Blu-ray Review: THE HANGOVER Starring Bradley Cooper

So, it's Thursday night between Christmas and New Year, there is nothing on TV and I suggest watching The Hangover Part II.  The lady friend has other ideas and suggests watching The Hangover on Blu-ray, a movie which we have already seen but this is the all singing all dancing unrated extended cut version of the movie which in all honesty was no different (that I can remember) from the original theatrical version, want to read that review?  Then go HERE.  Otherwise strap in for Las Vegas in Blu-ray.

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Ken Jeong and Mike Tyson

The Plot

Bradley Cooper plays a teacher who steals from children, Ed Helms is a Dentist who is beaten by his wife, Zach Galifianakis is a creepy guy still living with his parents and Justin Bartha is a cool guy with a good job who is marrying a beautiful girl (Sasha Barrese) in a couple of days time.  The four guys end up in Las Vegas on what hen-pecked Helms has told his wife is a wine tasting weekend in Nappa Valley, all is well when they rock up at the hotel until they have a man hug and shots on the roof, from there they wake up with the hotel room furniture on fire, a Chicken in the room, a Tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet and the groom is missing, problem is none of them can remember a thing about the previous evenings events.

The Verdict

Vegas in Blu-ray really does look good, I reviewed the DVD release of The Hangover also, that was back in the middle of last year (2011). Back then I granted it a 5-star rating (we done stars then, M’s now), saying that it was one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.  I stand by the latter, the Hangover is an incredibly funny laugh out loud till your face hurts type movie, although I think my rating may change a little.

I laughed at everything I did first time round, only thing was I found myself laughing before it happened as I knew what was coming.  I would still say that Zach Galfianakis is probably the most stand out of the cast as far as laughs go, in particular the bathroom scene the morning after the night before.  Taking a leak he is confronted with a Tiger, how the hell did that get in there?  This really sets the stall out as to where the movie will be heading from there, the room awakens to destruction and no memories of what went down on the night.

I really don’t think that the Hangover benefits in anyway from being on Blu-ray, the quality is better in both sound and colour but the Hangover is a movie which is not supposed to be visually stunning, it’s about three extremely hung-over guys who are looking for their friend who went missing the night before.

I’m conscious that I go over things that I mentioned last time round (be sure to check that out), so there really isn’t to much to add. Ken Jeong plays Mr. Chow in the movie, he is absolutely hilarious, although his character is not believable at all, a little mousy gangster flanked by two supposedly hard dudes doesn’t really work for me.  Mike Tyson is very funny also, especially the singing when he comes to retrieve his tiger from the hotel, before going on to right hook Alan.

So, yeah I did enjoy the Hangover and since I got the Blu-ray for Christmas felt, obliged to watch it again, in all honesty I should probably have gone for Part II, as I think I either watched this to soon following my first viewing or it’s one of those that’s better to
just watch once.  Thanks to Blu-ray you get the unrated version giving you a longer running time than the original DVD, I couldn’t tell you what extra was there.

Sound and Colour – Las Vegas really does look good in HD, but like I said it’s not about the backdrop, the indoor scenes Casino’s etc are brilliant colour wise and Galfianakis’ beard really stands out (if that matters, he does have an impressive beard) along with the blood on Cooper’s shirt.  The sound was fine no problems, but prepare yourself for action sequences car chases and so on they are very loud, I had to turn down my TV a couple of times.

The Hangover is available to buy at Amazon on Blu-ray and DVD, better than that you can check out LOVEFiLM where it’s available to watch online right now.

Blu-ray Special Features

Behind the story:  Watch the movie back with commentary from Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Director Todd Phillips, I didn't watch all of this, I just sat through a two hour movie after all, but thought I should take a look.  It's pretty funny and I suppose it's better than watching whatever else is on TV.  I'm not really one for movie extras but it was funny to hear their perspectives on the movie.

Map of destruction: A cute little reminder of the movies funniest moments

The madness of Ken Jeong: In the movie this guy is totally hilarious as a hapless Triad gangster, this feature allows you to see all of his deleted scenes.  Not very funny at all and I can see why they were deleted, maybe you had to be there.

Action mash-up: A little video short of all the best action in the movie, it's a good little reminder.

Three best friends song: Some people find this scene very funny, me on the other hand just think it's a stupid song that three guys make up ad-hoc after they find their friend.

The Dan Band!: You won't meet these guys until the wedding at the end of the movie, it was funny during the movie but watching it back (extended) really wasn't for me.

Gag Reel: Self explanitory really, a recap of everything that was taken out the movie, very funny, you have to check out Mike Tyson's gags along with the scene where Galfianakis is getting into the elevator.

More Pictures from the missing camera: Again, not my idea of fun this is all the stills that were taken by the camera, it gives you a little more of what went down on the night.

The Soundtrack

It’s available from Watertower music, this was something I missed first time round, I really didn’t realise how good the track was, it features Usher, 50 Cent, Kanye West and a lot of heavy 80’s rock. Want it?  Then it will set you back about £11 on Amazon.

Would I watch it again?

Not right away, I’m going to concentrate my efforts on the second movie but, I will probably see this one again at some point.

Rating: MMMM