Paramount Pictures | 2010 | 100 min | R
Frankly, I’ve never understood the fascination with Jackass. The long-running MTV series seems to glorify the foolishness of men apparently stuck in adolescence. They are constantly finding new ways to outdo their peers by getting hurt in many elaborate and not-so elaborate ways. The fact that there has been three films made of this stuff boggles my mind. The leader of this group, Johnny Knoxville, is joined by a band of wacky men willing to subject themselves to gross and painful feats. If this is your cup of tea, then you will find Jackass 3 highly entertaining. If not, move on.
Jackass 3 was shot in 3-D. As such, the film opens with Beavis and Butt-Head trying their best to explain modern 3D cinema and its benefits when combined with the Jackass style of filmmaking, followed by the lawyerspeak that boils down to “don’t try this at home.” Honestly, as I sit down to write this, I feel like critiquing Jackass 3 is an exercise in futility. If you’re a fan of these things, you’re going to get everything you’ve come to expect. There are nut shots. As well as many things that look like they will be painful that turns out to be, in fact, exceedingly painful. We get a spring-loaded device shaped like a giant hand that smacks unsuspecting people as they walk by, the hand hidden from their line of site behind a wall. Other stunts include piloting a jet ski through well-maintained hedge work, playing tetherball while surrounded by a swarm of bees, attempting to flee stampeding farm animals on a muddy track while on roller skates, crawling through an electrified obstacle course, gluing one man’s hands and/or rear end to another man’s hairy body parts, exploding diarrhea that’s supposed to resemble an erupting volcano, farting into both a party blow-out and a trumpet, having a pig eat an apple out of a man’s rear end, etc. There’s no real plot, just a bunch of people doing stupid things for fifteen minutes of fame.
There may be a small clue that Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera and crew are beginning to grow out of this. One of the most dangerous stunts is set up and performed by a stunt group from Finland, called The Dudesons. Johnny Knoxville participates just to give the proceedings a Jackass feel, but he’s so covered in padding he’s forced to wear a Santa suit to hide the pillow bulge. Together over a decade, old Jackass footage and childhood photos run over the end credits. One has to wonder, now that the guys have wives, children and girlfriends, just how long their going to be willing to subject their bodies to this stuff.
Jackass 3 arrives on Blu-ray with a solid 1.78:1 1080p transfer. Whether it’s the super-slo-mo of some of the film’s setpieces or the camcorder-variety sequences, the film looks just as it should in high-def. Detail isn’t super-sharp and color accuracy fluctuates from scene to scene, but that’s due to the movie’s off-the-cuff production style, not an issue with the transfer.
The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound mix isn’t doesn’t knock your socks off, but this lossless track captures the film perfectly. Every sound comes through appropriately and truly. Things stay pretty front-and-center for the most part, but that’s how the film was designed.
We get the following special features:
The Making of Jackass 3D (1080p, 28:39): Cast and crew take a look at the process of thinking up the crazy stunts, their preparation for the work, shooting in 3D, and building the various contraptions.
Deleted Scenes (1080p, 16:05): Blue Room Andy Bell, Snake River Weedemption, The Driving Range, Phantom Dildo, Sweatsuit Cocktail, Preston/Duck Hunting, Jet Ski 1, Pontius the Barbarian, Poocano, Original 3D Test Day, and The Rocky.
Outtakes (1080p, 27:37).
Jackass 3D Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 1:31).
D-Box compatibility.
DVD/Digital Copy Disc: The DVD contains an anaglyph 3D version of the film.
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