Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is the overdue sequel to one of the decade's leading cult comedies, 2004's Harold & Kumar Get the Munchies AKA Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. The film begins where the previous left off with the pair about to travel from America to Amsterdam in search of Harold's (John Cho) love interest. Once on the plane Kumar (Kal Penn) retreats to the toilet and assembles a homemade smokeless bong in the aircrafts toilet only for a passenger to witness him. His bong is mistaken for a bomb and chaos ensues. The two are arrested in flight and the plane is turned around for them to be questioned. They are then believed to be part of a North Korean/al-Qaeda plot and incarcerated to Guantanamo Bay.
One problem that always arises from a sequel is it's originality as it is re-working trends, characters and conventions established in its predecessor. However, a sequel does have the power to utilise certain strengths that can aid the narrative and a fine example of this is familiarity. With Escape from Guantanamo this familiarity allows for the makers to concentrate on other characters and evolve the characters of both Harold & Kumar further. This leads to Escape from Guantanamo being slightly more emotional than its predecessor, this notion is supported by the subplot of Kumar's ex-girlfriend. This subplot consists of a flashback depicting a very funny Emo-Harold and a delusional dream of Kumar and his ex getting it on with a giant bag of weed.
The narrative structure of Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is almost identical to that of its predecessor as it employs a quest-narrative, evident from its title, and like the first film it charts the two as they embark upon a series of misadventures. Along this journey they encounter many characters, one of which is Ron Fox (Rob Corddry). Ron is the chief antagonist of the picture; he is an ignorant, obtuse, irresponsible and brutish representative of the American Homeland Security. Arguably, he embodies a stereotypical and overzealous xenophobic American. Unfortunately his red-neck, ill-bred attitude is a bit of a one-trick-pony, it is played too much and becomes a bit weary towards the end of the picture. The voice of reason and logic in the film appears to be in the guise of Dr. Jack Beecher (Roger Bart), and by being a doctor the character is clearly educated thus alluding to the dim-wittedness of Ron further. Ron's ardent nature is at times too pervasive and leads to those around him being ineffective in the gag department.
Despite those character shortcomings the beauty of the film is that it is laugh out loud funny and chiefly because it draws upon an array of contemporary issues. The film's crack at the war on terror is a little too timid for my liking and the decision to show Bush as a pothead is too old school. In fact the manner in which the film decides in general to lampoon America's behaviors in various political arenas is dated or, to concur with the film's release, overdue. However, the funniest political joke is perhaps the NSA officer being unable to translate Harold's parents, because he assumes they can't speak English, an apt and direct assault on America's foreign policy.
Actually, if the political comedy of the film is ignored then Escape from Guantanamo is incredibly funny. Fine examples of this include the pimped up red-neck pad, the bottomless party, the cock-meat sandwich, the cyclops child, the caring prostitutes, the KKK encounter and of course the return of Neil Patrick Harris. The return of "Doogie Howser, M.D." is one of the highlights of the film but this time around his drug of choice is mushrooms which he takes whilst driving. His brief re-emergence also sees him brand a prostitute, flirt with hallucinations and tell Ron that his role in Starship Troopers convinced him to join the Feds; priceless. There are some jokes that will be perceived as racist, but they are all cleverly balanced out. The fact that the fanatical white American bears the brunt of the humour in the film fits in well with contemporary society - and is of course, very funny. A good example of this is the ignorant assumption that an Asian man on an airplane is a terrorist, again very funny, but if you've seen the trailer you've already seen one of the best gags.
Overall, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay wonderfully reworks the original film but on a larger scale, it is a comedy that is definitely above average as the jokes are well paced and mostly well written. It's not quite in the same class as its predecessor, but I strongly believe that upon multiple viewings it will become even funnier.
One problem that always arises from a sequel is it's originality as it is re-working trends, characters and conventions established in its predecessor. However, a sequel does have the power to utilise certain strengths that can aid the narrative and a fine example of this is familiarity. With Escape from Guantanamo this familiarity allows for the makers to concentrate on other characters and evolve the characters of both Harold & Kumar further. This leads to Escape from Guantanamo being slightly more emotional than its predecessor, this notion is supported by the subplot of Kumar's ex-girlfriend. This subplot consists of a flashback depicting a very funny Emo-Harold and a delusional dream of Kumar and his ex getting it on with a giant bag of weed.
The narrative structure of Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is almost identical to that of its predecessor as it employs a quest-narrative, evident from its title, and like the first film it charts the two as they embark upon a series of misadventures. Along this journey they encounter many characters, one of which is Ron Fox (Rob Corddry). Ron is the chief antagonist of the picture; he is an ignorant, obtuse, irresponsible and brutish representative of the American Homeland Security. Arguably, he embodies a stereotypical and overzealous xenophobic American. Unfortunately his red-neck, ill-bred attitude is a bit of a one-trick-pony, it is played too much and becomes a bit weary towards the end of the picture. The voice of reason and logic in the film appears to be in the guise of Dr. Jack Beecher (Roger Bart), and by being a doctor the character is clearly educated thus alluding to the dim-wittedness of Ron further. Ron's ardent nature is at times too pervasive and leads to those around him being ineffective in the gag department.
Despite those character shortcomings the beauty of the film is that it is laugh out loud funny and chiefly because it draws upon an array of contemporary issues. The film's crack at the war on terror is a little too timid for my liking and the decision to show Bush as a pothead is too old school. In fact the manner in which the film decides in general to lampoon America's behaviors in various political arenas is dated or, to concur with the film's release, overdue. However, the funniest political joke is perhaps the NSA officer being unable to translate Harold's parents, because he assumes they can't speak English, an apt and direct assault on America's foreign policy.
Actually, if the political comedy of the film is ignored then Escape from Guantanamo is incredibly funny. Fine examples of this include the pimped up red-neck pad, the bottomless party, the cock-meat sandwich, the cyclops child, the caring prostitutes, the KKK encounter and of course the return of Neil Patrick Harris. The return of "Doogie Howser, M.D." is one of the highlights of the film but this time around his drug of choice is mushrooms which he takes whilst driving. His brief re-emergence also sees him brand a prostitute, flirt with hallucinations and tell Ron that his role in Starship Troopers convinced him to join the Feds; priceless. There are some jokes that will be perceived as racist, but they are all cleverly balanced out. The fact that the fanatical white American bears the brunt of the humour in the film fits in well with contemporary society - and is of course, very funny. A good example of this is the ignorant assumption that an Asian man on an airplane is a terrorist, again very funny, but if you've seen the trailer you've already seen one of the best gags.
Overall, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay wonderfully reworks the original film but on a larger scale, it is a comedy that is definitely above average as the jokes are well paced and mostly well written. It's not quite in the same class as its predecessor, but I strongly believe that upon multiple viewings it will become even funnier.