Genius products/ Weinstein Company
Release date: February 3, 2009
MSRP: $34.95

Director: Kevin Smith
Stars: Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith

Clerks is an indie legend. So when word came out that Kevin Smith was going to make a sequel, there were plenty of folks (myself included) that were fearing the worst.

Silly us. We should have had more faith in Mr. Smith.

After a fire consumes the Quick Stop, Dante and Randal find themselves working at Mooby’s (The Micky D of the View Askewniverse). The film takes place on Dante’s last day of work. He is engaged to Emma ( Smith’s wife Jennifer Schwalbach) and is about to move to Florida to get married and work for Emma’s dad. Not surprisingly, Randal is a little freaked at the prospect of losing his long-time friend.

But Randal is not the only one having a hard time with Dante’s departure. Recently, Dante had a one-nighter with Becky (Rosario Dawson) and this has left both with feelings for the other. While these feelings are pretty damn clear to all of us, Becky and Dante is dancing around said feelings and acting as though everything is normal…well, as normal as things are in the world of Kevin Smith.

Since the film has already been released on DVD, I am not going to go any deeper into the plot. I will say that Clerks II is an amazing film that manages to both move and disturb the viewer. The film has a lot of love in it. I am not simply talking about lovers, but the deep love of friends.

As good as Clerks was, I think Clerks II is even better. The film clearly meant a lot of those involved and it really shows. Special kudos goes out to Jason Mewes (Jay) who not only came into the film completely sober, but has remained so to this day. His Silence of the Lambs dance is one of the more unnerving things I have seen on film, and that includes this film’s Donkey Show.

Video:
Offered in a 1.85:1 widescreen format with a MPEG-4 codec. Smith has never been one to attempt to dazzle the audience with the visuals. He is more concerned with camera angles and the performances. So it is not surprising that Clerks II does not offer much that really pops in HD. That said, the colors look good and the purple and yellow Mooby’s uniforms are quite striking. So while nothing here will knock you off your feet, you won’t be disappointed either.

Sound:
We are offered a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless track, as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks for French and English. The sound is great. Clerks II makes excellent use of music and it is those scenes that really shine here. At no point do the vocals get drown out, they did a find job on the mix. The Dance scene is great.

Extras:
Everything from the previous releases have been carried over. Kevin Smith will always provide serious bang for your buck. There are 3 commentary tracks here, all of which are quite good. Also included are bloopers, deleted scenes and assorted featurettes. The one other really great extra is Back to The Well, an extensive documentary that chronicles the making of Clerks II, from the original idea all the way to the final wrap. This doc is almost worth the price of this disc by itself.

I honestly think Clerks II is Kevin Smith’s finest film. Fans of his previous work will go gaga over it and newbies should give it a look because it has more heart than almost everything else out there today. Not only does it trumpet the magic of love, but of friendship as well.

Order the Clerks II Blu-ray from Amazon.

Jeremy Lynch
For more reviews from myself, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.