Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
Directed by Christopher Landon
If you have been following my blog in the past, you know how much I enjoyed the first Happy Death Day. It was a quirky fun movie with subtle humor and creative writing. The acting was fairly solid and the characters were likeable. I was really surprised when I heard they were making a sequel because I thought how in the hell do you follow up on an idea so off the wall and as unique as the first film. I never got around to seeing it in the theater like I did with the predecessor, but recently caught it on Amazon Prime. I heard many favorable reviews so decided to rent it and check it out.
The whole cast returns in this sequel, which is surprising for the genre. Jessica Rothe returns as Tree and she is quickly sucked into the time loop again after she is pushed into another dimension from a reactor that Ryan created. The dimension a mirror of reality but with slight changes. She never dated Carter and her friend Lori isn’t the killer she was in the first film. The other important change, and probably the most impactful is that Tree’s mother is still alive. Also, in this reality the babyface killer isn’t targeting Tree, but targeting all of her friends. Now she has to find the new killer, thwart their plan, save her friends and return to her dimension.
Just like the first movie, the acting is quite good. Jessica Rothe is as charming as she was in the predecessor and her frustrations are ramped up this time when she has to repeat Monday the 18th again and again. The humor I feel like is ramped up for the sequel, there are more goofy parts and all in all the idea of a reactor creating a shift in dimensions is far fetched to say the least. The character or Ryan is more prominent than before, which is a good change. Phi Vu does a great job playing Ryan and his character has some good depth. Israel Broussard returns as Carter and he’s decent, not great, not awful, he’s kind of just one dimensional.
Special effects aren’t a huge part of this movie but what we do have are solid. The reactor scenes are cool, with a wave burst shooting people backwards and shattering glass in slow motion was fun. The death and suicide scenes from Tree were hilarious at times. My favorite suicide was when she walks into a grocery store, goes to the bathroom isle and grabs a bottle of drain cleaner. A customer watches her puzzled, then Tree takes off the cap, raises the bottle as if toasting to him and proceeds to chug it. That one made me laugh out loud. The reaction of the customer is hilarious and it is a good example of the humor you expect with this franchise. I’m not sure how that scene hasn’t become a gif or a meme, its that great. We get numerous falls, stabbings, and gunshots.
There are some really fun transitions and camera work in this movie. My favorite being a scene where Tree falls backwards off from a building and you can see the ground slowly change into Carter’s bed as she dies and starts the loop over again. That was a really really cool transition and kind of creative. The other interesting angles are reminiscent of the first movie, lots of close up profiles of Tree walking through campus and rapid cuts after each death. They really must have had fun making this movie and it shows through the attention to detail and fun of the gags.
While this falls into the trap of repetition that many sequels have in the past, it does stay faithful to the original tone of the first movie. Yeah the sequel doesn’t really bring anything new to the table but it is entertaining at least. There is rumor of a third installment and I’m not sure that it is really needed. You could honestly argue that this one wasn’t needed either. My wife said during the movie that she was kind of losing interest since the idea of a reactor pulling characters into a different dimension was kind of far fetched. I countered with saying “she was in a time loop where she constantly dies and returns in the first one, so it wasn’t much closer to reality to begin with”. I get what she is saying though, when the reactor was used the first time I kind of rolled my eyes. If you loved the first movie and enjoyed its quirky off beat humor, then give the sequel a shot, you’ll probably enjoy it. I give Happy Death Day 2U a solid B, not quite the B+ that I gave the first one but far from a terrible sequel.
