So I was watching some television the other day when I stumbled upon the movie Blues Brothers 2000. Now this film is a sequel to the classic 1980 movie The Blues Brothers and it was counted as a massive flop. It just completely missed the mark that the first movie hit so brilliantly.
Now this film came out in 1998 (not 2000) and so I know I am 14 years later with my post about it. But watching what I did of it the other day I realized that this film could have been good. There are so many elements that they could have kept and have it be a good film. It would never be as good as the first and most people would argue that as soon as John Belushi died so did The Blues Brothers and that should have been the end of it. I agree. But, if another film had to be made here is what I think they should have changed or kept out of the new one.
1. Lose the kid: It's as simple as it seems. Do not have a child actor as a lead role in a film such as this. The first film was a 15 certificate (in the UK) and because they decided to have a child in the this film it became a PG. This just doesn't work. Seriously just don't do it. I mean I can understand why they did. It gives Elwood something to do and look after. But the kid pisses me off. And then trying to say the kid is really good at harmonica when you can tell he isn't playing it. No! Elwood is the harmonica player of the band and he can actually play it.
2. Cut out the magic shit: One of the biggest problems this film has is it's use of magic. Now in the first film there are sections that are just truly ridiculous and it makes the film hilarious. Such as Henry Gibson's car driving off the end of the road and begin to fall from a insanely high height. You watch the film and think "what!?!" but you laugh at the same time. Where as this film has a man "finding god" and flying high into the air right in front of everybody who see's him do it. Then you have a voodoo witch who turns the main cast into zombies to sing a song that she wants and then turns the main antagonists into rats in front of everybody. This isn't funny. This is basically saying "yep look...magic! that's what this is..magic. Not just silly humor...it's actually magic" I'm sorry but I don't want magic. Oh and having the voodoo witch force them to sing a song she wants to hear as an audition to enter a competition doesn't work. That isn't an audition.
3. Don't just try to copy the first film: Having so many different people after the blues brothers worked in the first film. It was funny seeing the police, a country band, a mystery woman and Nazis all trying to get them. But in this film you change Nazis for Russians, a country band for some gun nuts, the mystery woman for a nun and the police for the police...You should have just had one or two. Now the police I can understand as try as hard as they can The Blues Brothers can't help themselves and break laws. But you don't need the others. Especially how they end the film. The Russians and Gun nuts get turned into rats (as mentioned earlier) and that is the end of that. The police (who are there to get their captain back) find out that he has joined the band and is OK, stop worrying and start dancing (I'm not even joking) and the nun (aided by more police or the FBI) keep chasing after Elwood who is wanted for kidnapping. Even though he could just say "I didn't kidnap the kid. He chose to come with me and you know what? I am going to adopt him" Problem solved. Also why have them have to play blue grass? Isn't that the same as the first film? I'm OK with you cutting that whole scene out thank you very much.
4. Treat John's death with more respect: The film begins with Elwood getting out of prison and waiting all day and night for his brother Jake to pick him up. Only to be told by Frank Oz that he has died. When the first film finished the whole of the Blues Brothers band were in jail. I can understand that the band members would get out early, but the two main guys who caused all the problems would probably get roughly the same amount of time. Also what kind of friends does he have if his brother (his only living relation, although they aren't really related) gets out of jail and then dies and nobody even bothers to tell him? They should have had a scene that dealt with John not being in the film better. Even if it's a cliche as a visit to a grave.
Now the films had some great parts in it. Most of them were the music. Having an all star blues band at the end of the film is just truly amazing. And some of the songs in the film are absolutely fantastic. I mean you can't really fault the soundtrack too much. I mean B.B. King was great in the film.
Anyway this has been the longest blog I think I have every written and I have kind of lost steam. I may do a problems with Blues Brothers 2000 part 2 soon. Or just start doing other films.
Cheers for reading.
