Movie Review: I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

The movie stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mekhi Phifer, Brandy Norwood, Muse Watson and Freddie Prinze, Jr.

I recently had an opportunity to watch I Know What You Did Last Summer for the first time and ended up being much more impressed with the movie than I thought I would be. As a result of that, when I saw the sequel on one of our movie channels yesterday, I decided to record it and watch it.

Even though I did enjoy the first film, I did have quite a few doubts about this movie, largely because sequels usually aren't even remotely as good as the original. And, when I learned they were going to the Bahamas in this one, those doubts did grow a bit more because I couldn't help but wonder if that decision was made solely for the purpose of showing Jennifer Love Hewitt in a bikini. As it turns out, however, this film actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Some aspects of the movie were a little predictable. For example, when they won the Bahama trip, I kind of figured it was a setup. And, I was able to correctly pick out one of the bad guys long before the film even got going.

Despite this, the film managed to include just enough plot twists to keep me guessing, especially since my original theory fell through (or at least seemed to fall through) relatively early when my primary suspect had a rock-solid alibi. As a result of this, even though I never fully abandoned my original theory, I did give a serious look at other potential suspects, something I would expect from a good murder mystery.

Also, as the movie progressed, I found I liked the location choice more than I thought I would. Yes, the writers did find a way to get the star in a bikini. But, the remoteness of the island, the inability to escape and an incoming hurricane did manage to add quite a bit more to the overall plot than I was expecting.

Probably my only real complaint about this film is the same one I had with the original, while it was a halfway decent murder mystery, it wasn't much of a thriller. There wasn't much of an effort to build up the suspense and, when the killer struck someone down, the victim was rarely a surprise. Fortunately, like the first film, there's just enough of a mystery to make up for it.

As I expected, the original was definitely better. However, this movie proved to be a better film than I was expecting and I enjoyed watching it as a result.

My Grade: B