HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY - Blu-ray review

Under normal circumstances, I'd say that if you liked the previous film, you're apt to enjoy the new one as well. But if my personal reaction is any measure of the situation, these are not normal circumstances. I rather liked much of 2004's "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," but I positively hated most of 2008's "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," high-def picture and sound or not. Go figure.

Any number of things went wrong in the sequel, which takes up just moments after the plot of the first movie ends: (1) The co-writers of the first and second films, John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, abandoned their first director and decided to helm the second movie themselves, a first feature film for both of them. (2) They took everything they thought audiences liked about the first movie and exaggerated it even further. (3) They changed the personalities of both Harold and Kumar, Harold getting the worst of it. And (4) they ignored everything that might have been in the slightest bit thought-provoking or satiric in the first movie and in the second movie went for the cheapest possible gross-out gags.

In the new film, Harold and Kumar are flying to Amsterdam when air marshals mistake them for terrorists, arrest them, and ship them off to Guantanamo Bay. They escape and make a trip from Cuba to Florida to Texas in an attempt to clear their names.

Filmmakers Hurwitz and Schlossberg explain on one of the commentary tracks that they wanted to make "Guantanamo Bay" a more serious, more mature film than "White Castle," while at the same time making it more risqué, naughtier. Well, fellows, I don't think you can have it both ways. You can't make it more mature and more juvenile at the same time. Or maybe you could have, but you didn't. Or maybe a more-experienced director could have. I don't know. I only know that this film is unrelentingly sophomoric from beginning to end, with almost no wit or imagination in evidence.

So, what did the filmmakers think audiences liked best about their film: Harold's sweet disposition and Kumar's goofy antics? The genuinely warm friendship of these two disparate individuals? Their quest to find themselves? No. They figured audiences mostly enjoyed the toilet humor, the nudity, the crudity, and the dirty words. So they multiplied these elements threefold in the new movie. The story even begins in the bathroom, with Harold taking a shower, and Kumar sitting on the can just a few feet away. The sound effects and dialogue communicate the grossest possible bad taste, and it sets the tone for the rest of the movie. You like jokes about farting, defecating, peeing, and being peed upon? You got 'em, about every two minutes. You enjoyed the few bare breasts in the first movie? OK, this one gives you not only breasts but a whole scene full of bottomless girls. And you want profanity? How about the f-word in every other sentence for no particular reason? This isn't filmmaking; it's pandering.

Worse, the filmmakers decided to change everything that audiences came to love about the personalities of the two main characters. Whereas Harold had been sweet and lovable, learning to assert himself more by the end of the first movie, here he is downright aggressive to the point of being abrasive and irritating. And whereas Kumar was a brilliant slacker in the first film, here he is simply an idiotic, obnoxious boor. It's hard to like anything about either of these guys, and they no longer appear to like each other, either, as they constantly bicker and fight. There's nothing funny here.

Nor are the supporting characters at all amusing because they're all such ridiculous exaggerations. For instance, the acting head of Homeland Security, Ron Fox (Rob Corddry), is not just an incompetent or bumbling caricature; he's a certified lunatic, an imbecilic moron. Neil Patrick Harris ("Doogie Howser, M.D.") shows up again as himself, but he's no longer just the horny oddball; he's genuinely psychotic.

Finally, the film skims over or totally ignores any of a dozen or more possible targets for satire or at least good-natured ribbing. Racial profiling? Human rights abuses? Closed-mindedness? Bigotry? Racism? Sexism? Police brutality? They're all in the movie, yet the filmmakers only include them as the crass butts of dumb, mostly jokes.

Anything the filmmakers might have, could have, should have handled with even the smallest degree of subtlety...they don't. Instead, they do everything in broad, sweeping strokes, often accompanying the action with disgustingly graphic detail that isn't in the least bit funny. Humorously gross gags are one thing, but this is material that Broken Lizard would have rejected, little more than a collection of drug and sex jokes intermittently punctuated by more potty humor.

One smile near the very end. For me, that was it for "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay."

Video:
I have no more objections to the look of this VC-1, BD50 Blu-ray transfer than I did to the look of the standard-def edition. The film's 1.85:1 theatrical ratio fills a widescreen TV, and its high-definition picture quality is quite acceptable, with a relatively clean appearance and only occasional instances where its overly smooth and glossy aspect are distracting. Indeed, much of the video is rich and bright, and when compared to the SD video, you appreciate all the more its improved sharpness and clarity.

Audio:
The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 soundtrack again (as it did on the BD of "White Castle") seems like overkill, as it doesn't really have a lot to do. About the only time it comes to life is when a little pop music plays in the background, and then we get a rocking bass. Otherwise, there is not a lot of need for wide dynamics or an extended frequency response or even much in the way of surround activity. We just get clear, precise dialogue, which is all we should expect. So while the lossless audio doesn't have much to do, at least it sounds natural enough not annoy a person.

Audio note: Users bitstreaming DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 to certain newer receivers--Denon, Integra, Onkyo, and Yamaha, among others--for decoding have reported occasional pops during playback. DTS supposedly informed the receiver manufacturers of this issue, and the manufacturers supposedly resolved it in current models, while offering upgrades to older product. In addition, the folks at DTS supposedly have provided studios with instructions on how to reproduce DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio to avoid the problem altogether, but apparently not all studios got the memo. Using an Onkyo 705 receiver, I found this particular disc made a small pop every time I took it out of "Pause." As I have not yet upgraded my receiver at the time of this writing, the work-around I used was to put the receiver in "Mute" for a moment just before returning it from "Pause." Maybe New Line had this BD already completed before they could implement DTS's instructions, I don't know. Just a caution.

Extras:
This "Unrated Special Edition" contains the same features found on the studio's "Unrated 2-Disc Special Edition." Things begin with an interesting interactive feature, "Dude, Change the Movie!" This bonus is probably better than the film itself because you can decide the direction the story takes. Every few minutes as you watch the movie, the filmmakers give you choices, "Should the characters do this or do that?" Depending on your choice, the movie can end up doing all sorts of weird stuff. For instance, if you choose not to have Kumar light up a bong on the airplane, you get a whole new and different plot. If you choose to have the boys' friend throw a topless party instead of a bottomless one, well, you can do that, too. The filmmakers shot a whole lot of extra footage and include it on the disc, not just deleted scenes but entirely new episodes. In fact, it appears as though the filmmakers shot the entire film with this gimmick in mind. It's more fun than the regular movie.

Next we find a pair audio commentaries, one with co-writers/co-directors Schlossberg and Hurwitz and stars John Cho and Kal Penn and another commentary with the directors, the real "Harold Lee," John Cho, and the guy who plays George W. Bush, James Adomian. Then, there a twenty-one-minute featurette, "The World of Harold and Kumar"; twenty-seven additional scenes; yet a few more scenes called "Extras"; a Bush Public Service Announcement by the guy, James Adomian, who plays Bush in the film; and a digital copy of the movie you can unlock with a PC and a secret code.

Things conclude with twenty-two scene selections, but no chapter insert; several theatrical trailers; English as the only spoken language; and English and Spanish subtitles. A colorfully embossed slipcover houses the Blu-ray case.

Parting Shots:
I really found this film pretty amateurish in many ways. It seemed like the kind of thing that high school freshmen might have put together, the kids tittering all the while they were making it. While in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" I laughed out loud any number of times, in "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" I sat stony-faced, and a little annoyed, for 107 minutes hoping for it to end. Not a good sign, and nothing in the way of high-definition picture or sound could salvage it.