off of this moon!”, “If the Earth can get a second chance, why not us?” and the always classic “God, help us all!”, I mean, it doesn’t have the brilliant “No more Pull-Ups!” closing line from 2012, but all these recycled lines spark a sense of nostalgia for when these kinds of films were at the height of their popularity that I just can’t help but love!), so if you got fond memories of dumb disaster movies from that decade then you will have a ball with this film. 

While nowhere near as effective as Independence Day, the destruction sequences are quite spectacular and look great on the big screen (Especially on IMAX!). From pieces of the moon smashing into buildings like meteors, tidal waves, tsunamis, and the moon sucking up cars, buildings, and debris as it gets closer like it’s a giant sky portal, all good sh*t and while all that craziness happens back on Earth, there’s a bunch of craziness on the moon as well. 

For starters, the alien force that knocks the moon out of orbit looks like it’s made out of Spider-Man’s nano-suit from the MCU or the human-made Transformers from Transformers: Age of Extinction, Patrick Wilson and Halle Berry’s characters are constantly bickering much like Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt from Twister even when they’re in space trying to stop the moon, the U.S. government’s backup plan is to literally nuke the entire moon (Because of course America would think that way!), and when they get to the moon some of the most bizarre and puzzling storytelling decisions are made that rival the dog outrunning explosion from Independence Day, aliens inventing the pyramids from Stargate, and John Cusack being an indestructible force of nature in 2012, I can’t say anymore without going into spoilers, but let’s just say it makes whatever Michael Bay did with the moon in Transformers: Dark of the Moon look a lot more practical and realistic by comparison. 

Most of the acting from the main characters is fine especially from Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson trying to make this silly dialogue sound natural and John Bradley getting a few laughs as probably Emmerich’s best conspiracy theorist character since Jeff Goldblum from Independence Day and not nearly as annoying as Matthew Broderick from Godzilla. 

I was very entertained by Moonfall as a “So bad it’s good” disaster flick that will bring back memories of films from the 90s and onwards, but if you’re looking for an intelligent and thought-provoking sci-fi film, stick with 2001: A Space Odyssey, Moon, or Gravity because this is pure stupidity at its absolute finest. 

Jackass Forever review

JACKASS FOREVER: 

STUPIDITY REIGNS SUPREME IN THIS OUTRAGEOUS FOURTH OUTING! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND MTV ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS

Johnny Knoxville and his fellow “Jackasses” are back for one final stunt extravaganza in Jackass Forever

 

            The Jackasses are back for a painful trip down memory lane in Jackass Forever, the fourth and final installment of the Jackass film series based on the MTV series of the same name and the first not to feature Ryan Dunn or an appearance by Rip Taylor due to their passing as well as Bam Margera due to legal troubles among other things. The film was originally scheduled to be released in October 2021 but was pushed back to February 2022 due to COVID, at least it didn’t suffer the same fate as Morbius or The King’s Man, which were delayed numerous times. 

            I’m a big fan of the Jackass franchise, especially when I was in middle and high school as I was getting into adult and raunchy entertainment like South Park, Beavis and Butt-Head, Family Guy, and several Adult Swim programs. I loved the show on MTV whenever I caught it, watched the first two movies numerous times on DVD, and even saw Jackass 3D in theaters when it was released in 2010 with some of my friends in high school which was a lot of fun. 

            Jackass has always been the film and television equivalent of goofing around with your childhood buddies, pulling pranks on one another, performing all these amazing stunts that often end in pain, laughing at each other, and getting into trouble. Given how it’s been twenty years since the release of the first Jackass movie and over ten since the release of the last one (Not counting the 2013 spin-off film, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa), now is the perfect time to pay these old friends a visit and go down memory lane…a really, REALLY, painful trip down memory lane. 

            That’s where Jackass Forever comes in and…there really isn’t much to say about it because I already mentioned I enjoyed the previous films so naturally I’m going to have a good time with this one, which I did. If you’ve seen any of the previous films or the show then you know exactly what you’re paying for, this film is no different except it often cranks the ridiculous and idiocy up to eleven and then comes back around for more. 

            The film follows Johnny Knoxville (Men in Black II, The Ringer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)) and his fellow “Jackass” buddies, Steve-O, Wee Man, Chris Pontius, Preston Lacy, Dave England, and Danger Ehren as well as some newcomers, Rachel Wolfson, Eric Manaka, Zach Holmes/Zackass, Jasper Dolphin, Darkshark, and most importantly, Poopies (Can’t forget Poopies!) doing what they do best…constantly hurt each other and laugh about it. Through various stunts and pranks such as a Silence of the Lambs dark room that’s riddled with booby traps, getting Scorpion Botox, covering Steve-O’s penis in a bunch of bees, biking and skateboarding off a human ramp, creating the first ever fart and fire underwater explosion, Musical Chair Bags, The Dum-Dum Game, Electric Tap Dancing, getting bit by giant spiders, one of them getting drenched in “Pig Bazooka Juice”, Johnny Knoxville getting attacked by a bull, going furniture shopping with the Bad Grandpa, blowing up a port-a-potty, the Jackass equivalent of a human sacrifice involving honey, salmon, and a bear, and pretty much annihilating Ehren’s testicles in incredibly painful ways for a wild and welcoming reunion with these dumb friends you’ve been hanging out with since 2002…just don’t try any of this at home…or anywhere for that matter! 

            The film also features appearances from Eric André (The Eric Andre Show, Man Seeking Woman, Sing 2), Tory Belleci, Tony Hawk, Mat Hoffman, Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, Atiba Jefferson, Francis Ngannou, Jalen Ramsey, P.K. Subban, DJ Paul, Yelawolf, Machine Gun Kelly, Tyler, the Creator, Jules Sylvester, Danielle O’Toole, Rob Dyrdek, Loomis Falls, The Dudesons, and film director, Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Her), and features a loving tribute to the late, Ryan Dunn at the very end through footage from the earlier films which is actually quite touching. 

            Overall, Jackass Forever gives fans of the franchise exactly what they want without ever going soft, losing steam, or coming anywhere near intelligent and thought-provoking cinema (Don’t worry old farts, Tragedy of Macbethand Belfast are playing next door!). Since this is the fourth film, the stunts are even more ridiculous, the gross-out gags are more disgusting, and the amount of pain is through the roof to the point where you’ll start to question the safety of the film’s cast and crew…but then continue to laugh hysterically. 

            It’s quite impressive, all the things Johnny Knoxville and co. put themselves through for our (the audience’s) entertainment, but when you really think about it, you’re watching a bunch of friends palling around and having a good time despite many of their antics involving pain and disgust. 

            These films always take me back to when I was a dumb high school student making crude jokes and doing goofy things with my buddies. To me, that’s what Jackass is all about, this sense of nostalgia for your younger years and that time of innocence…as depicted by a bunch of man-children in their 50s, but I digress. 

            Which brings me to a very important debate, despite this film being marketed as the finale, are the Jackasses truly done and should they end their hilariously painful run? It’s hard to say, on one hand I’d be down for a Jackass 5 if the cast and crew really wanted to do it, but on the other if this is the true conclusion to the Jackass franchise then I am not disappointed, I think the franchise had an excellent run and it ended on a strong note. 

            If you’re a fan of the Jackass franchise, this is one not to be missed, newcomers on the other hand if you weren’t a fan of the previous films or the TV series, this one will not change your minds. It’s a movie strictly for Jackass fans and for fans of extremely stupid humor, I’m Nico and this was “The Jackass Review”.