THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Happy Death Day was one of Blumhouse’s multiple standouts from 2017, being hysterical blast with its own spin on time loops. In 2019, its sequel goes off the rails in the best way possible.
PLOT
Happy Death Day 2U continues immediately following the events of the first film. Theresa ‘Tree’ Gelbman intends to follow her new lease in life after overcoming a time loop in which he sorority housemate Lori tried to kill her. Things take an unlikely turn when Ryan Pham, roommate to her new boyfriend Carter, reveals he is now going through a similar predicament where someone else donning a Babyface mascot mask is after him. When she offers to help him, he shares it could be the result of his experimental quantum mechanics reactor nicknamed ‘Sisy’ that originates her loop to begin with since it was designed to manipulate time. Together, they track down the killer in the middle of a basketball and after gaining the upper hand him, they are shocked to unmask him as he reveals to be an alternate version of Ryan who claims one of them has to die to end the loop. Terrified of what he’s witnessing, the original Ryan decides to turn on Sisy to send him back, but this time the pulse knocks everyone unconscious. When Tree wakes up, she finds herself in another loop where it is her birthday again but in a completely different timeline with proof shown: Her mother Julie (Missy Yager) is still alive, Carter is instead dating her sorority leader Danielle and she is not dating her professor Gregory Butler (Charles Aitken), where he instead is solely cheating on his wife Stephanie (Laura Clifton) with Lori who doesn’t plan to kill her (the proof being her not making a cupcake). The only thing that appears the same is serial killer John Tombs (Rob Mello) is held at the campus hospital. She tries to get the jump on him until Babyface appears and kills Lori. Tree would die again in this loop by falling off a roof. Waking up in her birthday again, she explains to Carter & Ryan, as well as the latter’s friends Samar (Suraj Sharma) & Dre (Sarah Yarkin) of her predicament. Based on her knowledge and theirs, they believe the best way to escape this loop is to find the right algorithm. However, Tree must be the group’s recorder where she must take her life rather than deal with the killer to start the day again and remember everything to narrow it down. Eventually, he body gets worn out again from all her deaths that her body remembers. After recovering from the hospital like before, a blackout occurs which leads to her confronting Tombs but just when she thought she stopped the main assailant again, another Babyface killer attacks her, causing her to kill herself again via gas explosion. Waking up again, the group narrows down to the right algorithm that could end the loop, but Tree declares staying in the alternate timeline rather than go back to her original timeline when she knows that’s an option. When Carter confronts her about it while Ryan resets the algorithm, she admits she’s doing this to be with her mom again but he calls her out that she’d be living a life that isn’t really hers. Tree tries to hide in a hotel with her parents, but shows regret when the news reports Carter to have died trying to protect Lori. Not wanting to live in a timeline where he dies, she kills herself again by running into a power plant. Waking up one last time, Tree accepts the right thing to go back to her timeline. Before preparing to return to normal, she gives a pep talk to Lori to suggest ending things with Gregory, and gets to say goodbye to her mom. She even tries apologizing to Danielle for not befriending her due to her remembering not getting along where she came from, only to be proven right when she gets caught cheating on Carter with Nick, who the protagonist remembers she crushed on at the party. Just before she can leave, Dean Bronson confiscates Sisy for causing disruptive blackouts on campus. With Danielle’s help distracting the Dean to get it back, Ryan re-prepares the reactor. And during the preparations, Tree & Carter go to the hospital to save Lori from the Babyface duo who happen to be Gregory & Stephanie, happening to have the same plan to frame Tombs for it all. By the time they kill them both, Tree & Carter share a kiss before Sisy officially reactivates and the protagonist returns to her original dimension. When she wakes up, she’s back where she belongs. The film ends in a bizarre post credit sequence where Tree & her group are taken to DARPA who revealed to have taken Sisy for further experimentation but need a test subject to see how it works. Tree would pitch Danielle as the perfect candidate.
THOUGHTS
The best way to discuss this film is through Pros and Cons.
PROS: I didn't ask for a sequel and I didn't know people even wanted one. Since I generally enjoyed the first one, I was open minded which led to me having another ball of madness by Writer/Director Christopher Landon. Horror takes a backseat compared to last time due to giving a stronger focus on the sci fi used concept. This is a useful way to change the scenery and get as unpredictable as possible. The multiverse is indeed difficult to complain completely if you're not watching a science major, especially since this was before the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Multiverse Saga, yet this film was able to simplify it enough to keep me onboard. Since this film is almost 2 years apart from the predecessor, it is impressive on attention to detail where most of the extras from the original come back. This doesn't mean the danger is absent because Babyface is still a problem and that threat had to be stopped, which it thankfully did due to the vigilance done by the scream queen/final girl herself. Jessica Rothe picks up where she left off and doesn't skip a beat as Tree. She is still just as hilarious as before due to being put in extravagant deaths that shouldn't be for the faint of heart, yet work in hilarity because she's aware she has enough willpower to come back from it. It should've not been possible for her to jump off a plane while wearing nothing but a bikini, but I can't help admiring the savagery of it all. Even when ignoring the alternate Tim (Caleb Spillyards) by simply saying "You're gay" had me fall off my chair for laughing too hard because there's a chance he might not be. She's still more interesting than that because she's in a much different dilemma where she has the opportunity to have what she wants deeply but accepts she can't have it. After being content with the past, it comes back to bite her real bad when seeing her mom again. It wasn't easy for her let go again, but it was an important decision to make as it told the theme to not undo the journey that made you whole in the first place. It did become an easier decision the longer she stayed because the more she spoke with her mom again, the more she accepted she didn't belong there. Although she goes through another pickle that feels like to hell, it's nice to know she wasn't alone. Israel Broussard still makes Carter a stand up guy because apart from being helpful and selfless which he proves whenever it came to Babyface, he's still self aware on what the right thing is in terms of Tree's predicament. He knew better than everyone how low it would be for her to stay where she shouldn't because his Tree doesn't get a say at all of what's going on. Thankfully, his advice convinced the protagonist to go to their true home. What made me happy about this sequel is how they give a chance in making massive changes to returning characters. Ruby Modine definitely sold me on the innocence that the alternate Lori was throughout and it was cool for Phi Vu to embracing how smart Ryan was to the point revealing he was responsible for Tree's crisis all along. The real kicker though was the extended involvement of Danielle. Rachel Matthews did nail it the first time around when being very obnoxious of a diva. The twist in seeing her for the alternate dimension was how down to earth she tries to be despite still being selfish as proven with her infidelity. Seeing her distract the dean by pretending to be blind had me laughing so hard I thought I'd pass out. As for the main Danielle, it's quite a shocker for her to be DARPA's test subject without consent, but she definitely needs the attitude adjustment compared to how we first met Tree.
CONS: Not at all did I mind what this movie for what it was going for, but this way too much issues for me tolerate as I re watched it. There were way too many things that felt more convoluting than it needed to be. For example, why does Ryan’s parking spot empty around the block? I know this means he’s avoiding the idea to pay for parking, but that should mean other students would take advantage of free parking like this. And how the hell did his doppelgänger take a snapshot of him just when the Dean left the room? He may have been proven easy to distract when it came to Danielle later on, but I don’t think he’d ignore someone suspiciously roaming around the area in a Babyface mask. That’s weirder than seeing the bottom floor empty when the rest of the building was bustling with students. Tree definitely was smart on wanting to go after the killer immediately and arm himself with a bat, but I feel like they would’ve bettered their chances with their surrounding if they turned the lights on. Even though the doppelgänger wasn’t there that time, it would help them get ahead of the threat. Also, how did the sister’s sorority house return to normalcy after Lori died? Danielle should’ve told the girls to go home after such an occurrence because in this case, a ghost story sub plot could’ve went down if they wanted to. I respect Tree always wanting to deal with Tombs herself when she can’t guarantee the outcome, but I don’t understand why she doesn’t just call the hospital or a local police station to alert them a murderer’s escape is going down. That would save her some trouble if you ask me. It’s a funny gag when her hair remains puffed out after electrocuting herself, but how is that the only time possible for it to change when the rest of her body from the outside is reverted to normalcy? That should be exposited just as much the multiverse is explained here. And in this case, could Tree really be affected by the loop if the killer doesn’t kill her? Like does she get to live old and still reset or is the killer bound to kill her even if she doesn’t pursue? I kinda wish that formality was explored too. Also, why is the dean’s office the only place to hide Sisy? You’re telling me a custodial room wasn’t considered an option? If that’s true, he should’ve died rather than give an excuse for his office to broken into and wrap up the plot. Lastly, I don’t see the point of Gregory & Stephanie being in on killing Lori together when it’s more logical for just one of them to carry such a motive. If you ask me, this is a cheap callback to Scream.
To bring things full circle, Happy Death Day 2U holds up as a comedy sequel that is far different yet entertaining enough to be remembered for the right reasons. If you liked the first film, I don’t think you would dislike this follow up.
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