film
by Keiron Self
22 JUMP STREET ****
THREE DAYS TO KILL ***
Dir: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller (15, 110 mins)
Following the shock success of 21 Jump Street, itself a reboot of an 80s Johnny
Depp TV series, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum get a second go at their winning
double act in further comedy/action cop misadventures. After passing themselves
off as high school students to go undercover and bust a drug ring in 21 Jump
Street, the mismatched cops now get to go to college and bust a fraternity crime
ring. Their headquarters have moved however from 21 to 22 Jump Street in one of
many knowing nods to sequelitis. Everything is bigger: slicker rolling camerawork,
more ludicrous stunts, car chases and fist fights, and often bigger laughs –
Tatum’s Mexican accent being a highpoint. The pair also have to deal with their
changing bromance with Hill and Tatum wanting different things following their
past success. Lego Movie directors Lord and Miller return to the fray and allow
Tatum and Hill to riff off one another hilariously amidst the set pieces with Ice
Cube joining in the hardass fun. Nick Offerman also returns as their quietly
despairing boss and Peter Stomare is on baddie duties. Crude, laugh out loud fun,
23 Jump Street is an inevitability. Opens June 6
Dir: McG (12A, 117 mins)
Kevin Costner does a Liam Neeson in this Taken-esque potboiler from the flashy
director of Terminator: Salvation and Charlie’s Angels. The similarities don’t end
there as Luc Besson also has a hand in the proceedings. Costner plays a CIA agent
trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter (True Grit’s Hailee Stanfield) and wife
(Connie Nielsen) after he hears he has terminal cancer. A dodgy double agent, Amber
Heard, offers him an experimental drug that may prolong his life for years, so
long as he does one more job for the CIA. It’s well worn formulaic stuff enlivened
by Costner’s presence, boasting several well staged punch-ups and a corking car
chase. Unfortunat