Rent 22 Jump Street (2014)

22 Jump Street review by George Hooper - Cinema Paradiso

While I wasn’t quite enamoured by the first instalment of the reboot of 21 Jump Street I liked it well enough to catch the 2nd in the cinema and boy was I right to. Not only does 22 Jump Street surprise in the way it ups the ante on what came before but it fits in more than enough in jokes and sequel lampooning material to make it well worth your while and significantly better than its predecessor.

22 Jump Street follows Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) as they take their criminal busting routine to college as they are enrolled to find a new drug’s supplier on campus as the drug threatens to transfer to the national market. The two must try to stop it while each of them begins to get sucked into the college experience and move further away from each other and their unique friendship. Whether or not this will damage their partnership and foil the case remains to be seen.

While very similar to the original in both plot and ideas the way they are rehashed is delightful as they do so in a very self referencial way as they mock the lack of originality and play for twisted replay factor while Tatum proves that his comedy chops were not a fluke, constantly outshining Hill in almost every scene they share together. While the film will always be about the two and their odd pairing there is no doubt that people will be watching this mainly for the loveable dope Jenko instead of slightly smarter but much less interesting Schmidt.

The return of Ice Cube as their commander and a small cameo by Nick Offerman bring about plenty of laughs but the best enhancement 22 Jump Street has made is how they have presented the action with some excellent chases, fights and covert actions that just pop on screen as Jenko comments on how wasteful it is to destroy things during their various encounters showing that co directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord have not lost their touch for tongue in cheek meta comedy. If anything they have gotten better since their excursion into the ultra meta world of Lego and while a Lego sequel is in the works I would much rather see another adventure with the lovable dopes that make 22 Jump Street a damn fine sequel.