Hey folks, Valkor here. And I welcome you to TOV's "30 in 30",
where I'll review 30 unique film and maybe some not so unique,
all in 30 days. What's cool for most of the flicks, is that I
know nothing about em. So this should be a real treat not just
for you guys, but for me as well. Good or bad, this is gonna be
a fun month. It all starts today July the 4th and ends on Aug
the 3rd. Can I make it through? We'll know soon enough!
For part 12, the folks at Warner Home has paid TOV a visit by dropping off Kevin Smith's latest, now on Blu Ray "Cop Out", which is an action, buddy cop, comedy film that's loads of laughs and an extra that will simply blow you away.
Cop Out stars Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as Jimmy Monroe and Paul Hodges respectively; a couple of detectives who ultimately get the job done, no matter how disorganized they may make the situation. The two dicks (short word for Detective, not the slang version) are suspended after they botched a setup with their informant and the perp getting away. The suspension doesn't come at a good time for Jimmy as his daughter is about to get married and wants a HUGE, 50,000 dollar wedding. And since he's suspended for a month, where can he come up with the money? Her stepfather (played by Jason Lee), smugly offers to pay for the wedding, but Jim has another idea. In his collection he has a very valuable baseball card worth about 80 grand. When he takes it to the card shop to get it appraised and sold, the store gets held up by a couple of robbers, one who happens to be called Dave (Sean William Scott). They taze Jimmy and take his card along with a bunch of others. Later, Jimmy and Paul track down Dave as he's robbing a house and force him to tell them who has the card. They learn that he gave the card to a man named Poh Boy (Guillermo Diaz), to which they pay the man a visit. But Poh Boy isn't giving up the card so easy. In order to get the card, they'll have to do him a favor – find a Mercedes that was stolen from him. But what Jimmy and Paul don't know is that by taking on this task, they're about to jump knee deep into some serious shit, because it's what's in the car that's a definite game changer.
As a side story, we have Paul who believes almost throughout the entire film that his wife is cheating on him. He even goes so far as to set up a nanny cam in the bedroom to confirm his suspicions.
The Blu Ray is a Warner Combo pack, meaning you're not just getting the blu ray disk; you're also getting a copy of the DVD and also a digital downloadable copy that you can store on your computer or portable media device.
But I wanna give a special thumbs up, high five, golden globe, whatever for what could be the best extra I've ever experienced and trust me it is definitely a new experience. So you know how most DVDs or BDs have as an extra a commentary, behind the scenes, deleted scenes, storyboards, extended scenes, etc., Well the folks at Warner have taken extras "to a whole new level", by combining it all into: MCM – Maximum Comedy Mode. Kevin Smith literally guides you through the film in a way I've never seen before. This isn't a commentary, this isn't pop-ups or branching off (well there is some branching off, but it's seamless), it literally is an experience. You're watching a piece of the film and poof you're out of the film and Kevin is showing you matching storyboards, sometimes a pop-up window will appear with an actor telling you how they experienced the scene, you'll get some off the wall remarks, alerts when deleted, extended, or raw takes will appear (you'll get a red or blue light). Hell at the very beginning you get an alternate look at the opening. It's such a unique and fun way to watch the film.
And now, on with the show.
The Good:
If I were to rank Cop Out against other Kevin Smith films, this would definitely rank as number 4 with Clerks 1 and 2 leading the pack, followed by Jay and Silent Bob Strikes back. That isn't to say that Cop Out is a bad film; on the contrary, it's a lot better than I had expected! I'm a HUGE Kevin Smith/ Bruce Willis fan… a bit lukewarm with Tracy Morgan and that's what kept me away from this film. But now that I've seen it, I must say this is one bad ass buddy cop film. Bruce has a bit of John McCLane in this one, but he has some jokes… wait a minute… so did John McCLane. It doesn't matter he's great in the film. The story is a straight forward buddy cop, where one is a bit loud and obnoxious while the other is calm and reserved; you've probably seen it before and you'll see it again with this one. Pacing of the film is perfect, with no real slow down, though some scenes with Tracy Morgan seem to stretch on a little longer than they should, though he does catch his stride towards the end where it really counts. Overall, for a Kevin Smith film, I must say… I'm damn pleased with it.
The Bad:
I take it back to Tracy Morgan; the dude is way over the top in this. It's almost to the point where you wanna shut the movie off. It's ok to be over the top – Chris Tucker was over the top in the Rush Hour films, but this is WAY, WAY over the top.
The Ugly:
All the slobbering and spittin Morgan does… yea that's just a bit too much.
The Funny:
Sean Williams Scott's character "Dave" says to Morgan that his wife has CCD – Cock Craving Disorder. That's funny Sean because if I'm not mistaken… so do you!
I rocked out with Cop Out and I loved just about every minute of it. And on July 20th definitely pick up the Blu Ray and experience the film in ways you've never experienced it before with Maximum Comedy Mode. Out of TOV 5 stars, I give the film 4 stars and it's been Valkor tested, TOV Approved!