The Hangover: Part II Review (4.5/5)

While Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2.5/5) suffered from a general lack of originality and its unwillingness to divert from a well-established formula, The Hangover: Part II benefits in this respect: yes, the central premise involves a minor character going missing, and yes, the credits photo montage sparks nearly as many as laughs as the feature itself, but it's the way that the anticipated sequel plays on your expectations and manages to craft a surprisingly unpredictable yarn that will, like the original (5/5), keep you guessing and bursting out with laughter until the very end. Justin Bartha gets slightly more screentime as Doug than before, yet again it's Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper and the ever-hilarious Zach Galifinakas who steal the show as the Wolfpack, seeking the bride-to-be's brother in the far seedier and darker world of Banghkok whilst trying to discover what happened the night before and who caused their familiar amnesia. Despite a relatively identical structure, Part II features a host of entertaining setpieces in monasteries, tattoo parlours and strip clubs- oh, you just wait until you see what Stu got up to...this film is rated 15 for a reason!- that are just as hysteria-inducing as those found in the first one (if not more so at times) and better still there's a genuine feeling that the scale of the drama and action has been ramped up significantly. Of course, I have to be critical of the movie's format being so noticeably close in form to its predecessor, and at times the speed at which it barrels through its hectic plotline means that most of the promising additions to the cast and a couple of great cameo returnees don't perhaps get the screen attention they deserve, however that these minor complaints are the only ones I can level at The Hangover: Part II prove it is truly a sublime follow-up to 2009's best comedy that gives me hope this Summer of Film will be a satisfying one!