ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES DVD (2013)




SYNOPSIS: The wait is over, America - Ron Burgundy is back and "funnier than ever!" After losing his job to his wife and co-anchor, Ron reassembles the news team and squares off against a new rival. Will the world's greatest anchorman be crushed beneath the weight of his own ego (and his salon-quality hair)?

MOVIE REVIEW:

As the wise man once said: So? - Ron Burgundy

All thanks to its leading man Will Ferrell and his entire cast members,Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues will go down in history as one successful comedy that works without a script.

It’s a messy though occasionally funny sequel to the 2004 hit which then stars the rather unknown Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner. At that time, even Christina Applegate who plays Ferrell’s onscreen wife was better known. A decade has passed and the original cast members (with fatter paychecks and bigger star power) reunite for another outing with America’s most famous news anchor – Ron Burgundy.  

With his post being taken over by his wife, Veronica (Applegate), Burgundy is being lured to work at a newly setup, 24 hours news network called GNN in New York. Assembling his own news team which consists of the not very bright weatherman Brick Tamland (Carell), chauvinistic sports caster Champ Kind (Koechner) and misogynistic field reporter Brian Fantana (Rudd), Burgundy has to prove to the world he still has what it takes to rule the news station besides his salon-quality hair and classy personality.

Expect the usual silly lowbrow humour with many gags and jokes being thrown at you simultaneously. Not every one is a hit and the improvisation from the gang somehow gets a bit flat over time despite their best attempt to hurl every crass joke they could think of. Carell’s character turned up to be a disappointment this time round as being stupid is not equal to being funny.  

Adam McKay and Will Ferrell may team up several times over their career but their better works seem to be Talladega Nights and The Other Guys. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues suffers from the same problem as Step Brothers. Both being structurally incoherent and runs far too long for comfort. There’s a third act which has Burgundy turning blind because of a injury that apparently stretches to being totally unnecessary.

Yet, the comedy has enough energy to keep you watching. The abundance of cameos, which include Harrison Ford, and a whole laundry list of familiar faces (Will Smith, Vince Vaughn, Jim Carrey, Liam Neeson, John C. Reilly, Tina Fey and many more) turning up for the hilarious finale will have you in stitches. An offensive song-and-dance segment named The Gay Way in the middle matches up to Afternoon Delight in the original.    

It’s a shaky journey no doubt about it but the incredible chemistry of the cast members livens up this so-so sequel.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Audio Commentary by Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner 
is a hilarious listen. Highly recommended even if you are not a fan of commentary track.

The rest of the extras consist of 14 minutes of Gag Reel 
and Welcome to the Dolphin Show has Will Ferrell improvising at Sea World.

Catfight 
is 2 minutes segment of Christina Applegate and Meagan Good’ characters throwing insults at each other.

News-O-Rama
 are just brief outtakes from the newsroom and Kench-O-Rama consists of outtakes of the Australian character, Kench Allenby. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Visually speaking, the images are perfectly detailed, colours are bright and hardly any visible flaw is detected. Ambient sound effects, music and dialogue is of the highest clarity. 

MOVIE RATING:


DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee



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 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Comedy
Starring: Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, James Marsden, Christina Applegate, Kristen Wiig, Vince Vaughn, Harrison Ford, Josh Lawson, Greg Kinnear, Kirsten Dunst, Meagan Good, Dylan Baker
Director: Adam McKay
Rating: NC-16 (Sexual References and Drug Use)
Year Made: 2013


 SPECIAL FEATURES

- Commentary: Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner
- Gag Reel
- Welcome to the Dolphin Show
- Catfight
- News-O-Rama
- Kench-O-Rama

 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: English/Thai
Subtitles: English/Mandarin/Cantonese/Korean/Indonesian/
Malay/
Spanish/Portuguese/Thai
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Running Time: 1 hr 52 mins
Region Code: 3
Distributor: HVN Entertainment Singapore