Hangover 2 - Blu-Ray

Movie: The wolf pack is back! After the enormous success of Hangover, the most successful comedy of 2009, director Todd Phillips has once again rounded up the cast of the first film to send them on another whirlwind adventure. Although Phillips had said in an interview about the first installment that he could well imagine rushing the wolf pack through a whole new starting point as well, he did play it safe with Hangover 2 and went back to the tried and true concept of its predecessor.

There's another wedding coming up. This time Stu (Ed Helms) wants to walk down the aisle. However, his chosen one is not the prostitute Jade, whom he had married in a drunken stupor in Las Vegas a few years ago, but the Thai Lauren. In order to comply with her parents' wishes, the wedding ceremony is to take place in Thailand. Phil (Bradley Cooper), Doug (Justin Bartha) and - after long deliberations - Alan (Zach Galifianakis) are also invited and travel together to the foreign country. Despite all his precautions, Stu, still suffering from the events in Las Vegas, agrees to join his friends and Lauren's 17-year-old brother Teddy (Mason Lee) in toasting the happy future over a bottle of beer - with fatal consequences. Because the next morning Stu, Phil and Alan wake up in Bangkok, without any memory of what happened after the first bottle of beer. And worst of all, Teddy, of all people, is lost to them in the city of millions. The search for the boy also gradually reveals what happened the previous night - and it exceeds even the worst expectations.

Hangover 2 is really not much more than Part 1 in a new guise. The fact that the story has actually just been recycled is not the comedy's real weakness. Because there will be enough viewers who found the first film so funny that they'll happily watch it again, only with new gags. And some of these work very well, despite the high level of recognition. It becomes clear time and again that Todd Phillips and his writers have made it their goal to outdo themselves in terms of crudeness, tastelessness and relentless explicitness. And they certainly succeeded in doing so. But it lacks the really big surprise effect, which made the predecessor to something special. As funny as some moments are, the sequel simply lacks the necessary kick to stick in the memory for as long as the first film managed to do.

The scene where Phil, Doug and Stu visit Allen in his nursery, the return of Mr. Chow, a crazy car chase through the streets of Bangkok or Stu's confrontation with his dark side are among the moments that make Hangover 2 absolutely worth watching for fans of the first part. Of course, the makers can be accused of lacking the courage to be original, of course, the film seems like a pure marketing product, on the other hand, all other expectations for a party movie like this probably would not have been appropriate anyway.

At the worldwide box office, the math worked out, as the comedy crossed the $500 million mark there in a whiz. But there is one thing that is quite annoying about all this success: the decision of the FSK to release the film from the age of 12 is an absolute impertinence and proves once again that the institution FSK has lost all credibility and no longer seems to do its job. It's not so much the fact that 12 year olds can see this film that is really annoying. Sure, the film contains quite a few scenes that, despite their comedic nature, are simply not appropriate for children. But well, maybe 12 year old kids are mature enough by now to hear explicit details about sex with transsexuals or an unbelievable string of swear words of the crudest kind. No, what makes this classification so infuriating is the fact that children as young as 6, accompanied by their parents, could also see this crude fun. And the reality is, unfortunately, that there are plenty of guardians who don't care what their kids see. I really don't want to seem uptight or stuffy here, but there are just things that kids should be protected from. And that's what an institution like the FSK is supposed to be for. Alone the in their crudeness admittedly very funny pictures in the credits show several things that are really not suitable for children's eyes.

Although the release seems more than questionable, that doesn't change the fact that Hangover 2 is great fun. Not original and nowhere near as good as part 1, but for those who can't get enough of the wolf pack, aren't really expecting anything new, and can't laugh quite as heartily at the gags from part 1, this sequel is highly recommended.

Picture + Sound: With the picture, in addition to the high detail sharpness, which only in darker scenes slightly decreases in quality, especially the deliberately alienated color scheme, which prevents the image from looking natural, but at the same time also provides a very special atmosphere in which the absurd humor of the film can unfold well The sound is pleasantly dynamic for a comedy and has many well-mixed surround effects to offer. These admittedly come across better on the English soundtrack, which is in a DTS-HD master audio mix, than on the still very good German Dolby Digital 5.1 track.

Extras: The most amusing extra is undoubtedly the 25-minute fake documentary The Unreleased Documentary, in which an aspiring filmmaker tries to get to the bottom of the alleged events during the Bangkok shoot and encounters outright threats from Todd Phillips' team. Most Amusing. The two shorter featurettes about the director and Crystal the monkey are also quite amusing and offer a nice, though too brief, look behind the scenes. The brief tour of Bangkok with Mr. Chow, on the other hand, is a bit of an effort and, like the action collage, can be safely skipped. The outtakes offer a few good laughs, but fall short of expectations. Nice.

Conclusion: Hangover 2 offers the fan little new, but who can not get enough of the crude goings-on from part 1, which comes also at the second rehash fully at his expense. The Blu-Ray is technically on a very good level, the bonus material is nice, but not stunning, although especially an amusing fake documentary about the filming makes for good entertainment. Recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp