Murder Mystery 2
Murder Mystery 2 is a 2023 American action comedy mystery film directed by Jeremy Garelick and written by James Vanderbilt. It is a sequel to the 2019 film Murder Mystery, and stars Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston.
| Murder Mystery 2 | |
|---|---|
![]() Official release poster | |
| Directed by | Jeremy Garelick |
| Written by | James Vanderbilt |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Bojan Bazelli |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Rupert Gregson-Williams |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Netflix |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Murder Mystery 2 was released on March 31, 2023, by Netflix.
Plot
Four years after their escapade in Monte Carlo,[lower-alpha 1] Nick and Audrey Spitz are full-time private detectives. Accepting an invitation from their friend, Vikram "The Maharajah" Govindan, to attend his wedding on his private island, they hope their association with him will lend their failing detective agency some professional credibility.
There, they meet Vik’s French fiancée Claudette Joubert, his flirtatious business partner Francisco Perez, his former fiancée Countess Sekou and her lady-in-waiting Imani, his reticent sister Saira, his ruthless bodyguard Lou, and their old friend Colonel Ulenga, who is now missing his left arm after saving Vik from an assassination attempt in Mumbai.
At the wedding, Audrey notices a cloaked figure following Vik's elephant. A dead body falls from the elephant and turns out to be Vik's bodyguard, Lou. Nick suspects that it is a diversion and watches Vik's abduction by a mysterious figure. Realizing that they are once again ensnared in a conspiracy, the couple determine that at least two perpetrators must have been involved: one to create the diversion and the other to kidnap Vik.
The next morning, the group is joined by a team of professional detectives led by former MI6 hostage negotiator Connor Miller. The kidnapper calls and tasks Nick to deliver a ransom of $70 million to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in exchange for Vik.
Traveling to Paris, Miller takes Nick and Audrey to the exhange point. The kidnappers force the couple into a van at gunpoint. Inside, the couple fights them, ending with the kidnappers dead and the van crashing into Café Procope. They realise they are being framed for Vik's abduction with footage of Nick running out of the tent brandishing a knife; Miller arrives and clarifies that the footage is a deepfake. After taking the briefcase of money and asking them to meet him at the La Madeleine, Miller is seemingly killed when his car explodes. A mysterious figure steals the briefcase, only to be robbed of it when hit by a truck.
With the assistance of Inspector Laurent de la Croix, the couple trace the truck to a countryside château where they are ambushed by Sekou and Imani, who insist they are not the kidnappers and only want the money. Sekou shoots Imani and attempts to kill the couple, but is herself shot dead by a dying Imani. Nick and Audrey escape and call de la Croix and the others, requesting Vik be brought to the Le Jules Verne restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. Vik appears at the rendezvous, strapped into a bomb vest. Nick reasons that the killer would never jeopardize the ransom. As he predicts, the bomb's countdown is suspended and Miller, the mastermind of the abduction, appears; he had faked his death by hiding in a bomb-proof titanium chamber within the car moments before the explosion. He attempts to kill the group, along with Susan, a lonesome widow that was looking for her long lost lover Gary, but Audrey clings to his harness and is pulled to the top floor.
Nick pursues them, subdues Miller's men, and destroys the detonator. Miller throws Audrey, who is still connected to his harness, off the tower. The two men engage in hand-to-hand combat, culminating with Nick opening the briefcase and dispersing the money into the wind.
Meanwhile, the group helps disengage Vik's bomb, and Susan tends to de la Croix, who was shot by Miller. Susan and de la Croix instantly fall in love after de la Croix shows her how to make circles with smoke.
Up on the top floor, Audrey reappears and helps Nick tie Miller's harness to the tower's elevator mechanism, throwing him into the rotor blades of his getaway helicopter, which explodes and crashes into the Seine.
Returning to the restaurant, Audrey mistakes Saira's darkened hand for blood, but Saira insists her henna smeared during the commotion. Audrey realizes that Saira was not present when Vik's elephant was ushered into the reception ceremony, and recalls that the cloaked figure who killed Lou had a wet henna stain on their clothes. Saira is the second conspirator; she was upset that Vik's parents gave him sole control over the business, and she had previously tried to kill Vik in Mumbai. Exposed, Saira attempts to shoot Vik but he is shielded by Ulenga, then Claudette knocks her out with the briefcase.
With the commotion concluded, Vik and Claudette decide to elope and give Nick and Audrey $10 million. On a honeymoon in Greece, they are accosted at gunpoint by their helicopter pilot; he steals the millions and jumps out of the helicopter, leaving them scrambling for the controls.
Cast
- Adam Sandler as Nick Spitz
- Jennifer Aniston as Audrey Spitz
- Mark Strong as Connor Miller
- Mélanie Laurent as Claudette
- Jodie Turner-Smith as Countess Sekou
- John Kani as Colonel Ulenga
- Kuhoo Verma as Saira
- Dany Boon as Inspector Delacroix
- Adeel Akhtar as The Maharajah
- Enrique Arce as Francisco
- Zurin Villanueva as Imani
- Jillian Bell as Susan
- Tony Goldwyn as Silverfox
- Annie Mumolo as Mrs. Silverfox
- Myo Leong as Mr. Lou
- Carlos Ponce as the pilot
Production
Development
In October 2019, it was announced that a sequel to Murder Mystery was in development with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston reprising their roles.[1] In August 2021, Jeremy Garelick was hired as director, from a script by James Vanderbilt, with filming of the sequel to take place in Paris and in the Caribbean.[2] Sandler and Aniston had confirmed their returns during the September 2021 Tudum Global Fan Event.[3]
In January 2022, it was reported that Adeel Akhtar and John Kani would be reprising their roles from the first film, with Mark Strong, Mélanie Laurent, Jodie Turner-Smith, Kuhoo Verma, Enrique Arce, Tony Goldwyn, Annie Mumolo and Zurin Villanueva joining the film as newcomers.[4]
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 46% based on 80 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A genially mediocre sequel to its similarly middling predecessor, Murder Mystery 2 could have been much better… and a whole lot worse."[9] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 44 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[10]
Notes
- As depicted in Murder Mystery (2019)
References
- Kit, Borys (October 11, 2019). "'Murder Mystery' Sequel in the Works at Netflix (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
- Fleming, Mike Jr. (August 17, 2021). "Jeremy Garelick To Direct Netflix 'Murder Mystery' Sequel; Jennifer Aniston & Adam Sandler Circling". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
- Mitovich, Matt Webb (September 25, 2021). "Murder Mystery 2: Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler Set to Return for Sequel to Hit Netflix Movie". TVLine. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
- Galuppo, Mia (January 24, 2022). "Jodie Turner-Smith, Mark Strong Join Netflix's 'Murder Mystery 2'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
- Brathwaite, Lester Fabian (February 7, 2022). "Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler are living their best lives on the set of Murder Mystery 2". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
- Jakiel, Olivia (April 8, 2022). "Jennifer Aniston Wraps Filming Netflix's Murder Mystery 2 with Adam Sandler: 'Merci Paris'". People. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
- Hoke, Carlie (April 11, 2022). "Murder Mystery 2 Has Wrapped, See How Adam Sandler And Jennifer Aniston Celebrated". CinemaBlend. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
- Chitwood, Adam (January 18, 2023). "Netflix Sets Release Dates for 'Extraction 2', David Fincher's 'The Killer', Zack Snyder's 'Rebel Moon' and More (Video)". TheWrap. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
- "Murder Mystery 2 (2023)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- "Murder Mystery 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
