‘Smile 2’ is better than the first installment, even if it’s more of the same

PHOENIX (AZ family) – Open wide!

synopsis

Smile 2 follows pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) as she tries to make a big comeback after drug addiction and an accident nearly took her life the previous year. Skye’s comeback tour seems to be going well, but the pain from her accident has her secretly taking Vicodin.

When Skye’s drug dealer, Lewis (Lukas Gage), kills himself after giving her a creepy smile, Skye starts seeing smiling people stalking and stalking her. Skye’s mother (Rosemarie DeWitt) and social circle think she’s just losing her mind, but Skye believes she’s cursed and must figure out how to stop it.

my thoughts

For me, the first smile it was one of those cases where it didn’t live up to all the hype surrounding it. I didn’t really mind watching it in the first place, as I find the whole “creepy smiling person” not that scary, but the hype was just too big to ignore. People were acting like it was a horror movie for the ages.

So, consider me underwhelmed when the movie turned out to be… okay? It’s not bad or anything. It’s well acted and competently made, but it’s not that scary. Even if it didn’t completely terrify me, it seemed to have an effect on most viewers, enough to make it possible to make a lot of money and get Paramount to make a sequel. Will it be more of the same, though?

Smile like you mean it

Yes, it turns out that it really is more of the same, but that’s not particularly bad. I would argue that writer/director Parker Finn made a better film this time around, probably because he honed his skills with the first. The look of horror smile It definitely leans more cheesy than scary for me, but just like the movies themselves, they’re not too bad.

What does these smile The thing about movies is that they are character driven stories first, with the horror elements sprinkled on top. You could actually remove the supernatural smiling people entirely and be left with the exact same movie. From the perspective of the other characters, they are not seeing what the main character sees; it just looks like they’re witnessing a mental breakdown.

Like Sosie Bacon’s character Rose in the first film, Naomi Scott’s Skye Riley carries a great deal of emotional trauma, guilt, and pain. Where Rose seemed to have her life together before she was haunted by the smiling demon, Skye Riley is a complete wreck from start to finish. The smiling people are a little more spread out this time, so we’re mostly seeing a pop star’s downward spiral into insanity.

It’s certainly a long downward spiral at 128 minutes, but that runtime goes by pretty quickly thanks to Naomi Scott’s captivating lead performance. She’s basically in every scene, often performing her own one-woman show, with lots of close-ups of her various terrified expressions.

Scott’s performance draws you in from the start, but as Skye Riley’s mental state deteriorates, it’s like a magnet that draws you in more. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, with her intense eyes and manic grimaces. It was an incredibly emotional and physical role that Scott poured himself into, creating a constantly building tsunami wave until the end.

While she’s obviously modeled after Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande, Skye Riley feels like a real character. Parker Finn may be treading a lot of old ground here with this sequel, but the way he and Naomi Scott brought Skye Riley to life was a unique and compelling final girl.

If one thing is for sure, Naomi Scott definitely deserves a spot in the 2024 Horror Hall of Fame along with Mia Goth, Maika Monroe, Cailee Spaeny, Willa Fitzgerald, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. Seriously, what an incredible year for horrified women.

Say cheese and die

The pop star trying to make a comeback after battling addiction and a near-death experience was an interesting angle, but the actual story and thematic exploration we get here doesn’t go much further than last time.

The format and structure are basically the same, with the protagonist witnessing someone get killed and then being chased by smiling people while trying not to pass on the curse.

There’s a tense opening one-shot scene with the always great Kyle Gallner to wrap up his plot thread from the first film, but anyone wishing he played a part in the larger story will be disappointed. Smile 2 it’s a very independent sequel with little connection to the original beyond the curse the main character has.

It was nice that Finn didn’t feel the need to further explain the curse and keep things vague. It’s just a curse that if you get it, you’re screwed unless you use some outside-the-box thinking. Finn flirts with some deeper ideas that frustratingly aren’t fully explored, so even if the characters and setting are different, it feels like we’re watching the same movie as the first.

Like the first one though, Finn knows how to make a great looking, atmospheric film. He likes to indulge a little too much with the tilt and swivel camera and drone shots, but the man really knows how to set the mood. The way he frames and builds suspense feels almost Hitchcockian at times, with lots of long shots and wide pans so you can take in the strange surroundings.

Finn also brings the goods for the horror hounds. If you’re scared of smiling strangers crawling in the dark, you’ll get plenty of them, all topped off with predictable scares. Some of the more super moments are pretty awesome, though, with some gruesome effects. It’s really impressive that a horror sequel unrelated to the first one is so decent.

It’s kind of funny and kind of ironic that the scariest part of both movies are the end credits. Not in a fun, “Haha, this movie isn’t scary at all” kind of way, but they are legitimately unsettling. Composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer creates an eerie, cacophonous soundscape that accompanies the end credits that give you an almost sick feeling. It’s a shame the rest of the film doesn’t produce the same reaction.

Final sentence

Smile 2 it’s not exactly a case of diminishing returns, but it’s mostly a case of seconds tasting a little better than the first serving. It’s all a little familiar, but it’s a more than serviceable horror film carried mainly by a mesmerizing lead performance from Naomi Scott. From now on, if I see her appear in an upcoming film, I’m sure she’ll elevate it like she did here.

I will definitely be interested to see where Parker Finn takes his career. His next project is a remake of the 1981 film possessionso I hope it continues to move forward smilebecause it has already run so well dry. He’s got the chops to do something great. If you liked the first one smileyou will enjoy this, just expect more of the same. It’s the same, but made a little better.

My rating: 6.5/10

Smile 2 will open in theaters nationwide on Friday, October 18.

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