Hello g33ks and m33ks and everyone out there who has ever woken up and not known how they got wherever they were. Its time to quantify my feelings for the sequel to one of the funniest movies in the last decade and it’s difficult to do. The Hangover Part 2 is not a typical sequel to a comedy, which is generally built around creating larger scale derivative jokes based on the original’s story structure. This film takes the darkness of the original, ramps it up to 11, and makes all of the truly disturbing moments the showcase of the film. This isn’t a sequel for the comedic moments this is a sequel for the life threatening, mean spirited, pseudo-crime drama elements from the first film.

When you first see the credits of The Hangover you are shown Vegas in all its glittering glory but then it gets serious and you’re swept around ending on the Vegas desert. Anyone who knows anything about the history of Vegas knows that a ton of problems are solved by being buried in the Vegas desert. The film had an element of surprise going for it, we knew they were going to make mistakes, and we knew they were going to have to retrace their steps for some reason; but we had no idea how life threatening it would be to take on that search. So every time the danger ramped up we laughed to dispel our discomfort and dispel the building sense of dread we experienced as an audience. When the movie was done there was nothing that couldn’t be qualified as anything more than a minor blip on the radar of a full life. Doug (Justin Bartha) could get married to Tracy (Sasha Barrese) and except for some sunburn in their wedding photos everything that occurred ended on a positive note. The guys survived the wildest night of their lives with some cash, new levels of friendship, and the removal of bad relationships from their lives. It was a perfect stand alone film.

So of course when that movie makes several hundred million dollars worldwide, and turns all of its actors into A-list level celebrities there is going to be a sequel. Sequels are going amp up the stakes and here is where The Hangover Part 2 loses it. One of the initial ideas floating around Hollywood was for the Hangover 2 to be the antics of another group partying in Vegas the same night of Doug’s bachelor party. There were rumors it could have been a bachelorette party, a 21st birthday party or a divorce party. They would have been subject to the same mixed up pills that our main characters were given and the groups would interact along the way. After a while that rumor disappeared because Todd Phillips the director/writer wanted to move the series to another city with just as much mystique, Bankok. None of our characters are prepared for this city, and whereas in the first few minutes of the original, after the bachelor party, you’re worried about where Doug is… you’re not worried that he might be dead. From the moment Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galafianakis) wake up in the nastiest scummy dive of a slum hotel you’ve ever seen you’re worried that someone missing from the group is dead. The first film took a while for you to get worried and at each course that fear was dispelled. It was a wild ride, that got scary as time went on. This time before you know it there are bodies in freezers, missing fingers, bullet wounds, uzis, riots, gangsters, and another sequence involving prostitutes that I saw someone leave the movie over and not return.

For a series of films where the focus is on getting everything fixed on the way to a wedding there is a sincere split in the focus. A wedding after the first film is alright, because basically they’ve solved the problem. In this film, you are taken past the idea of there even being a wedding. Did all of our characters fly to Thailand only to end up at a funeral? There are some jokes that don’t work, some new plot devices that allow us to see ‘restored’ memories and those are only 50/50… The only element of the film that works all the way through is the darkness. Every reveal is a gut punch, over and over, and if you can laugh at the misery these men go through you’ll enjoy the film. If you’re a big fan of the morbidity of the original and want to see them top themselves then go for it but, if you are coming back looking for more fun then you may want to pass. In that case I would spend my dollars on the Judd Apatow produced and Kristen Wiig starring, Bridesmades. That film should give you the same feeling you had when you saw the first Hangover and not feel like you lost a fight with Mike Tyson.

- Mr. Khon