Where there’s murders, there is mystery in the new “Murder Mystery 2” movie. Following the release of “Murder Mystery” in 2019, Netflix delivered the sequel on March 31. Directed by Jeremy Garelick and distributed by Netflix, I was excited to watch this sequel to interesting murders. As a bigtime Adam Sandler fan (from “50 First Dates” to “Click”), it was fun to see him on the screen again. 

“Murder Mystery 2” was a nice blend of funny commentary and neat twists. There were a bunch of moments where a character let slip a funny remark at an inconvenient time that came as a surprise, and the twists were a dramatic addition to the movie. The trailer offered beautiful scenery, returning characters and of course, murders. The movie took all of this and made it something more, something fun but morbidly stupid. 

Returning to the new scene of crime comes the married couple Nick (Adam Sandler) and Audrey Spitz (Jennifer Aniston), along with lovable characters from the first movie the Colonel Ulenga (John Kani), the Maharajah (Adeel Akhtar) and Inspector de la Croix (Dany Boon). The new murder occurs on the Maharajah’s private island before his marriage to Claudette (Mélanie Laurent). However, along with this new murder, the beloved Maharajah gets kidnapped. 

Confusion follows the murder and kidnapping, but the suspects get narrowed down — which brings me to one thing I disliked about this movie. To me, it was way too easy to figure out who the murderer was and who kidnapped the Maharajah. Maybe it’s because I’m a big mystery fan but I saw it coming a mile away. 

After the confusion wears off, professional investigator Miller (Mark Strong) swims to the scene to figure out what happened. After his arrival, Nick and Audrey leave the island to go to Paris, France. I appreciated the pretty sceneries the movie offered, the Eiffel Tower and private island was a sight to see. 

I also enjoyed the action embedded in the movie. It was a nice change from the first movie, which yes, had action but I wouldn’t say as much. Or at least, the second movie had a lot more hand-to-hand combat. I liked how even during the fights the actors managed to have their characters add hilarity into the mix by making jokes and panicking the whole time. 

However, if we were truly comparing both movies, I believe the first was better than the second. “Murder Mystery 2” was a great movie, but like most things, the sequel most often does not live up to the previous installment. I feel like the first movie had more twists, and that’s what I was looking for in the second movie. Sadly, what I was expecting for the sequel did not suffice. 

The movie had a good soundtrack as well. Living up to the French vibe, there were some songs I heard like, “La vie en rose” and “Le coeur au bout des doigts” that made an intermediate French speaker like me happy. There were, of course, some English songs that were played at just the right moments like, “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” This made the movie more enjoyable and genuine. 

Overall, “Murder Mystery 2” was an exceptional movie, definitely worth a watch. It isn’t the type of movie to have you on the edge of your seat but it’s something you’d watch at the end of your day to relax and have a laugh. 

“Murder Mystery 2:” ★★★☆☆