At The Omniplex: ’22 Jump Street’ Reviewed

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22 Jump Street

By John Lyons

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Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in 22 Jump Street.

PREVIOUSLY on ‘21 Jump Street’…

Jonah Hill & Co. took an old tv series – which had, frankly, a quite silly premise to begin with – and adapted it into one of the best buddy cop comedies that we’ve seen in years.

The movie was a surprise hit with both audiences and critics alike. Now Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are back, reprising their roles as undercover police officers Jenko and Schmidt, and they’re attempting to capture lightning in a bottle the second time around…or at least, that’s what you’d think.

Jonah Hill has said that when he was first asked to be a part of the Jump Street reboot, he thought it was a stupid idea. But he soon began to wonder. Everyone’s expectations of this would-be-film were so low, what if they actually made a really great comedy?

To their credit, Hill and his team succeeded with flying colours.

It was that kind of ambition and determination that made the first one so great. The surprise success of the first film is even hinted at in this one, when Captain Hardy (played by Nick Offerman) says: “Nobody cared about the Jump Street reboot, but you got lucky. Now this department has invested a lot of money to make sure that Jump Street keeps going.”

But this time around, that same amount of ambition that made the first film so enjoyable is nowhere to be seen.

A point that’s made frequently throughout the film is that the plot is just a re-hash of the plot of the first film. A line that’s often repeated is: “It’s the same case, do the same thing.” The film has a lot of ‘meta-humor’ like this, the main joke being that nothing’s as good the second time around.

Continuing from the set-up at the end of the last film, Jenko and Schmidt are going undercover in a college to find out who’s supplying students with a drug known as ‘WHYPHY’. Just like the first Jump Street, there’s a romantic interest, car chases, and a falling out between the two lead characters.

Hill and Tatum have effortlessly maintained their impeccable on-screen chemistry. There’s great performances all-around from the supporting cast. And the soundtrack for the film fits perfectly.

There’s plenty of laughs to keep us entertained for the entire film, and whilst I liked the film, I’m disappointed that the filmmakers have blatantly accepted the fact that most sequels aren’t as good as the original. They just make jokes about it instead of trying to break the mold and prove that theory wrong.

While it is a good sequel – and certainly better than most sequels – ‘22 Jump Street’ is a movie that firmly believes that sequels are almost always inferior to the original. Unfortunately, it proves its point.

7/10

• 22 Jump Street is currently playing in Tralee Omniplex click here for times

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