The Hangover – Extreme Edition (2010/Warner Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: B
Certain
films like that of Old School just
strike people’s funny bone in the right way.
It is a combination of reckless abandon, slick writing and brilliant
cast chemistry. This occurred again
recently with the breakout hit The
Hangover. The cast, director and
writing staff was all done accomplished by a group of recognizable faces, more
so than a cast of superstars. But
somehow the zany antics and fast paced (and yes) ridiculous nature of the film
gathered a huge following in the theaters that took them to the bank and now to
two Blu-ray releases.
The
Blu-ray of The Hangover was covered
previously on this site with much praise.
I saw this film in theaters and quite enjoyed it, but I didn’t realize
its wide appeal until I watched it at home with my family. So in the room we had a group of youngsters
in their 20’s, several middle aged folks and one lovely 77 year old. In the end, the entire family was laughing at
the sheer ridiculousness that was presented before us. It was fun and though crude at times, it was
brilliantly constructed as the crew of the film went on an odyssey to discover
the happenings of the previous night.
So I say
if a mixed bag like that which was in my house that night can enjoy it, there
must be something special there.
Outside
of propelling the cast of the film careers’ into supernova mode, it also
managed to be successful enough to spur a big budget sequel that will appear in
theaters shortly. But till then the studio had the foresight to re-release the
film on Blu-ray, this time in The
Hangover: Extreme Edition.
For
further insight into the film and much more praise, please follow the link
below:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9458/The+Hangover+%E2%80%93+Unrated
The set
is merely a carbon copy of the previous release with a few added extras that
surmount to nothing. The picture is
still adequate in its 1080p 2.40 X 1 presentation and the Dolby TrueHD English
5.1 soundtrack takes a step down as it is even less impressive; please refer to
the link above.
The
extras are the same as the previous release, which is odd because you would
think that the Extreme Edition if
nothing else would add a ton of extras.
Instead we are given the same extras as the previous set (The Madness of Ken Jeong still being the
hilarious highlight), but now we are treated to a 28-page Hangover picture album and a (odd) Picture-in-Picture Audio
commentary that is not all too exciting.
My
opinion is that The Hangover is a
wonderfully fun film that frat boys will be quoting for years to come, but in
terms of this Blu-ray if you already own it, no need to upgrade. If you don’t own it is a fun film to have in
your collection and this is definitely a nicer set with the full color book.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
