by: Matt Cascone
Happy Death Day took the “living the same day over and over” genre and added a (light) horror twist to the affair. The follow up Happy Death Day 2U does more of the same while explaining what caused the Groundhog Day effect with some great call backs to the first movie that the MCU could take notes from.
Happy Death Day took the “living the same day over and over” genre and added a (light) horror twist to the affair. The follow up Happy Death Day 2U does more of the same while explaining what caused the Groundhog Day effect with some great call backs to the first movie that the MCU could take notes from.
First off, the previews make it seem like everyone is effected but besides the opening act it still only affects the main character “Tree”. This would be fine, but, unfortunately, after the opening scene, the movie sacrifices most of the horror elements for multiverse theory. There’s some decent laughs but none of the characters ever have any scene stealing moments. Luckily, Jessica Rothe’s performance as Tree is enough to carry the movie with a great reaction to her having to relive the day’s events of the first movie as well as a great death montage featuring Paramore’s “Hard Times”.
Back to the multiverse component, they do a solid job explaining it if you don’t think about it too hard but like many sci-fi stories it opens a lot of plot holes, they even mention one of the most notorious contributors Back to the Future Part II. Tree in this new timeline has to deal with a new killer, her mother still being alive and her love interest “Carter” now dating her sorority sister “Danielle”. I would have liked to have seen Carter dealing with the time loops like they suggested in the trailer, theres really no reason to like him anymore than we do already as his character has no room to develop further. Danielle takes a pretty big hit here, she was vicious in the first movie, the ultimate mean girl. She went as far as using ASL in a derogatory manner but in the sequel she’s nothing more than a stereotypical bimbo who confuses Helen Keller for Anne Frank. This change in character is a shame especially since her comeuppance in the after credits scene seems less deserved.
Even though there are plenty of questions when it comes to the multiverse component the overall explanation is satisfying and the pacing is good, I feel like a lot of movies nowadays suffer from pacing issues. All in all Happy Death Day 2U is a decent sequel but like many others its not as good as the original. If you’re a big fan of the original than you’ll enjoy this one, also a good choice for date night. Otherwise, just wait for it to come out on your streaming services.
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