Film Review: '21 Jump Street'

Wooooooo!!! Sorry, just thought I'd take a moment to celebrate the fact that all my exams are over!! Last one was today and I am so relieved, though at the same time it hasn't really sunk in properly! Anyway, down to what I am meant to be writing about...

My sister bought this film on DVD in the Easter Holidays because she had seen it at a friend's house and really liked it, but I've been so caught with school work that Sunday night was my first real opportunity to watch it with her.

She told me it was hilarious, and parts were quite funny, but I wouldn't say it was the funniest movie I've ever watched.

I thought the concept was kind of cool, and that Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill were excellent and comical in their portrayal of two ex-enemies turned best friends, who, as part of their jobs as
police officers, take on an undercover mission to put an end to a new illegal drug circulating in a local high school by pretending to be students.

Being a comedy, I understand that most of it wasn't meant to be read into too far, so I will keep my 'kind of unrealistic' comment brief and to the point: WHEN WILL MOVIE WRITERS LEARN THAT THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN HAVE A MENTAL CAR CHASE DOWN A MOTORWAY OR SHOOT ABOUT 100 BULLETS IN A HOTEL SUITE WITHOUT ANYONE BATTING AN EYLID!!!

Just a case of my personal preference, but the whole shooting scene just wasn't for me, I felt as though it was unnecessary violence which kind of took away from the amusement.

Similarly, I'm pretty squeamish and so I found the introduction of the theme of the effects of hallucinogens kind of, well squirmy I suppose! But I soon realised that the idea was used mostly in humour and not in a real medical aspect and was fine! Its not at all medical for anyone reading thinking that they're squeamish too!

Other than just enjoying the daftness of the whole thing, I took from it one message. The characters are 'cool, fit dude turns science geek' (Tatum) and 'nerd turns popular' (Hill) and it kind of highlighted the differences in trends from generation to generation and even smaller gaps than that. It showed how things and people can go from being popular to hated and back again in no time and I thought that that idea was cleverly captured.



Brie Larson and Jonah Hill in '21 Jump Street'

There is a touch of romance, which is particularly sweet because it involves Hill's character winning the heart of his gorgeous co-star in the school play, Molly (Brie Larson) and forming an untypical match which ends swiftly. It was nice to see a film that could include a hint at two people having feelings for one another without needing to focus the entire movie around it. I'm a bit of a romantic at times so it was different for me to appreciate a different balance of storyline in what has to be classed as an action comedy.

Overall, '21 Jump Street' is a fantastic feel good and I'm delighted to hear that '22 Jump Street' is out in about a months time, so keep a look out for a review on that!