KONY 2012's Sequel Is About How Good the Original Was

Screenshot/Invisible Children
Alexander Abad-Santos 1,186 Views Apr 5, 2012

Once KONY 2012 broke all kinds of internet video records, a sequel was inevitable. Now that it's arrived -- with Mad Max-ish title Kony 2012: Part II - Beyond Famous, little sticks out from its 19-minutes other than the basic idea: "KONY 2012 was a good thing" and maybe, "Joseph Kony is still pretty awful."

The new video feels more like an epilogue than a next installment.  It begins with news clips from Charlie Rose, Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer explaining how big a viral hit that first video was. There are some detractors, too, but they're mainly lesser names plus Anderson Cooper. But even their main criticism is a subtle brag: the original video was too simple. It doesn't take on the other problems that people had with Invisible Children, such as questions about their spending, the manipulative and implicit racism, or simply the efficacy of a viral video in bringing a warlord to justice. The problem is that the filmmakers did their job of raising awareness too well. (We don't blame them in choosing not to address the public breakdown of one the group's founders. That episode did turn out to have nothing to do with the video.) From there, it's a lot of "action" that's happened since the first video complete with cool infographics and plenty of interviews. Like any savvy viral company (or the Twilight franchise), the most interesting part of the movie seems to be hyping up the arrival of the next installment.  In Invisible Children's case, that comes on April 20 when they will "Cover the Night."

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