Ruk's Top 88 Movies of 2018

[rukaio101]

36. Halloween

 

Full Review here.

[rukaio101]

35. Operation Red Sea

 

So, if you follow China’s box office, you’ll know that last year Wolf Warriors II made like all the money in China. And this year, Operation Red Sea made like all the money in China. Which isn’t particularly surprising to me because in a lot of ways this feels like a much better version of Wolf Warriors II. (In other ways, it kinda feels like the same movie, but I digress)

 

For those unaware, the movie is about a crisis breaking out in leading to rebels and terrorists taking charge and large numbers of Chinese citizens being potentially threatened or held hostage. To rescue said citizens, a special forces team of Chinese soldiers are sent into the country to retrieve them and evacuate them to safety. Action ensues.

 

To go back to a previous point though, serious, it is weird how many similarities this movie has with Wolf Warriors 2. From the opening scene involving fighting a bunch of pirates (that doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the movie) to the plot of evacuating citizens during a coup, to the overly long action climax to the involvement of tanks to the Chinese military using battleship to assist to the fact that they use freaking classical music in the climax to create emotional dissonance! Forget all the lousy ‘The Force Awakens is just a rehash of A New Hope’ hitpieces, where the hell are the Wolf Warriors 2/Operation Red Sea comparisons? (I mean, aside from the obvious reason that barely anyone in the West actually probably watched either of these two movies.)

 

Still, I’m not really all that angry with this movie for copying a lot of Wolf Warriors 2, if only because I kinda feel it does a lot of it better? I personally thought WW2 was just kind of average and overlong, but I honestly really found myself getting into this movie. The action was better, the characters more likeable, there were no really cringy racial ster… there were less really cringy racial stereotypes, the plot is a lot better, has some really intense shootouts and gorey scenes. Overall, I preferred it almost every way. The only exception is that Frank Grillo made a much better villain than 'generic arab terrorist', but that's a small matter.

 

Still, I will admit it is kind of interesting to see China beginning to develop its own unique modern action movie culture, akin to America in the 80’s. And I’m interested to see how/if that’ll get developed over the years. …Or, y’know, they might just keep remaking Wolf Warriors 2 again and again.

[rukaio101]

34. Ghost Stories

 

I’ve always felt that a good judge for how scary a horror movie is how much of the runtime I spend trying to casually act like I’m not plugging my ears and using my hand to hide the screen from my eyes. Bonus points if I’m doing so while watching it in a brightly lit room at home. Now admittedly, the last bit wasn’t exactly the case for Ghost Stories, since I actually did see it in a proper cinema, (which is almost always a bad idea because I’m a complete wimp when it comes to watching scary stuff on the big screen) but the fact that it felt like I spent almost half the running time actively trying to shield my eyes kinda tells you how effective it was in its scares.

 

The movie itself is an anthology, following a paranormal skeptic and debunker as he follows in the footsteps of another more famous paranormal debunker and investigates the three supernatural cases that he could never solve. One involving ghosts haunting a security guard at an abandoned asylum, another involving a student who accidentally runs over the devil with his car one night and a third involving Martin Freeman being a posh upper-class toff. Oh and also demon poltergeist babies.

 

All three of the stories are certain levels of freaky and all enjoyable in their own right. The movie doesn't hesitate to heavily pile on the tension and darkness, with characters stuck on their lonesome in a spooky situation, slowly exploring their whereabouts in search of the inevitable scare you know is coming. The movie does a great job of creating this sort of atmosphere of isolation and unsettlingness throughout and even the framing device isn't entirely immune to the sudden scare. If I had to pick a favourite story, it would probably be the devil one, just as much for the incredibly unsettling homelife in which the student now lives as for the encounter itself, but all three have their various highlights.

 

Unfortunately, where it feels the movie loses me a little is the framing device and most definitely the ending. The main character is kind of an obnoxious ‘skeptic’ stereotype and the ending just feels like poorly foreshadowed ‘shocking’ twist after poorly foreshadowed ‘shocking’ twist. But I wouldn’t exactly call it movie ruining by any means and there are plenty of great moments even within said framing device (The skeptic visiting the student’s house in particular, as I mentioned, was a creepy standout) but it did put a bit of a damper on my enjoyment of the film.

 

Still, as far as underrated horror movies go this year, this one is pretty dang good. I won’t guarantee that other people will find it as freaky as me, since a) I’m not great with watching horror movies in theatres and b) I don’t like the dark, of which there is a lot of long tense sequences in in this movie, but I still think it’s a good ride.

[rukaio101]

33. Game Night

 

Okay, we’re starting to get to the point on this list where I get to the B+ movies that I genuinely did like but don’t really have all that much to say about. Case in point? Game Night. I genuinely did like it, but I don’t really have all that much to say about it.

 

Basically it was a neat comedy. Good premise, good laughs, good acting, good lots of things. Good stuff. Like A Simple Favour though, I just have other movies I preferred.

[rukaio101]

32. The Equalizer 2

 

 

Probably my pick for must unfairly maligned movie of 2018, because, in spite of it getting fairly lukewarm reviews, I honestly really enjoyed this movie. The first Equalizer movie, about a guy who basically starts helping people using his action hero expertise, was a film where I liked a lot of the writing, ideas and acting, but felt that Fuqua’s dour direction kind of dragged it down. Yet between this and the Magnificent Seven a couple of years ago, I really feel like I’m coming around on Fuqua because this was really a lot better.

 

Honestly, a large part of what I really liked about this movie was also a large part of what I saw a lot of critics criticise it for, the story. The thing about the Equalizer 2 is that it’s not really just one story. There is a main plot involving assassinations and the usual spy thriller shenanigans, but intertwined around it are a bunch of smaller plots involving the main character helping people out in a range of small incidents and small ways. And, while I can see why some people might consider it ‘muddled’, I honestly really liked it. It made the main character seem more mature and worldly in his heroism rather than just one explosive ‘save the country’ thriller plot and seeing him take time out to just talk to an old holocaust survivor or help a kid repaint a mural has just as much meaning as him shooting up an apartment full of bad guys.

 

Not to say the action is bad either, in spite of it being one of my less liked aspects of the original film. On the contrary, it’s pretty good. There’s some genuinely tense sequences and moments and I really enjoyed the final action scene where the main character almost takes on a slasher-villain-esque role hunting and ambushing a squad of goons in an abandoned little town during a freaking hurricane.

 

Really, the Equalizer 2 feels like a good step forwards from the first Equalizer and improves on nearly everything I liked about it. The main character is likeable and honestly feels like he’s actually helping out his neighbourhood, a lot of his small interactions with the people around him are fun and the action is less dour and more fitting with the general tone of the film. I honestly hope they make an Equalizer 3 to see if they can improve it further.

[rukaio101]

31. Upgrade

 

So this movie is basically just Venom except actually good and not unintentionally hilarious? Neat.

 

Seriously though, that’s not really giving this movie credit for how genuinely excellent it was. It had a ton of neat ideas and sci-fi-ish concepts, some great action and Logan Marshall Green was every bit as good in this role as Tom Hardy was insane in Venom. The scene where his face was visibly freaking out while his body calmly and robotically smashed plates over a guy’s head again and again was some seriously impressive acting.

 

Honestly, it does feel like it does almost everything Venom does but better. The ideas are better, the story works better as a revenge thriller than a superhero movie, the villain is better, there are actual themes and subtext to behold and the would-be possesser actually feels more morally ambigious and sinister than… well… a turd in the wind.

 

Ultimately, I don’t really have all that much negative to say about this. Once again, it’s another one of the ones where I just have more movies that I preferred this year, but I can entirely see why so many people love it so much.

[rukaio101]

30. Mission Impossible Fallout

 

You know, the last few Mission Impossible films have kind of followed a similar pattern for me. They get great trailers and massive acclaim about how good they are, I go to the cinema and watch them, agree that they’re really damn great and fantastic movies and then... I proceed to mostly forget about them about a month later. And in that regard, Mission Impossible Fallout kinda follows the same pattern. It got massive raves, with people comparing to stuff like Skyfall and calling it one of the greatest action movies ever, I went to see it, thought ‘Yup that really was very good’ and then mostly kind forgot about it not long after.

 

Still, that does feel a little unfair on this movie because, as mentioned, it is really damn good. Good acting, good acting, some really damn tense sequences and insane stunts, especially at the end with that helicopter stuff, but ultimately it didn’t really make enough of an impact on me to make the toppest tier on this list. Still, like I said, it’s very good and worth watching. I just don’t have much to say about it.

[rukaio101]

29. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

 

The Coen Brothers doing a Western Anthology movie? Those sure are a lot of words that I like. Makes it a touch difficult to review them concisely though, but I'll give it a shot.

 

*Takes deep breath.* Okay, in order…

 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: Loved it. Probably my favourite of the lot. Tim Blake Nelson was instantly iconic and lovable in the role and I want a full tv series starring him right now.

 

Near Algodones: Liked it. Had a lot of great moments, but feels like it ended a bit too soon. Could probably have used an extra would-be hanging to pace it out properly.

 

Meal Ticket: Eh, wasn’t a fan. I could see what it was trying to do, but just didn’t quite work for me. On the positive side, at least it was short.

 

All Gold Canyon: Liked it a lot: Great atmosphere, great central character, great treasure hunt and a nice subversion of expectations at the end.

 

The Gal Who Got Rattled: Liked it okay. It felt like the most complete of the stories, but that kind of drama isn’t really my kind of thing in regards to Westerns. Brutally dark ending.

 

The Mortal Remains: Surprisingly liked it more than I thought I would. It was weirdly compelling and a great character/acting showcase as a bunch of strange and differing characters share a coach. Almost Tarantino esque with an almost mystical edge.

 

In conclusion, I really did enjoy this anthology. I liked most of the stories and those that I didn't were normally short enough that I didn't feel like they dragged the movie down. But seriously though, I want my Tim Blake Nelson Buster Scruggs solo vehicle. Movie or TV I don't care, I just want more of that character.

[Plain Old Tele]

On 1/31/2019 at 1:19 PM, rukaio101 said:

 

(Also, suck it @Blankments. 113th worst movie of the year, my ass.)

 

 

[Plain Old Tele]

12 minutes ago, rukaio101 said:

29. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

 

Near Algodones: Liked it. Had a lot of great moments, but feels like it ended a bit too soon. Could probably have used an extra would-be hanging to pace it out properly.

 

Exactly so.

[rukaio101]

Sorry I'm little late with the entries today, I went to see the new HTTYD. Liked it, didn't love it. If I get time I might write-up a review for it tomorrow and put it on my website, but it's a bit too late for me to do any writing tonight.

 

But while we're on the subject of big animated movies...

 

28. Incredibles 2

 

You know, fun fact, I honestly almost forgot to put this on the list? Not because it's incredibly forgettable or anything, no it kept in my mind fair enough, it just literally did not register that I hadn't put anything about it down until I reached the very end of my write-ups and thought 'Huh. Why don't I remember writing anything about Incredibles 2?'

 

Anyway, this has literally nothing to do with my opinion on the film itself, I just wanted a good introduction to get into talking about it.

 

Seriously though, while I liked the first Incredibles movie a lot, it's never quite been the gold standard of animated movies for me that it seems to be for a lot of people, in large part because I am self-admittedly kind of an animation hipster (just wait until my Top 10 to prove that one) who scowls at Pixar for taking all the glory (even if they do kind of deserve it about 40-50% of the time.) But even I have to grudgingly respect that the first Incredibles is a damn good movie for a lot of reasons. It has a great story, great dynamics between characters and delves into the darker side of superheroics a million times more effectively than the grimdark likes of Batman v Superman do. It's one of those movies that is just constructed so solidly, structure and story-wise, that it's impossible to hate.

 

So, with all that in mind, does this sequel, coming over a decade later, live up to the first movie's quality? ...Well, not quite, but it's still a damn fun movie.

 

Really, a lot of the movie does feel like a sequel that was clearly never originally planned for, but that the filmmakers are doing their damn best with anyway. The film lacks a lot of the depth and emotional heft of the first movie, and clearly doesn't have as tightly written a story but makes up for it by remaining fun and bright and very enjoyable to watch. The characters are still recognisable and don't feel like they've backslided from the first film (aside from a few moments where that's clearly the point) and it's nice to see more of their reactions and growth. Plus it's nice to see Elastigirl (one of the better characters from the first movie) take the heroic spotlight. I'll confess I cringed a little when I saw 'Bob being a stay-at-home dad' was going to be a major subplot, but the movie handled it a lot better than I expected, showing making a genuine competent effort, clearly caring a lot about helping his kids and generally subverting the bumbling idiot dad cliche you'd expect to see.

 

In conclusion, if the first Incredibles is a (*sigh*) animation 'masterpiece', this movie is just a very good animated movie. Like a well-built extension on a masterly crafted building, it doesn't really improve the universe much, but it's nice to have and enjoyable to watch and ultimately that's kind of what's really important.

[rukaio101]

27. Ant-Man and the Wasp

 

Yeah, I know, what a shock, a MCU movie that I really really liked. Someone call the presses.

 

Seriously though, for me this falls under the same kind of banner as the original Ant-Man. It’s a nice lighthearted Marvel movie, with fun characters, neat action scenes and good humour, but feels ultimately more on the disposable side than most of their other movies. Which, y'know, is arguably the point, but still. Like I said, there were a lot great laughs and inventive action scenes and a sweet heart underneath, but it never really hit much deeper than ‘pleasantly enjoyable' for me and is clearly overshadowed by the two other MCU movies that came out this year.

 

Still, B-tier Marvel still feels like it hits higher for me than 75% of other Blockbusters, so I’m still giving it a decent spot on this list.

[rukaio101]

26. Anna and the Apocalypse

 

I’m not going to lie, this is a movie that I kinda fell in love with the moment that I heard its premise. Specifically, it’s a Christmas movie musical... set during a zombie invasion. Now, I’m going to be perfectly honest, call me an immature child, but that’s the sort of movie premise that just has me instantly on board. And thankfully enough, the movie actually happened to live up to that premise this time and in a very enjoyable way. Oh, it certainly has its rough spots but I was legitimately surprised by how funny and how likeable so many of the characters were. And indeed, out of all the zombie movies I saw this year, this was (almost) the best by a long shot. Why? Because it was just plain fun.

 

Now, admittedly, it isn’t quite Shaun of the Dead levels of quality fun zombie comedy, obviously. It does have its fair share of flaws here and there, including quite a few painfully uninspired musical numbers (seriously, I’m fairly sure they must have run out of budget somewhere along the way because half the musical numbers have almost no real choreography/worthwhile editing to make them interesting.) Some of the songs sound a bit samey and run on for a bit long and there were a few twists I wasn't entirely sure how much I was on board with. Plus I'm mixed on how open-ended the ending was.

 

But, while it may not be perfect, it still has such a great sense of energy and life, with some brilliant humour, excellent performances and honestly some of the most likeable main characters in almost any movie I saw this year. When they do get a chance to show some off some actual dancing and choreography to go with the musical numbers, it’s a ton of fun. And as for the villain… Oh my God, I loooooooved Paul Kaye as the smarmy headmaster villain in this. So so so so much. He takes the smarminess of the role and just fucking goes for it, hamming it up and arguably chewing more scenery than the actual zombies. Like, I legitimately gave him a Best Supporting Actor nod on my Boffy ballot and don't regret it for a second, that's how good he was. I have never felt more joy in a movie this year than when I realised he was about to get his own musical number and it did not disappoint.

 

 

But seriously, if you haven’t seen this movie yet and you get a chance to check it out, I’d definitely say go for it. It has its problems here and there and some of the music is a bit uninspired, but it’s still a really fun flick that makes a pleasant chance from all the doldrum usual self-serious zombies nowadays. The only disappointment is that the zombies themselves didn’t get a musical number, but I suppose that probably would’ve been a bit much.

 

[rukaio101]

25. Leave no Trace

 

I'll be honest, this is one of the few movies that I decided to check out solely based on the strength of others recommendations to me. The premise, about a girl and her father who try to live out in the woods away from human contact, really didn't sound all that much like my cup of tea. I'm generally not all that fond of dramas and I don't like feeling like I have to force myself to watch a movie I'm not inherently interested in, even if it's one that I suspect I'll probably ultimately end up giving it a positive review. 

 

But yeah, this was honestly really good and I can entirely see why others love it so much. It was well paced, well directed, with a lot of great acting and writing. Each scene was interesting and filled with meaning and it kept my attention more-or-less throughout. You can always tell that I've enjoyed a movie when it ends up feeling short, in spite of a normal running time and this movie never managed to overstay its welcome.

 

Still, it doesn't change the fact that these kind of dramas just aren't really my thing and, as much I did like this movie a lot and can understand why it's scoring so high on other lists, I just don't have the same kind of passion for it to reach that toppest tier of my list this year. But it's still very damn good.

[rukaio101]

24. Aquaman

 

Full Review here

[rukaio101]

23. Blockers

 

Okay, this was kind of a massive surprise to me because I had absolutely no expectations for this film. To me this just looked like 'Awful American Sex Comedy No 162'. But, it ended up getting surprisingly good reviews and I was feeling curious, so I decided to check it out and, surprise surprise, I genuinely really loved it.

 

Really, a large part of why I enjoyed it, like Sgt Stubby (which was not a comparison I ever expected to make) was down to its heart. For a comedy movie about parents effectively attempting to cockblock their kids, it has a lot of heart, genuinely likeable characters, nobody comes off as overly unlikeable and it has some excellent sex-positive messages about good relationships, be they between friends, parents (although not in that way) or romantic partners.

 

Admittedly, in terms of outright laughs, it’s probably not the most 'ha ha funny' comedy movie out there, but it’s really nice to see a sex comedy movie subvert a lot of the cringe, creepiness and usual awfulness of the genre and provide something both refreshingly likeable and still fairly funny in its own right.

 

Like I said, it’s a good movie and a fairly pleasant surprise for the year. Although it’s far from the biggest surprise of this year. No, that goes to the next movie on this list…

 

 

(Also, between this, Bumblebee and last year’s Ferdinand, John Cena has an uncanny ability to pick movies that seem like they’ll be awful but end up as actually surprisingly good. And he’s fairly good in all of them too, so kudos to him.)

[rukaio101]

22. Pokemon: The Power of Us

 

No, really. Really. Like Sgt Stubby, I’m being entirely serious here. And I can understand anyone elses skepticism about this ranking so high on the list. I had no expectations for this being anything more than a generic filler Pokemon movie, but what I was got was honestly a really fantastic movie that I just loved to bits.

 

Now, in case you didn’t know, while I am a huge Pokemon fan as far as the games are concerned, I have kind of a mixed relationship to the Pokemon movies. There are a handful I like, a handful that are guilty pleasures, but most of them are kind of… bad. Really bad. I honestly stopped watching them at about Movie 14/15 or so because they all started to feel so samey and boring and from what I hear about Movies 16-19, they weren't exactly much better. (For the record, this is Movie 21 in the series). I did return for Movie 20 last year, since they made a big point about it being a bit reboot/retelling of the original Kanto anime (aka when the anime was actually good) and, if you read my end-of-year list that year you’ll know that I pretty heavily disliked it. But I’m also enough of a sucker for Pokemon that when I learnt my local cinema was doing a screening for this too, I decided to give it a shot.

 

And I am hella glad I did, because this was genuinely fantastic and everything I never knew I wanted from a Pokemon movie.

 

See, something I actually learned fairly recently was that the first 20 Pokemon movies were all directed by the same guy, Kunihiko Yuyama (which makes soooo much sense in hindsight, in regards to how uniform they all felt). This movie, on the other hand, is the first to be handled by a new director and trust me when I say it fucking feels it! It’s such a breath of fresh air to the franchise in every single way, from the writing, to the directing, to the characterisation, battles, premise, fuck, almost everything about it feels filled with passion and thought compared to how clearly stale the old movies had gotten.

 

The movie itself takes place during a big festival in to celebrate the Legendary Pokemon Lugia. Ash is naturally attending but, thankfully, the movie isn’t actually centered on him because he's boring as shit and trapped in an eternal loop of never winning the Pokemon League and only being 10 years old. Instead, the movie is actually much more of an ensemble story, following half a dozen different original characters and storylines.

 

To list them all, there’s the former track star who’s a complete rookie to Pokemon catching, the shy introverted scientist worrying about an important upcoming presentation that he needs to give (in spite of being terrified of public speaking), the crotchety old woman who hates Pokemon but seems to attract them regardless, the compulsive liar/braggart trying to impress his sickly niece and show her a good time at the festival (who honestly ended up being one of my favourite characters by the end, in spite of how obnoxious that trope usually is) and the local mayor’s daughter hiding a big secret. All of these characters have their own arcs and stories and growth, all of which seem to weave together near perfectly within the storyline, bouncing off each other and leading to the big exciting finale. Even Ash, usually the pinnacle of ‘bland protagonist’ feels like an actually interesting character in this, working as the veteran trainer to other character’s inexperience.

 

If I had to pick any flaws in the film (aside from it being a bit cheesy in a few points) it’s probably that the focus legendary, Zeraora is kind of uninteresting. Certainly, there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on around him and with his story and the like (including a surprisingly mature message about whitewashing history) but the Pokemon itself isn’t the most compelling. Plus the climax, even as filled with great moments as it is) does feel like it goes on a little long.

 

Still, for someone fully expecting just another bland, by-the-numbers Pokemon film, this really was a massive surprise to me and in every positive way. I won’t exactly say it’s something non-fans can easily get into and it's not without the occasional cheesy moment, but if you’re a Pokemon fan or vaguely aware of Pokemon as a phenomenon, I’d genuinely say check it out. You might be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

[rukaio101]

21. Mandy

 

You know, one of the more common comments I keep hearing in response to this movie is that it’s a great movie to get high to. And I’m not entirely sure how accurate that comment is. Not because I don't think this movie is trippy as balls, mind. On the contrary, my big problem is that I don't think it's going to make that much difference. Because it really feels like this movie already does most of the work for you in that sort of fucked-up trippy regard.

 

Seriously though, this was genuinely great. Strange, surreal, filled with gorgeously trippy use of colour and sound and filled with some real hardcore action and Nicolas Cage chewing the scenery in a way that actually really works for the film and helps accentuate its dark trippiness. Half the time you’re not sure if you’re in a dream or reality and it works all the better for it. It’s almost hypnotic in much of its use of imagery and, as often as you’ve probably already heard the term used far too often in reference to this movie, it really is a surreal drug trip of the best kind.

 

Also, I may have used the word 'trippy' way too much in this review. But you find a better word to describe it.

 

[rukaio101]

20. Overlord

 

Okay, tell me I’m wrong, but this movie’s premise sounds like a schlocky straight-to-DVD bargain bin horror, doesn’t it? A bunch of US Commandos parachuted into France during D-Day discover a secret Nazi science lab dedicated to creating inhuman monsters. Hell, I’m 90% certain that is the plot of at least a handful of supermarket bin movies. But where this movie differs from those kinds of movies, is that it actually does justice to that premise and is a lot of great fun in the process.

 

Honestly, it’s almost weird how much this movie works both as a horror movie and a war film. From the tense pulse-pounding sequence at the very beginning of the film where the main character is parachuting into France while the fucking plane collapses around him, to him meeting up with his questionable allies and slowly stalking their way through night-time France, knowing that they’re fully surrounded by Germans and that the smallest mistake could get them killed, this movie honestly could’ve worked just as well if you removed the horror elements altogether and just made it a straight war-time action movie.

 

However, very fortunately, they didn’t and the horror elements in this are every bit as fun as the war elements. As well as being deliciously gorey and fucked-up. From Chase’s incredibly fucked up regeneration and the chaos that follows, to the disturbing remnants of the Nazi experiments, to the actual homicidal final results, the movie is filled with memorable imagery and fucked up effects. Special mention goes to the main Nazi Officer, who was already creepy as fuck before half his face got blown off. And while I would've maybe liked to have seen a bit more of the rampaging experiments in the big climax, what we got was still plenty entertaining enough.

 

It’s honestly a shame this movie didn’t perform better than it did because it really is a lot of fun. It’s the sort of movie where I knew what I was getting going in and it didn’t just meet my expectations but outright outdid them in the process with a movie that’s equal parts tense, fun and gory as sin.

[rukaio101]

19. Deadpool 2

 

In a lot of ways, Deadpool 2 very much follows the same kind of formula that the first movie put down. A quickfire of jokes, immature, gory and R-Rated, mixed with enough genuine emotion and pathos to ground it all with a surprisingly genuine heart beneath the surface. In fact, it's very similar to the first movie in that regards. 

 

And you know what? I’m good with that.

 

Seriously, why fix something that isn’t broken? Maybe at some point the formula or jokes will start to get tiring and samey for me, it could very easily happen, but it hasn’t done so yet, so I’m still plenty good with it. Is that a shallow approach to look at these things? Maybe, but it's my honest feelings. As long as I still laugh and enjoy the antics on screen, I'm okay with it. And that was very much the case with this movie. It's not really an evolution of the character or the format, just more of what made the first movie enjoyable. And that's fine.