The following DVD review was written by a guest writer, the acclaimed director Werner Herzog. In addition to making such great films like "Fitzcarraldo" and "Grizzly Man," Herzog was also shot mid-interview and proceeded to continue the interview. This is totally not a parody.
Never before in the history of cinema has one's own mortality been examined through a lens protected from rogue bottles of diet cola. In their 7/2th expedition into the unknown, the “ 'Jackass' crew” continue to question what is suicidal and what is aspiring to be like gods. Do they wish to die or to live forever?
They appear joyous as materialized in their filmic opening with them running through the city with suitcases. Yet before some of the most horrific stunts, like the alligator snapping turtle’s encounter with Steve-O’s bare buttock, there is a look in their eyes of fear and regret.
For the first time, the majority of the experience is spent with commentary by these men about what happened. They are foreboding and amused. Most of all, there is pain. One poor soul, Dave England, critically harms himself so frequently that I have to imagine there is rarely a night where he doesn’t cry himself to sleep.
Is there humor from their pain? After every escapade, there is cheering and laughs and screams. They damage their scrotums, but are they damaging their souls? Scars and bruises make them like Greek mythical heroes, but when they lie on the floor whimpering, they are like mice. When a stunt fails, were their prayers answered or does this further distance them from a protecting God?
Their sets are constructed circles of hell. The men live in a perpetuating state of paranoia and misery as their colleagues conspire against them with tasers and physical assaults on their genitalia. The film no longer becomes a film but an existence for these unfortunate creatures who shall not escape this lifestyle until they fall victim to it.
Its companion piece, their third theatrical forte into the unknown, has the more satisfying existential quandaries. "3.5" expands the mythology of their catastrophic psychological labyrinth and the childish minotaurs who rule within. With hope, a fourth exploration will be sailing into cinemas before too long.
The DVD documenting this trial is equipped with even more deleted scenes, outtakes and more footage of their origins and continuations throughout time.
Film: 3.5 Yaps Extras: 3.5 Yaps