Happy Death Day 2U

        I can't really explain this movie without spoiling either the first movie or this one, but let me try. Remember the Asian guy from the first movie that would always walk into the dorm while Tree and Carter were in there and he would make some remark regarding the nature of how he is perceiving the situation? Well, the film starts out with him, Ryan, waking up in his car and walking into his dorm room to find Tree and Carter making out which is about where the first film left off. He is kicked out and gets a call from his friend who tells him to come to the lab. There, we see that Ryan has been working on a science experiment with two of his friends and they've just gotten the weirdest results. As the viewer, we might have a small suspicion that the machine had something to do with Tree's time loop fiasco, but nothing is confirmed at this point. The dean walks in and instructs the guards with him to confiscate the machine against the will of the students. Ryan is led into a chemistry lab by a trail of blood and this is where we have our first kill and time loop.

         The film goes in a different direction than you might think. Judging from the trailers, one can assume that the perspective eventually shifts over to Tree who, also judging from the trailer, has found herself back in the time loop on Monday the 18th, the day she probably has PTSD from at this point. You might be surprised that the film eventually ditches Ryan early on and jumps straight to Tree for the rest of the movie. This isn't a bad thing though. The plot has other plans in store for Tree and our other characters.            Speaking of plot, this installment doesn't concern itself with who the killer is as much as the first one did. Even though the trailer puts much focus on this aspect, it isn't really explored in the middle acts of the film. In the beginning, you're wondering who the killer is and why they're after Ryan. Once we go to Tree's view then you're left wondering if it's the same person or someone else. Again, once Tree enters her time loop, the film goes away from keeping you wondering who the killer is and instead focuses on how Tree is going to get out. By the time the end of the movie came and the killer was revealed I found myself not really caring about the identity. I just wanted Tree to get out. Because the film spends its time concerning itself with Tree's escape, the impact of the reveal is almost non-existent. The stakes surrounding the finale also seemed to lose some of their weight because of this.          Even though the killer aspect is diluted, I still found myself enjoying the movie as a whole. The film is able to find a creative way to continue the story from the first one and somehow maintain the original's vibe and tone. You could say that it's just rehashing the first plot, but it doesn't in my opinion. One aspect that supports this is that Tree finds out something about the time loop universe she's in that makes it different than the last time. This drastically changes her mindset and forces her to consider whether or not staying in that universe is worth it. I won't say what it is, but it does add a significant amount of heart to the story.
How did I do? Did I give away too much? I just wanted to be able to explain my thoughts enough so that you could understand without giving away too many plot details. Overall, I think this second addition is just as fun as the first. It may suffer from some a somewhat flawed narrative, but you'll have more fun watching Tree's attempts to escape more than trying to figure out who the killer is. The makers of these films, I think, put more effort into this sequel than a lot of filmmakers do with other sequels. 7/10