Nobody ever expected the original to do as well it did. With a worldwide tally of over $200 million, it was a given that Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum would return in a sequel, aptly titled 22 Jump Street. With a rumoured $70 million budget (compared to the originals $42 million) this should be bigger, funnier and have more stuff blowing up. In reality, it’s the same as the original. If you loved it then you’ll love this. If you hated it, there is nothing here that will redeem it.
Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) having completed high school in the last movie are off to college to go deep undercover and bust another drug dealer. Mix this up with a few set pieces, dick jokes, one dildo joke and a few other slapstick moments and you have the exact same movie as you had back two years ago. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you’d expect a bit more for a sequel. I can appreciate the whole “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” but we all remember The Hangover 2.
Gripes aside, 22 Jump Street will have you laughing, not out loud but you’ll still smirk and produce the occasional giggle. To their credit, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are incredibly likeable. They have phenomenal chemistry together, almost as good as Murtagh and Riggs back in the day. But it really is Channing Tatum who is just overflowing with personality and presence and he projects such a brilliant innocence here that he is just a joy to watch. Jonah Hill does an equally good job here but can’t really hold a candle to Tatum. Ice Cube is back playing the only character that he seems capable of playing these days, but he does have a particular stand out scene in a restaurant which is rather brilliant. The rest of the supporting cast, including the Mexican Wolverine, do an adequate job as well.
The entire movie is very self aware with enough references to sequels, prequels and a rather brilliant Ice Cube quip. 22 Jump Street doesn’t take itself seriously and that’s very obvious from the get go. It just rollicks along at a solid pace and has a decent enough finale. Inevitably there will be an unrated / extended cut for the home release, but theres enough here to suffice. Ironically enough, the best thing about the movie is the credits. If you ever wanted to see a movie not take itself seriously, the credits for 22 Jump Street are possibly the best example you will ever see!
While this is more of a hop from the original than a jump, it’s still delivers the goods with very likeable characters and provided you liked the original, it’s definitely worth a punt.
