The Hangover Part III Movie Review

First of all, how is that poster NOT copying Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2?! Look at them, they are almost identical! I know that both franchises belong to Warner Bros, but come on!

But in all seriousness I was half looking forward to this film but I was also half skeptical of it. The first Hangover movie I felt had an original concept (as I clearly had not seen Dude, Where's My Car?) and it was genuinely funny. A lot of comedies lure the audience into the trap of seeing a film where the funniest moments all in the trailers and T.V. advertisements. I felt Todd Phillips really set the standard for the series and that is why I was extremely disappointed with Part II.

Apart from the location of the film, the character who goes missing and the character who gets married, Part II is essentially the first film all over again. Some people love it as much and that is fine, but for me, the film didn't really try anything new in terms of the story. The formula is exactly the same; the characters get drunk, wake up wondering "what the hell happened last night" and go on a crazy mission to find one of their own who has mysteriously disappeared. Nothing different or new.

So here we are at Part III. The plot is about the Wolfpack, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Doug (Justin Bartha) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis), all going to an intervention after Alan's father dies and on the way they are ambushed by the new villain, Marshall (John Goodman) who demands the money that Mr Chow (Ken Jeong) stole is returned or Doug (surprise, surprise!) will be killed.

When I heard the third film would have a different storyline I was relieved and hoped that it worked. This film, when compared with the first two, feels much more like an action thriller than an outright comedy. There is no hangover at the start of the film and it almost feels like a heist film involving a quest to retrieve the stolen gold. I think this change in direction worked really well and I enjoyed seeing something different this time around.

Now let's face it, these films are not best known for the acting talent; it is usually about the ridiculous situations our characters find themselves in. But Cooper, Helms, Bartha and Galifianakis all have great chemistry throughout the trilogy and that shows on screen. But for what it is worth, the actors get the job done in entertaining the audience.

There are some laugh out loud moments, such as Alan buying a giraffe early on and also one particular scene near the end of the movie which, as far as Alan's story goes, is personally satisfying. Mr Chow provides a lot of the comedy relief and while not as funny as he was in the first film, he still had me laughing here. I think there was a real fun factor about this film even with it taking a darker direction and the fact that I was not simply watching the first film again.

There was, however, one thing that really annoyed me about this film. Once again, Doug was written out of the action and is pretty much out for most of the movie. This, in my view, is lazy writing and I feel Phillips, Craig Mazin, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore could have written him into the main story. I could understand if he wasn't written out of the second film (as I can see why he was in the first) but for him to be out of the action for all three instalments is a step too far. That is my only major gripe.

Overall as you will be probably tell by now, I feel that this film is a redemption for Part II and it is a fitting end to the trilogy. It is as good as Part I? No, but I feel it comes very close to being so and is only just surpassed by the original. A lot of critics feel this film isn't much if any better than the second but there you go. I think Part III ends the series well but I do NOT want a Part IV but knowing what Hollywood is like with making money from successful franchises we will have to wait and see!