21 Jump Street (2012) (Blu-ray) |
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21 Jump Street (2012) (Blu-ray) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Action Comedy |
Audio Commentary-Directors and Cast Deleted Scenes-x 20 Featurette-Behind The Scenes-x 7 Theatrical Trailer-x 2 for other films |
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| Year Of Production | 2012 | ||
| Running Time | 109:37 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By |
Phil Lord Chris Miller |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Jonah Hill Channing Tatum Brie Larson Dave Franco Rob Riggle DeRay Davis |
| Case | Standard Blu-ray | ||
| RPI | ? | Music | Mark Mothersbaugh |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (640Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 1080p | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English English Audio Commentary English for the Hearing Impaired Hindi |
Smoking | Yes, joints |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
In high school Jenko (Channing Tatum) was the popular sports jock, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) the shy, bullied science nerd. They were not friends, but when both joined the Police they helped each other succeed at the Police Academy and became friends. Due to their youthful looks they were transferred to 21 Jump Street, a special operation commanded by Captain Dickson (Ice Cube), and sent undercover back to their old high school to infiltrate and smash a drugs ring. By mistake, Jenko ends up with the science nerds while Schmidt finds himself part of the rich in-crowd led by Eric (Dave Franco), where he finds himself falling for talented Molly (Brie Larson). They quickly discover that Eric is the main drug dealer but finding out the supplier is more difficult. After a series of misunderstandings and misadventures, everything comes to a climax at the High School Prom.
The original 21 Jump Street was a US TV series that ran between 1987 and 1991 and starred a very young Johnny Depp. This big screen version is jointly directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. They had directed the 2009 animated feature Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and this 21 Jump Street is their first live action film. The result is a uneven film that is funny and entertaining in parts. At various times the film relies on slapstick humour, juvenile toilet humour, swearing, but adds some fun lines as well as in-jokes. For example, Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise, who both appeared in the original TV series, make uncredited cameo appearances, the Depp character commenting to our heroes that he used to be in Jump Street. As well as a comedy, the film is also a buddy movie, an action film with a couple of car chases that appear tacked on and some quite bloody violence near the end. There is nothing wrong with extreme changes of tone in a film but it is hard to pull of properly, and the juxtaposition in 21 Jump Street does not always work.
The characterisations and music add to the uneven feeling. Jonah Hill plays it pretty straight and is all the better for it but most of the rest of acting in the film is deliberately hammy with Ice Cube, Rob Riggle and the couple who play Schmidt’s parents the most extreme examples. I have reviewed a couple of Channing Tatum films recently, such as The Eagle and Haywire (both released in 2011), and enjoyed his performance. On the evidence of 21 Jump Street I am still to be convinced he can do comedy. The score by Mark Mothersbaugh is also uneven, mixing epic sounding orchestral with hip hop, synch and music by a range of artists including The Clash, Eminem and Atlanta Rhythm Section.
The ending of 21 Jump Street sets up a sequel and 21 Jump Street 2 is in pre-production with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum due to star. As far as I can see a director has yet to be attached for the project; perhaps with a more experienced director the new film may be more controlled and even.
21 Jump Street combines slapstick humour, juvenile toilet humour, swearing, in-jokes, car chases and some bloody violence. It is a mixed bag but is not without interest.
21 Jump Street is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, the original aspect ratio being 2.35:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.
The print is crisp and nicely detailed. Blacks and shadow detail are good, colours and skin tones natural. Other than slight ghosting with movement in front of certain vertical backgrounds, artefacts were absent.
English subtitles for the hearing impaired and English commentary subtitles are available, plus Hindi.
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Audio track options are English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 at 640 Kbps and English Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kbps.
The English DTS- HD MA 5.1 audio is robust. Dialogue is occasionally unclear, especially from Tatum but I doubt if anything serious is lost and there are always the subtitles. The surrounds are constantly in action with music and ambient sound, and burst into life during the car chases and the shoot-out, with bullets flying nicely around the room. The subwoofer supports the music, engines and explosions when required.
The score by Mark Mothersbaugh mixes epic sounding orchestral with hip hop, synch and music by a range of artists including The Clash, Eminem and Atlanta Rhythm Section. This mixture does on occasion call attention to itself.
Lip synchronisation was fine.
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A range of extras, mostly showing what a great time everyone had on set.
The four sit together and have a fabulous time watching the film, laughing loudly and speaking over the top of each other. They say next to nothing about making the film, but say “I love this . . .” and similar things a lot. I don’t find these laugh-a-long types of commentaries very interesting, but that may be me.
Twenty deleted and extended scenes, running 29:32 in total :
Lame.
A gag reel of sorts featuring Ice Cube.
Superficial “making of” with behind the scenes footage and interview snippets with Chris Miller and Phil Lord (directors), Neal Moritz (producer) and cast including Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Jake Johnson, Rob Riggle, Johnny Pemberton.
Mostly Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum fooling around on set.
Filming Depp’s cameo in the film, with comments by other cast members. Entertaining.
Various outtakes and behind the scenes featuring Riggle plus the directors and cast talking about how great Riggle was.
Shooting the freeway scene – mostly goofs!
Extended promo for Blu-ray plus trailers for Moneyball and Starship Troopers Invasion.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region Free US Blu-ray is the same as ours except for some audio and subtitle options. The Region Free UK Blu-ray is identical to ours.
21 Jump Street was a US TV series that ran between 1987 and 1991. This big screen version starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum is uneven but not without interest.
The video and audio are good. There is a range of extras which are more goofing around on set than a serious look at the filmmaking. But they are the same as available in other regions.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony BDP-S580, using HDMI output |
| Display | LG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | NAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
| Amplification | NAD T737 |
| Speakers | Studio Acoustics 5.1 |