The First Brilliant Use of 3D

The reality of the situation is that Jackass 3D is the first time that I was genuinely excited that a film was going to be in 3D and I knew I wanted to see it. I'll admit. I still haven't seen Avatar. No, I'm not one of those assholes who purposely avoids things because they've now gotten "too cool 4 school." I just have no desire to. The only 3D movie I've seen in theaters up to this point is Toy Story 3. A film which benefited a bit from the 3D format by using it as a way to layer scenes intelligently, but one that I felt in the end did not need 3D.

There has been some online debate over the merits of Jackass. It's humble origins within the Big Brother magazine. The merging of many great minds. The bottom line is by the time it hit MTV and morphed in to cultural phenomenon, it clearly struck a deep chord. The critical voices would have you believe that this is lowest common denominator television/films. It is at its core the very empty vapid idiot programming that in turn spawns legions of slack jawed morons who will imitate and glorify such stunts.

I strongly disagree. The difference between a program/movie like Jackass and a show like The Real Housewives of New Jersey or a movie like Date Movie, is at the very least Jackass 3D is done without any pretension. If you look beyond the launching of dildos from a cannon or eruptions of fecal matter on the screen, you see people having fun. Masochistic fun, but fun none the less. Jon Stewart described it as in his interview with Johnny Knoxville as, "masochistic vaudeville."

I consider myself a vaguely intelligent person and it actually insults me when people feel that a film like this is offensive because anyone could do this. Anyone couldn't do this, or they would. What the Jackass series has proven is that the very base human emotions and reactions of fear, pain, laughter, and danger are something that excite us. Has Jackass 3D elevated these base feelings to great art? I say yes.