[Blu-Ray Review] YEAR ONE
Year One is another comedy from the Apatow stable, written and directed by Apatow collaborator (and well renowned director in his own right) Harold Ramis and starring Michael Cera, who starred in the hit Apatow movie Superbad. Throw in Jack Black, a story set in Biblical times and a couple of well known cameo’s and what have you got? Another great comedy or a mess of a movie that you’d be better off avoiding?
Well, I think the answer to that question really depends on your opinion of a couple of things. Do you find jokes about scatalogical subjects funny? Are you not offended by jokes about Religion? And, finally, do you like Jack Black?
If you answered “No” to most or all of those three questions then move on, leave this release on the shelf and do not even think about purchasing it or watching it. If, on the other hand, the answer to all of the questions was “Yes” then stick around as this might just be a movie for you!
So, what’s the movie about? Well, Zed (Jack Black) is a hunter in a tribe of cavemen – but not an overly good one. He is also a terrible gatherer, unlike his friend Oh (Michael Cera), but that doesn’t stop him from trying. After yet another disasterous hunting trip, and Zed deciding that eating the Forbidden Fruit would be a good idea, Zed is banished from the tribe and sets off into the world accompanied by Oh. Crossing the mountains, which Oh & the rest of the tribe thought was the end of the world, Zed & Oh encounter Cain & Able and, through one mishap and another, end up in Sodom where the rest of their tribe have been taken as slaves (including their two loves Maya and Eema).
It’s now up to Zed & Oh to save their tribe but can an inept hunter and accomplished gatherer become heroes and save the day?
I love the story here, viewing the Bible stories from the point of view of two cavemen, who should be more savage than the world they have entered, gives a pretty interesting view on the stories we are shown. Some of the jokes fall a little flat, and if you have no knowledge of the stories of the Bible then you won’t get all, if any, of the references, but for someone who is very well versed in the Bible (but not religious) the references come thick and fast and are, pretty much, all either amusing or laugh out loud funny.
For example, the murder of Abel by Cain shouldn’t be funny, but I found myself laughing very hard at some moments there. And they even manage to get a slow-speed pursuit in there which just works!
Harold Ramis does a great job with the direction, trying to get the most out of the actors and, for the most part he succeeds. There are some performances which don’t work quite as well as the others, but for the most part the actors all do deliver strong performances.
Which leads us onto the lead actors, Jack Black and Michael Cera. Black plays himself, basically, as a caveman. There isn’t much here to differentiate between his performance of Zed or his performance as JB from Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny but, I have to say, I find him very funny anyway so this wasn’t a problem for me.
I can easily imagine, though, that if you don’t like his preening over the top style then you are going to hate him here and, as a result, probably hate the movie.
As for Michael Cera…..well, he’s basically playing the same kind of character as he played in Superbad. While this isn’t a problem, as such, it did start to get annoying after a while and I didn’t find his performance as strong as Blacks’ or as entertaining.
There are some great jokes here, and even when it isn’t laugh out loud funny it is never short of amusing and I, for one, enjoyed every moment of it.
The Video
The picture on the Blu-Ray is of an amazing quality more expected from a very high profile release than “just” a comedy, as it is pretty much flawless for the most part. Colours are striking and doesn’t suffer from any issues like colours bleeding into each other. Everything looks sharp and clear and super crisp. A first class presentation that is almost perfect enough to be used as a demo disc to show your Hi-Def kit off.
The Audio
Unfortunately, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track is not quite so demo worthy. OK, so the movie is dialogue driven and all of the exchanges between Jack Black and Michael Cera are easily heard and never drowned out by the score or atmospherics, but unfortunately there are moments when the atmospherics certainly should have been a little bit more apparent and “in your face” (like the crowd scenes that feel a little flat). It’s a serviceable audio track, but nothing spectacular.
Special Features
The Year One Cutting Room: A BD-Live exclusive feature that allows you to recut scenes in the movie and then upload them to share with other people via BD-Live.
Commentary with Harold Ramis, Jack Black & Michael Cera: This chat track does have a certain amount of information about the movie, like when the Ramis, Black & Cera discuss the original opening of the movie, but for the most part they seem content to laugh at whats on screen or describing what is happening on the screen (which I can see for myself!)
Alternate Ending – Sodom Destruction: A more action-hero orientated ending of the movie, which doesn’t work as well as the one finally used.
Deleted Scenes: 2 deleted scenes, one of which is very entertaining involving fights to the death and the other is a conversation between Zed and Cain that serves no purpose.
Extended & Alternate Scenes: 10 extended and alternate scenes, which for once feature new scenes instead of just one or two extra words here and there.
Line-O-Rama: A staple of Apatow releases, this time showcasing the casts comedic talents as they find lots of ways of inserting dirty jokes into Biblical speech. Well worth a watch.
Gag Reel
Year One The Journey Begins: An interesting making of, with cast and crew discussing the making of the movie interspersed with anecdotes and jokes.
Sodom’s Got ‘Em!: A very funny commercial about the town of Sodom.
Leeroy Jenkins The Gates of Sodom: Another BD exclusive, this time showing a comedy battle outside the gates of Sodom between the Sodomites and the Jews.
Year One Trailer
While this isn’t the best comedy in the world, I have to say if you are a fan of Jack Black then you will enjoy it as it is entirely his movie. If, on the other hand, Jack Black’s performances in anything else annoy you or make you want to kick in your TV then avoid this at all costs.
As a fan of Jack Black, I really did enjoy Year One for what it was, and it made me laugh out loud at more than one point. What more could you want from a comedy? Harold Ramis does a strong job as the director and Black and Cera (for me) were good leads. Fans of both will enjoy this release, but for anyone else it’s probably a rental or wait for it to arrive on TV.
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One Response to “[Blu-Ray Review] YEAR ONE”
REALLY?!?
Three?
Wow – that surprised me! I did not expect that! lol
I didn’t like this movie much – I was pretty disappointed with it infact!
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