Jack Said

“Nice try, but better luck next time”, is how I ended the review of “Jack Says”. Well, here is that next time, and it is better, indeed.

“Jack Said” was first conceived as a graphic novel, a prequel/sequel to "Jack Says". Now it's made into a film, both the film and the novel written by Paul Tanter. Confused? So was I. In chronological order it goes like this: “Jack Said”, the first 80 minutes of the film – “Jack Says” – “Jack Said”, the last 20 minutes of the film.

I wasn’t happy with “Jack Says”, and just to make a recap of my review: It felt forced, fake, and in the end just an average attempt at noir. It’s hard to believe this sequel/prequel (I’ll call it “part 2’ from now on to avoid confusion) has improved so much considering just a year passed since “Jack Says” (“part 1”), even more so knowing it was written by the same man.

The improvement in the storyline is just noticeable, and here's the beauty - to enjoy it you don’t have to watch part 1 at all. Actually, I could safely recommend that you skip it because you’ll see all the important bits from part 1 in the form of flashbacks in part 2. Now, I won’t spoil the story but I will point out that it can get quite confusing. There are a lot of different characters with different agendas which all tie in at some point, but making out the connections could prove a bit difficult.

A few problems from part 1 remain, though. One is Simon Phillips who plays the titular character. He doesn’t seem as fake as he did in part 1, but doesn’t feel genuine either. I’d say his acting improved but he just doesn’t have the physique to be convincing as the badass he supposed to portray. The other flaws are minor and more or less ignorable – but I was sad the music worsened. There is not much of it during the film, but the cool post-rock composition from part 1 was replaced by some nu-metal Evanesence-like crap. A shame.

So, despite still looking somewhat too cheap for its own good, and having a number of flaws “Jack Said” was quite enjoyable unlike its predecessor. Funny thing is, part 1 has a better user rating on IMDb than part 2. Go figure.

Neverthless, give "Jack Said" a look.

Rating: 7/10

- review by Ventilation Shaft