There has been talk of a sequel to last year's 21 Jump Street ever since the film was released but this week it was made official that a sequel will be hitting cinemas, with a tenative release of sometime in 2014. I really enjoyed the first film, it being one of my favourite films of 2012. It was a surprisingly smart and poignant take on the classic 1980s TV show starring Johnny Depp- subverting and spoofing cop movie cliches without becoming too meta- as well as being a thoughtful story of two guys who get to relive their high school experience over again. While I'm open to seeing Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum reprise their roles of Schmidt and Jenko, respectively, I'm a little worried the sequel won't be as fresh as the original. Still, there's potential for a 21 Jump Street sequel to keep things fresh, touching, and very funny. With that in mind, here are some dos and don'ts that I think the filmmakers should follow in order to make this sequel work. We'll start with the things the studio definitely SHOULD NOT do...
4. Don't: Overstuff
Spider-Man 3 may be the ultimate cautionary tale for trying to put too much in to one film. I think it's best, even when you're doing a follow up film, not to feel you have to do more than you did the last time. As long as the story is fresh and the characters have room to evolve, you don't need to jam in too many new major characters. Moreover, one thing I really liked about 21 Jump Street was, in an age where comedies can, arguably often drag on too long, such as with the Judd Apatow produced joints, it clocked in nicely under two hours and succinctly told its story. Keep the next film moving fast enough while not rushing the emotional stuff, and I think you're good to go.