I was starting to think that I wouldn't make it back to the theater in time to catch Happy Death Day 2U (2019). As long as it took me to write my last review, I just wasn't sure. Unless it is a movie festival, I try not to watch too many movies that I want to review so I don't get details mixed up. I was looking forward to this movie because the first one caught me by surprise. While the first movie did look fun, I was still caught off guard with how funny and enjoyable it actually turned out to be. Will lightning strike twice?
Ryan (Phi Vu) wakes up in his car and heads to his dorm room. He is told to leave right away by his roommate Carter (Israel Broussard) who has his girlfriend Tree (Jessica Rothe) there. Ryan heads to his lab where he is met by his lab partners Samar (Suraj Sharma) and Andrea (Sarah Yarkin). They are excited about the experiment they have been working on. It fired the same time that Tree started to repeat her day each time that she died. Before they can figure out what happened, the Dean comes in and shuts everything down. Ryan tries to find the Dean to plead his case, but gets murdered instead and finds himself waking up in his car again. Thinking it was a dream, he heads back to the dorm, only to realize, thanks to Tree, that he is reliving the same day again. While trying to fix this, Tree ends up reliving the day of her birthday...again. This time though, things are different. At first, she wants things to go back to the way they were, but then she finds out something that could change her mind.
Happy Death Day 2U was written and directed by Christopher Landon. As I said above, I really enjoyed the first movie so a few months ago when I saw the trailer, I was really excited that a sequel would be coming out. I was hoping that this movie would not be the same as the first film and it isn't. Even so, this story goes off in a direction that I didn't care for. The first film wasn't worried about trying to explain why Tree was reliving her birthday again and again. Happy Death Day 2U was more worried about trying to explain the why of it, especially towards the start of the film. I understood what the experiment was that caused everything, but then things get a little confusing when it is discovered who is trying to kill Ryan. This has to do with different dimensions, which I was fine with, but once Tree takes over the story again, this gets dropped and is never heard from again. I could be wrong about that, which is why I wouldn't mind watching it again. Either way, I didn't care about why it was all happening. Even if it was another character that took over the main role, I just wanted another fun film. We do get that in some ways, but I didn't find it to be as funny as the first film. I liked the story once Tree takes over and I liked that things were different. I won't get into what is different now, as that is part of the fun really. The story changes gear some once Tree finds out something is different about a character from the first film. Instead of being funny, the story throws in some emotional things. I admit that I did get teared up in places. While I was much younger, I get what Tree is going through. She is eventually faced with a very hard choice and I felt sorry for her that she would have to face such a choice. There is a good stretch where Happy Death Day 2U feels like a drama more than anything else. Tree also faces the fact that she may stay dead if she keeps repeating the same day. This added an interesting detail to it all, but I was also annoyed by it. She returns to the same day at one point only to pass out from pain. After that, she doesn't seem to mention it much. It bugged me because if it was bad enough to pass out from it, wouldn't it only get worse from there?
Happy Death Day 2U wasn't as gory as I was expecting it to be. This didn't bother me too much just because some of the deaths were fun all the same. Some are a little bloody in places, like getting splattered by blood as Tree hits the ground at one point and diving into a wood chipper. Some of the ways she dies can also be fairly funny. I had to laugh at the way her death was filmed for jumping out of an airplane with nothing but a bikini on. Although, what are the chances she would land right in front of her friends? If you liked the acting in the first film, you will enjoy it here as well. Jessica Rothe once again nails her part. She is so good in these films that it makes it hard not to enjoy them. Rachel Matthews gets more screen time this time around. She is very funny in a long scene where she acts like she is blind.
I didn't love Happy Death Day 2U as much as I did the first film, but I'm still glad that I went to see it. There is talk of a third and final film to round out the series. The end of this film kind of suggested that, but it could also end the series at two films if it really wanted to. Is the sequel worth a watch? Apparently, it isn't doing as well as the first film, so perhaps some horror fans just didn't like the first one or felt it was a one-and-done type film so have no interest in the sequel. If you haven't gone to see it yet, perhaps you should. Even though I didn't like it as much, I still had a lot of fun with it. It could have been better but it wasn't a bad film by any means.
3 iout of 5 I'm not sure I would choose the same way Tree did
Ryan (Phi Vu) wakes up in his car and heads to his dorm room. He is told to leave right away by his roommate Carter (Israel Broussard) who has his girlfriend Tree (Jessica Rothe) there. Ryan heads to his lab where he is met by his lab partners Samar (Suraj Sharma) and Andrea (Sarah Yarkin). They are excited about the experiment they have been working on. It fired the same time that Tree started to repeat her day each time that she died. Before they can figure out what happened, the Dean comes in and shuts everything down. Ryan tries to find the Dean to plead his case, but gets murdered instead and finds himself waking up in his car again. Thinking it was a dream, he heads back to the dorm, only to realize, thanks to Tree, that he is reliving the same day again. While trying to fix this, Tree ends up reliving the day of her birthday...again. This time though, things are different. At first, she wants things to go back to the way they were, but then she finds out something that could change her mind.
Happy Death Day 2U was written and directed by Christopher Landon. As I said above, I really enjoyed the first movie so a few months ago when I saw the trailer, I was really excited that a sequel would be coming out. I was hoping that this movie would not be the same as the first film and it isn't. Even so, this story goes off in a direction that I didn't care for. The first film wasn't worried about trying to explain why Tree was reliving her birthday again and again. Happy Death Day 2U was more worried about trying to explain the why of it, especially towards the start of the film. I understood what the experiment was that caused everything, but then things get a little confusing when it is discovered who is trying to kill Ryan. This has to do with different dimensions, which I was fine with, but once Tree takes over the story again, this gets dropped and is never heard from again. I could be wrong about that, which is why I wouldn't mind watching it again. Either way, I didn't care about why it was all happening. Even if it was another character that took over the main role, I just wanted another fun film. We do get that in some ways, but I didn't find it to be as funny as the first film. I liked the story once Tree takes over and I liked that things were different. I won't get into what is different now, as that is part of the fun really. The story changes gear some once Tree finds out something is different about a character from the first film. Instead of being funny, the story throws in some emotional things. I admit that I did get teared up in places. While I was much younger, I get what Tree is going through. She is eventually faced with a very hard choice and I felt sorry for her that she would have to face such a choice. There is a good stretch where Happy Death Day 2U feels like a drama more than anything else. Tree also faces the fact that she may stay dead if she keeps repeating the same day. This added an interesting detail to it all, but I was also annoyed by it. She returns to the same day at one point only to pass out from pain. After that, she doesn't seem to mention it much. It bugged me because if it was bad enough to pass out from it, wouldn't it only get worse from there?
Happy Death Day 2U wasn't as gory as I was expecting it to be. This didn't bother me too much just because some of the deaths were fun all the same. Some are a little bloody in places, like getting splattered by blood as Tree hits the ground at one point and diving into a wood chipper. Some of the ways she dies can also be fairly funny. I had to laugh at the way her death was filmed for jumping out of an airplane with nothing but a bikini on. Although, what are the chances she would land right in front of her friends? If you liked the acting in the first film, you will enjoy it here as well. Jessica Rothe once again nails her part. She is so good in these films that it makes it hard not to enjoy them. Rachel Matthews gets more screen time this time around. She is very funny in a long scene where she acts like she is blind.
I didn't love Happy Death Day 2U as much as I did the first film, but I'm still glad that I went to see it. There is talk of a third and final film to round out the series. The end of this film kind of suggested that, but it could also end the series at two films if it really wanted to. Is the sequel worth a watch? Apparently, it isn't doing as well as the first film, so perhaps some horror fans just didn't like the first one or felt it was a one-and-done type film so have no interest in the sequel. If you haven't gone to see it yet, perhaps you should. Even though I didn't like it as much, I still had a lot of fun with it. It could have been better but it wasn't a bad film by any means.
3 iout of 5 I'm not sure I would choose the same way Tree did
