Happy Death Day 2U: Multiverse madness
Happy Death Day was one of those movies that was shockingly good when it came out. Character’s that were interesting and had development, an intriguing plot, and just overall a blast to watch. Now the sequel has come out, promising to return us to Tree’s never-ending horrible day. Luckily, while not quite as good as the original, this is still a fun movie that goes in a very different direction than the first movie.
First and foremost, it should be said that this barely feels like a horror film. This is very much a genre-bending movie that only spends time on horror for maybe a quarter of the runtime. Don’t let this discourage you though, as this is still a worthy sequel to the original, and the plot progression feels natural.
The main thing that really helps this film is the character work. Like the first film, watching Tree and her friends progress as humans and deal with the situations they are going through creates an empathy that is absent from far too many horror films. Everyone down to minor characters have arcs that flesh out the story. The centerpiece is Jessica Rothe as Tree. Once again, she gives a performance that makes Tree one of the most interesting scream queen characters in a long time. Rothe pulls off such a good performance that it is not hard to imagine that she will be a major star soon enough.
The plot is mostly interesting, with a focus on alternate universes, and how the loop that Tree was trapped in occurred in the first place. The movie does a good job weaving in humor and emotional moments into a plot that could’ve easily become a mess. Once you start talking multiverses, you can easily screw it up and leave the audience rolling their eyes. Luckily, they avoided this trap fairly well. However, there is a point halfway through the film where it starts to seem to be stretched a bit thin, and kind of putters along into the third act, and the mystery about the murderer is just forgotten about for a while. It does pull itself together for the final act, where the movie gets back to the pace it was at before.
This is a fun movie, that does take enough risks and new directions to keep it feeling fresh, and not just a carbon copy of the original. I know there have been discussions about a third entry to finish a trilogy, and I hope it happens, because visiting these characters and the absurd situations they end up in is a ton of fun, and another Death Day is warranted after this entertaining sequel.
4 / 5
