Just when you thought Jackass couldn’t get any more ridiculous, it has. Jackass 3D pulls out all of the stops. In the newest installment of the hit MTV series, Bam Margera, Johnny Knoxville and the rest of the crew go to the extremes to once again make it known that they are the craziest people on the face of the planet. When the first Jackass movie was released in 2002, it received massive responses on both ends. Some people thought it was one of the most disgusting and idiotic things to ever be shown in a theater. Others thought it was the most undeniably funny piece of film you would ever want to see.
Eight years later, not much has changed. Although the purpose of the movie remains the same, it is slightly different. This is mostly because of the 3D aspect. The movie starts off by treating us to a very nostalgic and funny explanation of the 3D aspect when cartoon sensations Beavis and Butthead, another staple of MTV, appear on screen. From there on out, it is just shear madness. We are introduced to the cast with an array of slow-motion explosions; the next one being funnier than the last. However, the 3D itself is not very enticing, as most critics say they could have done without it.
“When the 3D works, it’s fantastic, but that’s only about 25 percent of the time,” Matt Goldberg reviewer of collider.com, said. The great thing about a movie like this is that it really has no plot other than to make you laugh at the unbelievable pranks and stunts these guys pull. Even though Jackass 3D has the same exact motive as the previous two films, you do not need to watch the first or second ones to get an idea of what is going to happen. Despite everyone knowing what the movie’s main purpose is, people will still spend the money to see it. The price of a $15 ticket is a bit steep for a movie that has essentially been made two times before, but if you are one of those people that cannot get enough of these guys, it is definitely worth the price of admission. What people may find to be more of a driving force than the 3D is the slow motion.
A reocurring prank called “Rocky,” got everyone to “ooo and ahh” when Margera puts on a boxing glove, sneaks up on people and punches them in the side of the head. The slow motion paints a crisp picture of what their face looks like when they get hit and when they finally recover from it. The results were received with great laughter and applause. Even though there is nothing wrong with watching stunts that have previously made us fall out of our seats in laughter before, this movie seemed to be lacking in a few areas. In the previous films, there are run-ins with Knoxville and a bull, or other cast members being tortured by other wild animals. Knoxville also brings back the prosthetics to dress up as an old man, which we have seen before but is still very funny. Sometimes, people may get the sense that the cast members do not even want to do some of the stunts they are attempting. One stunt in particular may prove this point, when Steve-O procrastinates getting hit in the private area by a ball attached to a tee. Another prank that could support this argument is when Margera’s fear of snakes is revisited. Margera thinks he is going to pull the “Rocky” prank on one of the cast members, but in turn is sent into a pit of toy snakes. This causes Margera to freak out and try to climb out. As he tries to get out, some of the cast members throw actual live snakes down in the pit and you can clearly see Margera is not acting at that point. If you like Jackass, you will be highly entertained and laugh regardless if the movie is lacking in creativity. It retains the jaw-dropping humor that the two previous ones had, but this movie might be the weakest of the three.
