Barbershop 2: Back in Business (Special Edition)

Barbershop 2: Back in Business (Special Edition)

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DVD Reviews of Barbershop 2: Back in Business (Special Edition)

DVD Review: Da Barbershop is Back in Business.
Summary: 4 Stars

After the over-the-top, high budget intro with the people getting their haircuts while showing slides of revolutionary and current well-known black people in a low opacity at quickspeed interpreting the development of black history from then 'till now, the story begins with a flashback of Cedric's character, in the 1967 era, going to the barbershop for the first time and how he got involved with the shop, though I wouldn't use the word "involved" from Cedric's situation. From then on, it showed the present-day barber shop running well until a successful conglomerate moves into the neighborhood to construct a high-budget barber shop for friendly competition; in other words, taking down a small shop. As he is one of many power-hungry businessmen trying to buy run-down stores and nip-and-tuck the inner-beauty of the neighborhood in Chicago as a means of some land reconstruction law, the barber shop crew and the community experienced some ups-and-downs in these current events, but hey, it's all going to be work out in the end.

The story's plot construction is like connect-the-dots, but that's alright, 'cause the movie is laugh-out-loud funny. All of the cast from the first movie are back in this sequel, including some newcomers, Queen Latifah and Kenan Thompson(Ah yeah! The original "All That" star is on Barbershop 2. He-hey!) Some of these original characters also have went through a life-changing experience: Ice Cube's character, Calvin, is more serious in keeping his business alive and supporting his family; Eve's character, Terri, tries to get away from her typical [expletive deleted] self, and reach into her "peaceful, spiritual" self towards people she abhors; and Michael Ealy's Ricky Nash is less of a criminal and more laid-back, but was actually trying to do something important to his life that nobody wants to know. Even if the characters changed themselves of their expressive appearances, it's good to know that they're the same people I've laughed at from the first film. What got me curiously interested about this movie is Cedric's character and his back stories. His character, Eddie, is more focused and explanatory in this sequel, and that left me with mixed feelings. The b-stories do explain how he got to the barber shop, how he sees the shop as his second home, and how he respect Calvin's father as a barber enough to turn his life around. However, thought touching, these b-stories left a little inconclusive. The same goes for the b-story on Eddie's relationship with some girl he seen on a subway, which I find also rushed and lenient.

These back stories point out on the movie's downsides: the big one, lack of artistic direction. I figured this sequel was directed by a different person, but the movie could've done so much with ideas that could've made this made this movie very different from the original. The first movie was fresh in interventions on discussive issues on black historians and celebrities, and people act how they feel without anything extreme; the second film was more along of the same interventions and I don't see how this was heading to a different route, so it felt more refurbushed than something fresh out of the box. On a personal note, I was beefed with Queen Latifah's character as a spunky, hair-stylish next door. She appear in this movie as a special appearance, but there was a lot of scenes on her, but yet, nothing deep came from her character. More of her character without focus on the depth makes her a liability, and that sets me off.

I don't want to open up and say this is superior to the original, 'cause honestly, it ain't. It isn't as thought-provoking as the first film, but in all respects, the things that I like from the first Barbershop came in this sequel, but more refined with a few surprises(Come on, now! Kenan Thompson is in this movie!). Barbershop 2 is still a worthy sequel, and I'm lovin' this.

Description of Barbershop 2: Back in Business (Special Edition)