7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.2 |
Ten years ago best friends Dante Hicks and Randal Graves were New Jersey mini-mall clerks still slacking off together in their early 20s. Now working in the fast-food universe, Dante and Randal have managed to maintain, and even hone, their in-your-face attitudes, agile skill with vulgarities and unbridled love of screwing the customers. But they're also faced with such shocking prospects as marriage, leaving Jersey and finding real careers. Dante and Randal invade the world of Mooby's fast food restaurant, where the slogan is "I'm Eating It." Behind the counter, where the only other employees are an uber-nerd and an entirely too sexy manager, Dante and Randal are free to offend anybody and everybody who so much as orders fries in their inimitably irreverent way. But, even as riotous debates rage between them over such burning matters as George Lucas v. Peter Jackson v. Jesus, change is on the horizon. When Dante announces that he's going to leave Jersey forever and marry Emma Bunting, Randal plots a going-away party so shocking it will draw the police, the fire department and potential protests from PETA, while altering their lives forever.
Starring: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Trevor Fehrman, Jennifer Schwalbach SmithComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
French (Canada) track is 640 kbps.
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In 1994, the original Clerks introduced the world to the budding filmmaking talents of Kevin Smith. His self-financed black and white comedy was an instant sensation. By blending his own special brand of gross-out comedy with a sly awareness of pop culture, Clerks and Smith's subsequent films attracted a loyal following of diehard disciples as well as a fair share of controversy. After years of successful features, Smith produced his first critical, commercial and fan failure: Jersey Girl. That film's lack of success brought Smith back to his basics and Clerks II was born. Fans had been clamoring for the film for ages and Smith's future in the movie business hinged on the film's success. What followed was a remarkable return to the caustic and fast talking comedy of the original.
Dante: Different uniform, same confused guy.
As I've mentioned in previous reviews, Kevin Smith hasn't, at times, appeared to place much importance on cutting-edge cinematography. Interestingly, he admits this on his commentary contained on this very disc. Bearing that in mind, Clerks II appears bland and uninspired on the video front, regardless of the film's 1080p, AVC Mpeg-4 and original aspect ratio pedigree. The image is predominantly flat with a lackluster level of detail and strange contrast levels. Colors are, at times, nicely saturated and vibrant. There's just nothing particularly inspiring about the film's picture quality. Regardless, my goal is not to review stylistic choices, but to review the quality of the encode. Since Kevin Smith says it looks correct and to his intentions - - case closed.
As lossless audio tracks become the norm with Blu-ray releases, it has become an
interesting process in trying not to nit-pick audio tracks that aren't as exciting and dynamic
as others. Clerks II is one of those films; it doesn't contain any of the elements of
what one would consider demo material, but does this make it any less effective?
Absolutely not.
Clerks II sounds as close perfect as it could ever possibly sound on Blu-ray, thanks
to 5.1 lossless Dolby TrueHD. For a dialogue heavy comedy like Clerks II, the
primary audio challenge lies in reproducing fast-paced dialogue; a characteristic that, if
handled poorly and with a lossy encode, can often make lesser tracks bog down and
become tiresome and unintelligible. Clerks II excels in this regard by presenting the
film's rapid-fire speeches and banter in a clear and concise manner. There's little to report
on in the way of directional or ambient effects, but music is handled well. Clerks II
is as good as it will ever be on Blu-ray.
Here's what's included:
- Audio Commentary with Kevin Smith, Producer Scott Mosier & Cinematographer David
Kline
- Audio Commentary with Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Jason Mewes, Brian O'Halloran. Jeff
Anderson, Trevor Fehrman & Jennifer Schwalbach Smith
- Audio Commentary Podcast with Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier & Jeff Anderson
- Clerks II VH-1 Movie Special
- "Back to the Well"
- Deleted and Extended Scenes
- Bloopers
- Train Wrecks: Video Production Diaries
- "A Closer Look at Interspecies Sex"
Clerks II kicks off its jam-packed supplemental section with a series of three feature
length commentaries. Simply put, Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier (present on all three of
the set's tracks) know how to entertain and seem to thoroughly enjoy commentary tracks.
The first of the bunch is highly technical and a little less jovial that what Smith usually puts
together. The second, features the majority of the cast as they recollect stories from the
set and generally have a great time. It's a joy to listen to. The third track was specifically
created as a cutting edge podcast intended to be played on Mp3 players by moviegoers
while the film was still in theaters. That never transpired, so the track has been reproduced
here. My favorite sections of this set are the endlessly hilarious deleted and extended
scenes as well as the blooper reel. Much of the material contained here is every bit as
funny as the film itself and shouldn't be missed. Additionally, a selection of video diaries
from Smith's View Askew website are included along with the "Back to the Well"
documentary. The latter will be of particular interest to Smith fans as it traces his path back
to the over the top comedy that made him a household name after the failure of his passion
project, Jersey Girl. The Weinstein Company has done an outstanding job with the
special features for Clerks II - - it's a terrific collection that is entertaining, genuinely
funny and
insightful. Highly recommended!
Kevin Smith's long-awaited sequel to the now-legendary Clerks is a welcome addition to the collection any fan of the filmmaker's outrageous comedies. While Dante and Randal are two of Smith's best-drawn characters, I wasn't convinced that revisiting the world of Clerks was necessary. Fortunately, Smith was on the right track with Clerks II and he delivers a worthy sequel that manages to further define his characters while upping the ante on his own brand of gross-out humor. It's great stuff that is bound to leave its intended audience in stitches. The Weinstein Company continues their winning streak of quality releases by delivering a Blu-ray with accurate, if intentionally bland, picture quality and a nicely realized lossless audio track. The film's supplementary features are outstanding and prove that Mr. Smith is committed to providing fans with a comprehensive look behind the scenes of his films. Clerks II is a raucously funny movie and is highly recommended.
1994
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1996
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American Pie 3 | Unrated + Theatrical
2003
2017
Unrated and Raw
2005
The Rougher Morning Edition
2017
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