# Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

### reviewed by
Walter Frith

    'Blues Brothers 2000'

    A movie review by Walter Frith

Usually I don't compare sequels to their original. This is an exception to the rule because 18 years have passed between two films and you instinctively will draw comparisons this time. It's unavoidable.

You can't go home again. Not true for all sequels but certainly for the ones that try and top an established classic, especially when the original classic has 18 years to gain status. Jack Nicholson waited 16 years to make 'The Two Jakes', the sequel to 1974's 'Chinatown'. It failed. James Cameron, currently riding high with the eventual Best Picture Oscar winner for 1997, 'Titanic', made 'Aliens' in 1986 and it topped the rather cerebral original 'Alien' from 1979. The 'Star Wars' franchise only had three years between all three films and the films that followed the original 'Star Wars' weren't as good but they were very close.

1980's 'The Blues Brothers' still defines itself as a cult classic with a nutty blend of music, action, humour and cleverness and while that film was original in its big screen concept, based of course on the 'Saturday Night Live' sketch, it still has a watchable presence which is timeless.

'Blues Brothers 2000' doesn't understand that in order to make a sequel work, you have to offer the same feeling of the original with a different story. This film couldn't be more different than the original. The film is almost totally lacking in action, it has TOO MUCH music and not enough laughs, excitement, and it feels like a paper weight laying still.

Why it's called 'Blues Brothers 2000' is a mystery to me. Nobody in the film is related and putting their band back together this time serves no purpose. The original had them putting the band back together to raise money for the taxes due on a Catholic orphanage, but this time, there's no reason to put it back together and no one cares. This is a story that didn't need to be told. The original had all you could ask for. Jake and Elwood were pursued by all the enemies you didn't want. The police, the army, rednecks, Nazis and even a scorned woman. The premise was so absurd that the way the films characteristics were shaped, it all worked.

Jake Blues (John Belushi) is dead, in real life of course but also in the story. His brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) has been released from prison after 18 years (remember the end of the original?) and he searches for something to do with his life. He visits 'The Penguin' (Kathleen Freeman), the nun who raised him years ago in her orphanage. She insists that Elwood be a mentor to 10 year old Buster (J. Evan Bonifant) and later in the film, Elwood takes on two other members of the band he will put together (John Goodman and Joe Morton). Morton is a commander with the Illinois State Police but later becomes a Blues Brother when he "sees the light", literally. Elwood also tracks down other members of the band from the first film and they do it all again.

The film's music is by Paul Shaffer. How did David Letterman's barely passable sidekick get this assignment? The film must have had a limited budget which explains its lack of action and lack of memorable songs.

'Blues Brothers 2000' was directed by John Landis, who made the first one and the picture is written by Dan Aykroyd and John Landis. The two of them wrote the original.

Many appearances made by celebrities and original cast members here have far less bite than the original and the characters are reduced to caricatures, especially in the case of John Goodman and it's actually embarrassing at times. So much so that the film's 122 minutes seem much longer.

    OOUT OF 5 > * *

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