Stars: Jessica Rothe, Israel BroussardBudget: $9 million
Directed By: Christopher Landon
What can I say the first Happy Death Day took my complete surprise I went in with certain expectations but had them totally changed and had an amazing time.
You can probably see this reflected in my original review of here on this very site.
I'm quite vocal about the fact I'm not a fan of the purge series of films, I've watched most of them but I do not share the enthusiasm most have for the series.
this series is done by the same guy and I can happily say he's so skilled to be able to flip flop from that style of film to this one.
Blumhouse productions helms this series too who really seem to be picking up speed as a company as of late. I'm seeing their name attached to a lot of productions lately.
Now for some hard truths I loved the first but I also heard almost immediately that there was going to be a sequel to it. I felt joy but also trepidation, where could this series go after that ending?
I made some guesses I'm happy to report that not all them came true though a few did. One of the things I loved about the first one was this was just happening it wasn't explained as such it was supernatural, cosmic, one of many reasons. Unfortunately this second one falls into the trope of 'explaining to much' I see some people have a need for reasons why, hell I do, that's why I hated the end of LIFE, that's another story though. With a smallish budget again it is good what they do with the 9 million dollars both effects and set wise, as well as actor fees.
Sometimes things work best when there's no explanation or just little hints as to whats going on behind the main story. But what I will say if it wasn't for the introduction of this McGuffin this film wouldn't have been the film it was and in no way detracts from the initial pull of the first film.
It also doesn't make this a bad either just more predictable which is a bonus that I miss from the first film. I also guessed one major plot point many months ago, though that I won't let detract from much from the overall experience as it was just a good guess I suppose.
We actually see the beginning of this movie from Ryan's point of view, He wakes up in his car then amusingly we see him walk in on Tree/Carter like as if it's a scene from the last movie. It's not though as it's now the day after Tuesday the 19th.
He goes to his class where him and a few classmates have been working on the quantum accelerator, or something like that (I've watched this once can't totally remember the McGuffins name and don't want to look it up this is a firsthand experience review).
This is what was responsible for Tree reliving the same day over and over, it caused several power outages in the meantime so the Dean ends up shutting the project down. Ryan is then murdered by the baby faced killer only to wake up on the morning again in his car. He confides in Tree and Carter She explains to him about her reliving the previous day, they come to the conclusion that the machine is responsible for everything.
The new Baby face killer finds them, Tree seasoned in this subdues the killer but in a weird unmasking turns out to be Ryan himself. He warns them if Ryan doesn't die the loop will continue forever. Disbelieving the original Ryan messes with the machine in hopes to close the loop, this however has a weird effect.
Tree now wakes up on the Monday again, totally disbelieving it all she goes a bit mad again. She gets them all together and goes straight for the machine this time to try and sort out the problem. They begin work but Tree begins to notice some things are different. Carter for a start is going out with Danielle (who is seemingly nice), she confronts Lori about the poisoned cupcake, but there isn't one.
Then when she goes for her birthday meal with her dad she is shocked to see that her mother is still alive too. Not only is she back to the Monday she has been thrown into a parallel universe too!
This i admit I did not see coming and was a great twist, unfortunately the film quickly degenerates into the same formula of the first film (one thing i was scared of) though some of the deaths and suicides are amazingly amusing this time around just as much as the first film. I've seen 'a few' snow flakes moan about the suicide vibe in the first film and now this one which would be fine if it was making light of actual suicide. This film is a comedy film and requires the girl to die to perpetuate the story line it's through her own choice (most of the time) and for reasons most people tragically take their lives like bullying, sexual preferences etc, that would certainly be degrading to the cause, shes doing it as it necessitates the situation.
We do now get a new dilemma for this movie does Tree stay here where her mother is still alive but Carter is with someone else or go back to her own reality?
I'm not going to spoil any more of this film as from this moment on it treads close to the first plot now, with the new Mcguffin and parallel worlds thrown in, as well as a few different situations because of this change. Its, lacking just a little spark of originality that the first had for me but is almost as enjoyable despite my previous reasons.
THN awards Happy Death Day 2U a strong 3 out of 5 stars and if you enjoyed the first one your definitely going to enjoy this one almost as much. Lets wait and see what part 3 holds (wait till the end of the film btw)
