Clerks II: A real review
I wasn't GOING to post a review of Clerks II, but since Nic went ahead and did it, I can't very well let him win, now can I?
I liked Clerks II much better than anyone else who watched it with me. I might even go so far as to say I liked it better than the original, although that's not a fair comparison, since I saw it over a decade after it was originally released and all of the good parts had been ruined for me.
I thought Clerks II had a lot of very interesting things to say, all of which were said very well. I especially enjoyed the "porch monkey" discussion, although it DID go on a bit longer than strictly necessary. All of the commentary on the minutiae of pop culture was there from the first one, all of which made me very happy.
I also enjoyed the addition of Elias. The actor who played him was incredibly talented and his LOTR fanboyism was a brilliant counter-point to Randall's Star Wars fanaticism.
The decision to go with colour was one I'm not sure I agree with, but Kevin Smith certainly knows how to use it, so I accepted it. The film was beautifully shot. Not the super-stylized beautiful of an asian martial arts film, but a sort of understated beautiful that simply underlined and supported the action.
As to Nic's statements about the jokes lagging on for too long, I didn't exactly find that to be true. Although often discussions or jokes would go on much longer than a conventional film, I feel that it was very important to do so to create a mood. As to the idea that the editing got snappier as the film went along, that's not true at all. By the end, we were just used to it. The donkey bit at the end lasted for about a million minutes, but was entertaining the whole way through.
So, overall, Clerks II was a highly enjoyable film. If you enjoyed the first Clerks, I would say you'll like Clerks II. Perhaps ever love it. It's a highly entertaining movie, but its not the sort of thing I need to see again and again. I give it 8/10.
I liked Clerks II much better than anyone else who watched it with me. I might even go so far as to say I liked it better than the original, although that's not a fair comparison, since I saw it over a decade after it was originally released and all of the good parts had been ruined for me.
I thought Clerks II had a lot of very interesting things to say, all of which were said very well. I especially enjoyed the "porch monkey" discussion, although it DID go on a bit longer than strictly necessary. All of the commentary on the minutiae of pop culture was there from the first one, all of which made me very happy.
I also enjoyed the addition of Elias. The actor who played him was incredibly talented and his LOTR fanboyism was a brilliant counter-point to Randall's Star Wars fanaticism.
The decision to go with colour was one I'm not sure I agree with, but Kevin Smith certainly knows how to use it, so I accepted it. The film was beautifully shot. Not the super-stylized beautiful of an asian martial arts film, but a sort of understated beautiful that simply underlined and supported the action.
As to Nic's statements about the jokes lagging on for too long, I didn't exactly find that to be true. Although often discussions or jokes would go on much longer than a conventional film, I feel that it was very important to do so to create a mood. As to the idea that the editing got snappier as the film went along, that's not true at all. By the end, we were just used to it. The donkey bit at the end lasted for about a million minutes, but was entertaining the whole way through.
So, overall, Clerks II was a highly enjoyable film. If you enjoyed the first Clerks, I would say you'll like Clerks II. Perhaps ever love it. It's a highly entertaining movie, but its not the sort of thing I need to see again and again. I give it 8/10.
