“Murder Mystery 2”

Movie Review

Jeremy Garelick written and James Vanderbilt directed, Murder Mystery 2 is an American action-comedy mystery movie from 2023. With Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, it is a sequel to the 2019 movie Murder Mystery. On March 31, 2023, Murder Mystery was released.

Nick and Audrey Spitz abandon their jobs to start a new profession as private detectives four years after their misadventure in Monte Carlo, but this move does not bode well for their marriage. Surprisingly, Vikram "The Maharajah" Govindan extends an invitation to them to attend his wedding on his own island. They agree, thinking that their friendship with Vikram will give their fledgling detective business some semblance of authority. There, they run into Vik's fiancée from France, Claudette Joubert, his snarky ex-fiancée, Countess Sekou and her lady-in-waiting Amani, his reticent sister, Saira, and their old friend Colonel Ulenga, who lost his left arm after saving Vik from an assassination attempt in Mumbai. Colonel Ulenga also takes an instant liking to Audrey.

Audrey observes a shrouded man following after Vik's elephant at Claudette and Vik's sangeet. When the figure begins to diaphore and fall off the elephant, it is discovered that he is not Vik but rather his bodyguard Lou, who has suffered a deadly injury. Nick searches for Vik after realizing it is a distraction but finds him being taken away by an unknown person who then flees. The couple realizes they are once again involved in a murder and decides that at least two persons may have been involved, one to set up the distraction and the other to kidnap Vik. As a result, they have suspicions about Claudette, Francisco, Sekou, Amani, and, shockingly, Ulenga. The two of them are both knocked out after being roofied, which brings their initial inquiry to a premature end.

The following morning, a team of expert investigators led by former MI6 hostage negotiator Connor Miller joins the group. Miller initially has low expectations for the couple's deductive skills. Soon after, the kidnapper contacts Nick and demands a $70 million ransom to be paid at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in exchange for Vik. Miller departs for Paris and leaves them at the exchange. The couple receives a call from the abductors once more telling them to go to a nearby van where they are waiting. Nick's refusal to continue causes the couple and the kidnappers to fight, which results in the death of the kidnappers and the crash of the van into Café Procope. Miller arrives and explains that the clip is a deepfake, and the couple later learns that they are being falsely accused of being responsible for the kidnapping thanks to video of Nick purportedly carrying a knife as he runs out of the tent. He appears to be killed when the car he is in explodes after stealing the bag of cash and telling them to meet him at the La Madeleine. A shadowy figure approaches the automobile and grabs the case, only to have the case stolen from him when he is struck by a truck by another figure.

The pair tracks the truck to a rural château with Inspector Laurent de la Croix's help, where they are attacked by Sekou and Imani, who explain that they aren't the kidnappers and are merely after the money. Imani shoots Sekou as she tries to kill the couple, but Imani is already dead when she returns fire, killing Sekou. The two use Sekou's Lamborghini to flee the flames, and they ask de la Croix to "bring" Vikram to the Le Jules Verne restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. Surprisingly, Vik shows up at the rendezvous while being strapped to a bomb-vest. Nick maintains his composure despite the bomb's countdown, believing that the assailant would never put the ransom in danger. Eventually, the countdown is halted, and Miller shows up, revealing himself to be the real mastermind behind the kidnapping. He had pretended to be dead by hiding within the car's bomb-proof titanium chamber just before the explosion. By detonating the explosives, he tries to kill the group, but Audrey grabs hold of his harness and is pulled to the top floor. Miller decides to hurl Audrey down the tower's ledge while she is still attached to his harness since Nick pursued them and managed to subdue Miller's men before detonating the device. The two guys get into a physical altercation, which ends when Nick successfully opens the suitcase, releasing the money into the wind. Miller is brought under control by Audrey when she emerges and ties his harness to the elevator mechanism of the tower. This causes Miller to fall from the tower into the rotor blades of his getaway helicopter, killing him and forcing it to crash into the Seine.

The pair enters the restaurant once the threat has passed. Audrey misinterprets Saira's now-darkened hair as blood during a talk with the now-relieved group, and she blames herself for smearing her henna during the excitement. Audrey remembers that the shrouded figure, which killed Lou, had a wet henna stain on its clothing, and she knows that Saira wasn't present when Vik's elephant was welcomed into the wedding ceremony.

Nick deduces Saira to be the second conspirator, claiming that she was the one who had previously attempted to kill Vik in Mumbai and that her motivation was that Vik's parents had given the flashy Vik sole authority over their economic interests. Exposed, Saira tries to shoot Vik, but Ulenga blocks the shot, hitting Vik in the right arm, leading Claudette to use the briefcase to put her unconscious. Vik and Claudette plan to elope after the uproar is over, but not before handing Nick and Audrey $10 million as thanks, which the pair accepts. The couple is now on their honeymoon in Greece when their American helicopter pilot, who initially appeared to be from Europe, confronts them and demands money from them at gunpoint. He then jumps out of the chopper, leaving the pair fumbling for the controls.

WATCH THE REVIEW VIDEO FOR MORE...