Happy Deathday 2U

Tree is in a time loop again and someone is after her. When she dies, she wakes up again and gets a second chance, but this time it's more complicated, because she's in a world where the rules are a little different. Happy Death Day 2U deserves praise for not just being a classic sequel, but for trying to inject more sci-fi or dramatic elements into the story. Sadly, the problem is the execution. Christopher Landon may have had enough ideas, but as a director he doesn't have the chops to mix them into an entertaining film. (27.02.2019)

Christopher Landon and sexy Jessica Rothe are back together in a time loop, but this time it's much more complicated. The effect of the first film is sadly gone, and the lack of gore hurts the sequel, as there was a lot of potential to spawn a new slasher series in the vein of Scream, but that's not going to happen. The second film made twice as much as the first and we probably won't see a third. Fortunately, the film is still entertaining, Jessica Rothe is fun (the suicide scene a clear highlight), the supporting characters are likable, Baby Face appears a little less than in the first installment, and the final twist is again surprising, though not as shocking as the first. Creative, entertaining and at times nicely suspenseful, and as a horror film for youngsters, it's enough. 65% (19.02.2019)

The first part was more of a sexy black comedy for me than a horror or slasher, so I'm glad that Christopher Landon strengthened this note in the sequel, because fun is what matters above all. Another film would perhaps build a plot with time loops and paradoxes in order to amaze the viewer, but Happy Death Day 2U is "just" preparing the scene so that it can entertain, entertain and entertain, which it does. Jessica Rothe is just fantastic, whether she's angry, committing suicide or reuniting and saying goodbye to her mother, and the other characters haven't come out empty, either. What's more, the new group has a clear and justifiable place in the film. The epilogue seems to indicate the possibility of the third film, but at the same time we can take it as a joke at the end. I would like to see the third part. (11.04.2021)

Landon surprises, and very smartly at that. In the first movie, he presented a fresh premise that relied on the effectiveness of the detective line and the reveal of the identity of the murderer, which was key to the resolution of the spiral of the story. In the sequel, he tries to retroactively explain the origin of the time loop, with the goals of the characters already revealed beforehand, and the viewer doesn’t need to tensely search for the “unknown” (in the mathematical sense) together with them, but through the reinforced principle of deadlines and, to some extent, the butterfly effect, too. And he really pulls it off at least in the first two acts. The events unfold in an unpredictable and entertaining way, the reveal of new differences in that one and the same day is gratifying and the titular dilemma that arises from the dying Tree is a strong enough element to deepen her relationship with Carter and to think about the entire plot in a broader context than would be necessary. This is no longer a slasher, the dominant line of the first part plays a very secondary role, but the narrative mode was still a lot of fun, and that’s why the last half hour bothered me so much: it delays the inevitable resolution only because it has to, and most of the scenes with the dean are just cheap and cringe-worthy. If it was 10 minutes shorter and the events got more straightforward as they approached the finish line, I would have been thrilled despite all the questionable logic, as it is, though, it barely gets to 70% with the mandatory praise to the again flawless Jessica Rothe, who could easily play a female version of The Last Boy Scout or Kate Winslet’s character in Titanic. Give this woman a blockbuster now! (07.03.2019)

Die zweite Begegnung mit Tree, die sich erneut in einer Zeitschleife wiederfindet, in der sie immer wieder stirbt, ist stärker durchdacht als der erste Teil, was sowohl Vor- als auch Nachteile hat. Der Anfang des Films ist etwas holprig, aber dann beginnt ein Karussell von Selbstmördern auf der Suche nach der Wahrheit und die Handlung nimmt Fahrt auf. Mir hat gefallen, dass die Macher den ersten Teil nicht mechanisch kopiert, sondern versucht haben, ein bisschen weiter zu gehen - manchmal war es vielleicht ein bisschen übertrieben, aber meinetwegen. Die Identität von Baby Face und seine Beweggründe waren nicht so schockierend wie im ersten Film, aber das wurde durch die vielen schwarzhumorigen Momente wieder wettgemacht. Es hat mich nicht einmal gestört, dass die Filmemacher manchmal mit den Emotionen gespielt haben ("was wäre wenn"). Es lohnt sich auch, auf die Abspannszene zu warten. (06.03.2019)

Oder ein weiteres anschauliches Beispiel dafür, dass es manchmal besser ist, keine Fortsetzung zu drehen, auch wenn Teil eins noch so erfolgreich gewesen sein mag. Meine Begeisterung und Freude über den ersten Teil verfloss schon nach etwa fünfzehn Minuten, als sich die Handlung in scheußlich unsinniges Science Fiction verhedderte, dass ich daran dachte abzuschalten. Glücklicherweise drehte sich die Geschichte wieder um Tree, aber es ist nicht mehr das, was es mal war, das ursprünglich gelungene Sujet wird auf andere Weise geplündert. Jessica Rothe wirkte auf mich nicht mehr so niedlich wie im ersten Teil. So muss ich irgendwie feststellen, dass alles schlecht war, und ich hoffe, dass es den Machern nicht einfällt, noch einen dritten Teil zu drehen. (19.05.2019)

What the fuck, just shoot yourself right now. If the plot itself is trying to transfer the heroine's fluster at finding herself day after day in a horribly lit world full of completely inept, unfunny assholes (the Dean!) who constantly have to drink, eat, and spout utterly terrible nonsense while doing so, my applause couldn't be slower. It's not, of course, because we're just talking about a morbidly stupid pretense of fun that's shot like a sitcom for people who find Big Bang Theory funny. For example, three-quarters of the film is medium close-ups on faces in such narrow focus that if the actor moved his head back 5cm he'd become a fuzzy pink flush. It's painfully unentertaining, overacted, unfunny, and off-kilter even in terms of its internal universe. The Czech title ("All the Worst") is also a review. (29.05.2019)

The creators stepped into the same river for the second time (which wasn’t a problem thanks to a time loop) and I thought I knew exactly what to expect of the film this time, but the opposite was true. Based on my experience with the first installment, I knew it definitely wouldn’t be a horror film, so I expected another student comedy with traces of romance. Instead, I stared in disbelief at this weird film with a blonde Asian playing Jar Jar Binks. About halfway through, I actually started having fun (especially the suicides were inventive), but then came the last third which brought a lot of annoying moralizing and lame melodrama, which caused a sharp decline in my mood and a corresponding rating. (07.08.2019)

Even though I find elements in the American film Happy Death Day 2U that bother me, especially the exaggerated sci-fi and the unnecessary explanations, even the second time around it is a film I had fun with and enjoyed watching. The slasher is in the background, but it doesn't matter, because this is a film that doesn't get boring and, a bit surprisingly, it turns out that basically, the same thing can be good even the second time around. (29.05.2019)