There were two main reasons for me watching The Family Plan 2 last month. First of all, I had recently watched The Family Plan. Second, it seemed to have some Christmas trimmings, which meant I could possibly include it alongside many other seasonal choices. It turns out that, like the film itself, neither of these reasons are good enough.
Director Simon Cellan Jones and writer David Coggeshall return to their main roles here, and they have most of the main cast members back with them. The main family members are Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Zoe Colletti, and Van Crosby, with the youngest one now portrayed by Peter and Theodore Lindsey. It's coming up to Christmas, and Dan (Wahlberg) wants the family to spend some quality time together, which is why he takes them over to London to reunite with Nina (Colletti). Nina is surprised by their arrival, especially as her boyfriend (Omar, played by Reda Elazouar) is using her shower at the time. Things don't look as if they'll be happy and idyllic, particularly when Dan is targeted by an individual (Kit Harington) with a very personal and powerful motive for revenge.
This is nonsense, and not in the same way that the first film was nonsense. That was silly, but it was entertaining enough to make the silliness feel like an acceptable enough price to pay for the plotting and action beats. This is just ridiculous, especially as viewers find out more and more unbelievable details about the backstory of our main character. And while the whole family are once again along for the ride, it feels like they're constantly being nudged to the side in order to keep the focus on Wahlberg and Harington, who are arguably the two least entertaining performers onscreen.
Okay, there are some decent sequences that make use of a couple of great locations (one being London, the other Paris), but nothing else about the film feels worth your time. The small twists are blindingly obvious, the action is dull and somehow a bit dated (they showcase some parkour as if it's the latest cool thing to crash into the action movie scene), and there's no kind of development of the family bond that we had last time around.
Wahlberg can do this kind of thing on auto-pilot, and that's what he seems to be doing for the majority of the runtime. Harington never really feels like a major threat, although he does better when his character isn't trying to be a super-villain. Monaghan, Colletti, and Crosby try to enjoy the scraps thrown their way, Elazouar is a decent addition to the main group, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Sanjeev Bhaskar in a small role.
Feel free to pick this if you can't think of any other way to spend 106 minutes, but don't pick it just because you enjoyed the first movie. And certainly don't pick it if you want an action film that might also give you some Christmassy warmth and colour. Jones ands Coggeshall have worked together here to deliver the bare minimum in all regards. And I'm annoyed that I will inevitably watch a third instalment if one is made.
4/10
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