In every shape and form, the first Anchorman movie from 2004 was very successful. From Paul Rudd to even Will Ferrell, the film put them further on the map as actors even though Ferrell was already on his way to getting big before. It was a very memorable movie that brought very different vibes and was a comedy unlike any other. Anchorman became a cult film in every way and something I can see living on for quite a while.
Like most sequels, and even more so with this one more than ten years after the first movie, Anchorman 2 is as forced as it gets. It's a film that die-hard fans of the series have been demanding for a while and it likely had one of the biggest promotional budgets ever which raised some questions marks for me. Even though we can still say it's above average, Anchorman 2 is still one of the most disappointing films from 2013 considering it's hype and I think it's a film that never really needed to exist.
Using the theme of everybody getting back together, the old gang of Ron Burgundy (Ferrell), Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), Brian Fantana (Rudd) and Champ Kind (David Koechner) join back together to work for the new New York station GNN, the very first every twenty four hour news station. This new job creates problems for the gang while along the way, they make some new relationships.
As we really expect it and without it wouldn't seem the same, Anchorman 2 also provides some VERY strange behavior. This worked very well the first time around because in some ways it was really original and kind of a cultural shock for audiences. In Anchorman 2, this craziness is still a positive mark in a way but it is just not as interesting as the first movie. The character behaviors goes in spurts and sometimes is not above average and the cultural shock can't happen this time around because it's a sequel and to my surprise, it can be a leaden thing here.
With a lot homage paid toward CNN, the plot in this new installment is much like the behavior of the characters. The plot seems smarter than first film and for a sequel it's a surprisingly original movie but it suffers from the fact it has a terrible second half. It takes a very strange and questionable turn with the Ron Burgundy character that really makes no much sense. There is also a long fight scene at the end that puts a drag on it's ending and it's such a bad second half that at times you can't figure out what's going on.
Lastly, we really wonder as audience what this film would do to it's returning characters. We knew obviously that it was going to bring that different behavior from them but we didn't know what this new plot what would do with them. Ron Burgundy is a moving character who has some depth but we've already talked about his problems in the second half. The new character that turns into Ron Burgundy love interest, Linda Jackson (Meagan Good) is a new and original character as Burgundy's co-worker at GNN but by the end of the film she is left with nothing to do. Brick Tamland is a character that enters into a strange but very interesting relationship with a girl named Chani (Kristen Wiig). The biggest disappointments are the characters of Brian Fantana and Champ Kind who bring nothing to the film where as the first one they both did.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a mess of a film with no "rewatchability" factor. It's just a sequel we should just choose to forget. It's a sequel that makes the famous Ron Burgundy character look a different way and in a way that I don't like.
3/5
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