Trill ride
Saved by the Bellas…
Pitch Perfect 2 12
Film Extras Out 7 Sept ember Digital HD; 21 Sept ember DVD , BD
The Bellas are back, bitches, singing from the same hymn sheet but hitting enough high notes to merit their encore. Now all-conquering celebrities, our highly capable a cappella cadre are once more reduced to underdog status when a cunning stunt involving Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) shocks President Obama. The Bellas’ only chance of resurrecting their rep is to win the world championship – but standing in the way is invincible German squad Das Sound Machine.
Marking the directorial debut of Elizabeth Banks, who also returns as one half of the Christopher Guest-style commentator duo with John Michael Higgins, Pitch Perfect 2 re-masters everything that pepped up the original – toe-tapping covers, girl power, a surprisingly bawdy sense of humour – while introducing True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld as a welcome addition to the Bellas. Subplots are provided for Fat Amy, whose fledgling romance is by turns salty and schmaltzy, and Beca (Anna Kendrick, improvising much of her dialogue), whose attempts to launch a producing career might mean having to leave the Bellas behind.
Some of the elaborate stage sequences are so over-edited as to be cut to colourful ribbons, but the mechanised magnificence of Das Sound Machine, led by the fearsome Kommissar (Birgitte Hjort Sørenson), is momentous. It’s also a joy to see a multiplex movie that not only passes the Bechdel test with flying colours but boasts so many women as key creatives. Now that’s worth singing about. Bumper Blu extras include a Banks-led chat-track, extended muscial turns and lots of featurettes with the word
Jamie Graham ‘aca’ in the title. Extras › Commentary › Featurettes › Deleted/extended/alternate scenes › Gag reel