Hollywood has come to a point very close to devouring itself with its exploitation of past intellectual properties, with the phenomenon of “recuelas” already widely extended. It has already reached the point that movies like ‘Matrix Resurrections’ or the more recent ‘Scream’ seek to satirize it, with the latter explaining the codes with hair and bones.
Revering the classics while introducing new generations seems like the easy way to give a sense of respect to what fans want. Get something genuine that really captures the essence of what worked and replicates the tricks without looking worn it is quite complicated. But he got it this year’s wildest comedy. This is ‘Jackass Forever’.
Headbutting against the wall (again)
The key to this return of the Jackass saga, which can now be seen streaming through Amazon Prime Video, is that it is capable of playing the game of recovering the veterans and introducing those who are going to pick up the baton without that looks like a play. One more smart decision that shows that the ingenuity well spent in these films.
The structure of this fourth film is the same that has defined both the MTV show and the different films, each one more brutal and hilarious than the previous one. Here they manage to keep raising that bar while adding a little heart more touching than everThe Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Jason Acuña, Preston Lacy, Dave England and others, putting special guests, new disciples of the Jackass philosophy or the filmmakers themselves into the mix, get involved in different challenges that are so absurd as insanely dangerous. We are not talking about mere hidden camera pranks, but about hard-working stunts loaded with creativity and desire to do in goose that are shot with a lot of ambition by Jeff Tremaine.
You can see the enormous work they put into making these sequences, from a quite epic starting set piece that is a statement of intent. The rest of the stunts follow one another with fluidity and rhythm, displaying his mastery of comedy and physical action. And as the show progresses we are also seeing small details of beautiful friendship and camaraderie between the protagonists.
‘Jackass Forever’: forever laughing
This development of the beautiful story of genuine friendship that the members of Jackass keep always usually happens off, in the gaps between stunts that we see as faded to black. The film moves back and forth in time, as seen in Knoxville’s hair color changing or the appearance of whether COVID protocols are being followed or not (the film began shooting before the pandemic and had to stop in the middle of production), but the narrative and emotional progression works unidirectionally.
And that is why it is always a complete experience to see a Jackass movie, the best current comedies. Not only are they hilarious because of Kaffirs, but they the affection put into each sequence is perceived and the one they have with each other even though they’re trying to fuck each other up all the time. So they manage to be moving, hilarious and cinematically ambitious.
‘Jackass Forever’ collects all the best of the franchise and opens the possibility of continuity with new generations as dedicated and unconscious as the previous ones. I hope we keep laughing together forever.
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