Why So Blu?

Jackass Forever (Blu-ray Review)

Its both crazy to realize Jackass has been part of our pop culture for over 20 years and that these guys are still up and at it in terms of their crazy stunts. Jackass Forever was their latest effort, delayed a few times due to pandemic movie scheduling, finally arriving back in February of this year. The film also became attractive in being on Paramount+ as an exclusive for a short window. The Blu-ray (Yeah, no Jackass on 4K for this one) arrived on the format April 19th. It’s extras consist of about 40 minutes of stunts/skits/pranks that didn’t make the movie or alternate/expanded versions of ones that did. Some of them are even more fun with a little added context to them by way of the interviews that go with them. You can order yourself a copy of Jackass Forever by click the paid Amazon Associates review that follows the review.

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Film

Older but not wiser, Johnny Knoxville and the crew are back for the most unbelievably outrageous jackass yet. Brace yourself as they reach new levels of immaturity and with a little help from some brave new friends and guest stars, their wildly outrageous pranks and dangerously bone-crunching stunts will have you laughing until it really, really hurts. Some people never learn.

Since its arrival over 2 decades ago, Jackass has been both popular and divisive in terms of its merit in quality. There are many a snob in the crowd who feel its some sort of low hanging fruit in terms of comedy. However, the creative and insane stunt-driven danger is a sight to behold. And as an old comedy show once said about thumbing your nose to some more simplistic styles of comedy, “Come on, man, farts are fucking funny.” And Jackass never has presented or acted like it was some high form of art. They merely want to push the limits in terms of surprise, shock and reactive laughter. And, they’ve been damn good at it.

This fourth film (but with the extended and alternate cuts of the other ones and Bad Grandpa and its other cuts who knows what exact number we are on) see the gang acknowledging their aging and reflecting a bit more on the history of the show as we experience their stunts that were shot over a few years. Knoxville goes from dark black hair to gray back and forth in the film. I’m sure he just decided to stop dyeing it at some point. However, there’s a clever way in which the old can have fun and Jackass can continue beyond this fourth film if they should so choose.

Forever sees a bit more as a changing of the guard type film. There is a lot of new blood brought in on this one. And primarily the new guys get a to perform/partake in much of these new stunts. And a lot of the time, Knoxville serves as the antagonist for these. That’s not to say he doesn’t do some body beating stunts himself. He’s twice very bloodied, knocked out and hospitalized during the film. But, to see a bit more of an “evil host” type role for him and the old guys is pretty fun and to see these new guys tormented works just as well.

If you’ve come this far with Jackass, you know what you’ve been through and know what you’re in for. These are really fun, quick burst shocks and gut bursters for laughter. And then you pack up and join them again down the road to repeat the torment all over again. I’m sure there are people that have watched these multiple times, but for me, I enjoy just catching up and doing this every once in a while with Knoxville, Steve-O and the gang.  It used to be weekly on TV, but as an adult its…been 11 years since the last time, but hopefully it may be shorter for next.

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: Jackass Forever debuts on Blu-ray with a terrific high resolution image that is well lit and vivid. The picture is crisp and full of details and good color saturation. Both the more home video looking footage as well as the “cinematic” type come across to the highest degrees the format can process. I don’t think anyone enters Jackass for it to look “pretty”, but you get the spoils of a good transfer along with the hijinks.

Depth:  Depth of field is strong with good, open spacing and free movements from the characters. No issues of distortion happen (That isn’t damaged camera related) from any rapidity in the scenes.

Black Levels: Blacks are plenty deep and impressive levels of naturality for something shot digital and stuck on 1080p. There is good contrast and it handles well in very dark situations. No crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction: Colors are natural and can pop pretty good with the vivid and well lit photography. The glitter paint bomb portion really pulsates and the opening of the film showcases strong greens and reds.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent start to finish of the film. Facial features and textures pick up every little detail of stubble, dried blood, scuffs, scrapes, paint, dirt and more from any reasonable distance in the frame.

Noise/Artifacts: None

Audio

Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English Audio Description, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish (Latin America) 5.1 Dolby Digital, French (Canada) 5. 1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English, English SDH, Danish, German, Spanish (Latin America), French (Canada), Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Finnish, Swedish

Dynamics: Jackass Forever is a terrific experience audio-wise in some of its sound design adding to some of the pain…er, fun. Its a pretty well woven and balanced mix. But, its also pretty good in handling, capturing and evening out some of the distortions that come with how they make these.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: There are some good booms with explosions, canons, punching, microphone bumping and more.

Surround Sound Presentation: A lot of this is focused up front, but some of the bigger moments, like the one involving the military/paintball, spread around and dominate the room. Sound travel is accurate and impactful where it can be.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp.

Extras

Jackass Forever comes with a redeemable digital code. The extras include extra stunts but they also come with interviews and reflection on them, too.

Tarantula Bite (HD, 3:18)

Face Your Rear (HD, 2:43)

Dark Shark & The Bear (HD, 4:03)

Fire In The Hole (HD, 3:29)

Broke Zach Mountain (HD, 2:28)

Virtual Reality (HD, 2:22)

Plug and Arrow (HD, 1:37)

The Breakaway (HD, 2:12) 

Soccer Ball Surprise (HD, 1:50) 

Poopies Only Wipes Twice (HD, 1:08) 

Fire Extinguisher (HD, 2:32)

Wee Man Throws Zach Under The Bus (HD, 1:26)

Toilet Geyser (HD, 1:57)

Telephone Pole (Susan) (HD, 4:06)

Telephone Pole (Millie) (HD, 2:12)

Telephone Pole (A.D.) (HD, 2:27)

Summary

If you’ve been a fan or following Jackass for how ever many years, you know what you’re in for with Jackass Forever. For better or for worse. Its almost anthology story-like in that somethings are going to land for you and some aren’t. And at the end of the day, you’ll have enjoyed some of it. Paramount’s Blu-ray release comes to about the best quality presentation as you can get on a standard Blu-ray and the deleted/extended material is a nice treat afterward.

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