The Hangover 3 comes out this weekend, marking the end of an era. Since this is the third and final film in the trilogy, we’re hoping for it to also be the best.
When The Hangover first came out in 2009, nobody had ever seen anything like it. The public’s response to the film was overwhelmingly positive, helping it become one of the top grossing films of the year. Then, in 2011, we got The Hangover 2. Needless to say, it was worse than the original because it was JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL. Bradley Cooper’s character film even states “It happened again” at the very beginning of the movie. While we all wanted another Hangover movie, we wanted it to be more original.
Enter The Hangover 3. This time we’re getting a whole new premise and we really don’t know what to expect. However, the Wolf Pack is returning to Las Vegas, their old stomping grounds, and we all know how well Sin City agreed with them last time. It just feels like the trilogy will be coming full circle in this movie. Because of that, here are 5 reasons why Part III could potentially be better than the original.
1. The Wolf Pack’s memories are just fine
While we loved seeing the trio trying to remember what they did the previous night and avoid some of the consequences of their actions, we prefer to see them living in the moment. After all, these are three naturally crazy characters, so even when they’re not black-out drunk, they do insane things. We have a feeling that they’ll anger quite a few people in this next movie without having had even a drop of liquor, and we’re interested to see how things go from there.
2. It isn’t Alan’s fault this time
In the first movie, Alan accidentally roofied himself, Doug, Phil, and Stu, causing their blackouts. He then drugs his friends again in the second movie with a combination of ADHD drugs, muscle relaxants, and alcohol, causing more memory loss. Now that Alan has nothing to do with their predicament (except for being taken to get some personal help at a bad time), all of the characters can spend less time blaming and/or degrading him and more time working together as a team. That means more priceless Wolf Pack moments.
3. The Wolf Pack knows how to survive the dark side of Vegas
In the original movie, we saw Stu, Phil, and Alan deal with crooked police, drug dealers, and even Mike Tyson. These three experienced the worst that Vegas has to offer and survived. Now that they’re returning to their own personal hell, they’re more prepared. We predict that, this time, they’ll use the system to their advantage and become forces to be reckoned with.
4. John Goodman is the antagonist
John Goodman is a BOSS. While Ken Jeong’s Chow was an interesting and appropriate foe for their first trip to Vegas, Goodman is an excellent actor who will make for an even better and more versatile antagonist in The Hangover 3. After all, when Chow tried holding Doug as a form of insurance, he ended up kidnapping the wrong Doug. So at least Goodman’s character has the right one. That’s already an improvement over the first movie.
5. Nobody in the Wolf Pack (or Extended Wolf Pack) is Getting Married
The two previous films centered on one of the four friends getting married and how the hijinks that ensue will affect said marriage. While the marriage plot worked for the first movie and gave the second movie a reason to take place in Thailand, we’re relieved that this plot element isn’t returning for The Hangover 3. We were never really primed to care about the marriages anyway. Now, all of the focus is going to be on the four friends (whose lives we’ve been invested in since the beginning) and their relationships with each other.