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Jackass 2.5
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (3rd January 2008). |
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The Film
 The whole "Jackass" thing has gone on long enough; it ran for a few years on MTV and had two movies, two exhaustive films where the cast of usual idiots put themselves through all manner of stunts, silly tricks and painful exercises in order to entertain. It's mindless, stupid and often retarded and almost always someone gets hurt. It's fun for the lowest common denominator, and I must admit at the start of it all I was a fan. The appeal is seeing what these guys could possibly do to each other and get away with it and frankly the appeal has worn off and the whole series just seems like it's running out of steam (let's hope there isn't going to be a third film). It has spawned a series of copy-cats including a whole generation of brainless dicks making their own videos and posting them on the internet. MTV got wise and started to cash in on this phenomenon and the first film made a mint at the box office. The best part is that these films are easy to produce and relatively inexpensive when compared to the other features on Paramount's sleight each year. The immerse success of the first film almost always assures a second and in 2006 the world got "Jackass Number Two" which crossed many lines and included lots of rather sick stunts, the object was to gross out and that they did. And during this whole episode the filmmaker's at Dickhouse Productions shot so much footage that they basically had enough for two films, or so this DVD sleeve says. Yes folks here we have all the crap they couldn't fit into the second film or rather deleted because these stunts either never worked or died on their ass. But let's not let anything go to waist because some genius at Paramount just found another way to milk more money out of this long dead series! It appears as though the brass over at the big mountain seem to think that Jackass' audience is brainless enough to shell out more money for a new film made up of the shit that didn't work or simply wasn't good enough for the film. Well this is a slap in the face to all fans of "Jackass". The fact is there isn't anything great about this film, the footage is lame and only partially funny and inter-cut to pad out the 64 minute runtime are interviews with each of the cast talking about the stunts and why they failed. The irony is that there's footage where they openly mock about how the footage will only be featured as a DVD extra simply because it's not good enough to make the cut. This film should have been a second disc for the first DVD release of Jackass Number Two instead Paramount have gone the shameful route of trying to pass off a bunch of unused footage as a new "Jackass" film.
Video
Presented in widescreen anamorphic 1.78:1, the entire "Jackass" series has all been shot on DV and it's no different here so quality jumps from nice and sharp to not so great, the overall image is flat, the color quality changes according to location and light levels, blacks are flat but at the end of the day you shouldn't go into this expecting the greatest transfer in the world, because the cameras and shooting style dictate the film's home video look.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track is included. A 5.1 track doesn't really get much mileage here and the stereo track basically does the trick. It's not dynamic and has limited range, but it presents the audio well enough that it doesn't totally disappoint either. Optional subtitles are included in English only.
Extras
Paramount has included two featurettes, additional segments, a text page, photo gallery and bonus trailers, below is a closer look at these supplements. First up we've got "The Making of Jackass 2.5" a featurette that runs for 23 minutes 31 seconds and takes a look at this film and how it came about. The participants comment on how they shot tons of footage and that not all of it could be put into the final cut of the film so that's how 2.5 came about. This is more propaganda about this release trying to put a positive spin on the fact that it's a bunch of stunts that weren't good enough to make the final cut. Another shameful slap in the face (as if they never end!) is "The Making of Jackass the Game" a featurette that runs for 21 minutes 25 seconds and goes behind-the-scenes of the motion capture process for the creation of the video game and is basically an extended commercial for the game. Move on... A bonus segments reel runs for 48 minutes 38 seconds and features a ton of additional unused footage of stunts that didn't work, went wrong or just plain sucked, there's plenty here to check out and chances are if the trend continues we might see this footage again in another "Jackass" film. A Jackassworld.com text page follows and informs us of the web-site. A photo gallery is next and features 37 images from various stunts and moments from the film. Rounding out the extras are bonus trailers for: - "The Heartbreak Kid" which runs for 2 minutes 30 seconds. - "Rob & Big: Seasons 1 & 2 Uncensored" which runs for 1 minute 47 seconds. - "Wildboyz: Seasons 3 & 4" which runs for 1 minute 33 seconds.
Overall
Well the bottom line is if you're dumb enough to actually imitate the stunts these guys do then you're dumb enough to shell out money for this release.
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