Sex & The City 2 (2010/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)
Picture:
B-/C Sound: B-/C+ Extras: D Film: D
The Sex & The City franchise was built
on its shocking boldness, but the series ran on much longer than it should have
and the box office success of the first feature film was as much of a curio and
fluke as anything. Two years later, Kim
Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Sarah Jessica Parker are back with Sex & The City 2 (2010), easily the
obnoxious nadir of the most played-out cable TV success around, or the
equivalent of Friends without commercials or sex.
Creator
Michael Patrick King writes and directs this absurd where Carrie (Parker, more
obnoxious than ever) goes (of all places) to Abu Dhabi (aka the United Arab
Emirates) and Samantha (Cattrall, the highlight of any of these outings)
happens to have an ex-boyfriend who is making a film there (obviously before
the world economy collapsed) and that is just for starters. This self-centered, absurd exercise in
cashing in barely made its money back and when the promoters try to sell it on
Parker as the star, which always backfires.
The
problem is that the makers and actors really have nothing to say or do. They are there to be gaudy and pick up their
paychecks. At an insane 146 minutes, this
goes on longer than all three Lord Of
The Rings combined and never knows when to quit. Talk about excess. Even diehard fans were not happy, so see it
at your own risk and only if you =have seen the show before. If you have, than there is nothing to see
here.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot digitally and looks it with
poor detail, poor depth, odd color and an oddly soft look that is part style,
part stupidity. It also looks much worse
than a typical episode of the series, which makes no sense considering the
budget. The anamorphically enhanced is
much worse with constant softness and dullness that makes it much harder to
watch.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix on the Blu-ray is somewhat dialogue
based, yet is also oddly mixed, has an awkward soundfield and is not always as
well recorded as it could be. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 on the DVD is ever weaker.
When combined with their respective pictures, this looks more like a bad
imitator or even spoof of the show than the show itself.
Extras include
Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices, four making of/behind the scenes
featurette and a feature length audio commentary by King, plus we also get
another featurette with Alicia Keys recording for the soundtrack (this follows
her disastrous Another Way To Die for
the James Bond film Quantum Of Solace,
so Miss Keys has replaced Bryan Adams as the #1 singer of bad movie music!) and
the horrid, unnecessary featurette Revisiting The ‘80s.
Time for
the makers to practice celibacy.
- Nicholas Sheffo
