Smile 2
review by Bobby Blakey
In 2022, writer/director Parker Finn brought his vision of terror to life in the film Smile. The film did well enough to get Finn journey back into this same nightmare for the follow-up aptly titled Smile 2 starring Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Raúl Castillo, Dylan Gelula, and Ray Nicholson. Could this next chapter offer more to expand this new horror franchise, or will it fail to put a smile on yourself?
Smile 2 follows the global pop sensation Skye Riley about to embark on a new world tour, who begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
I am not a big fan of the first film, but still find it entertaining. It manages to take a familiar territory and do something new with it and with its success here we are again. With us being bombarded with this trailer the studio clearly believes in this film so had me eager to see if it was able to bring something more to the story or at least capture the same essence of its predecessor. While it does expand on the lore a bit, it doesn’t do all that much new to stand out. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, it just doesn’t step things up much more than the first film.
For me, I enjoyed the direction and focus on a single character this time around a little more than the previous film, but that is also why it stood out some. The lore gets muddled at times in this one, but I think that is mostly due to rushing too fast to get to the bigger story. The opening of the film is a direct continuation from the first film and while clear what happens, I think it would have worked better with some more straight forward moment to showcase how
it ended before leading into the main theme. It’s not confusing or anything, but some might question part of it with the way it plays out.
It's still a strong open and leads to a film that keeps it moving and engaging as we watch Skye’s decent into her madness of sorts. The addition of her own issues helps to explain away a lot to those around her and in turn makes for it to be more believable when people question or just think she is crazy. I thought Noomi Scott did a fantastic job in the role of having to bring an insane amount of depth and emotion for us to buy into it and she went all in.
The final act while I thoroughly enjoyed, does seem to lean away from some of what was established in the first film, but not so much that it really bothered me all that much. It does go in one direction that leans more into the supernatural element and could throw some off. I actually like it, but it would have still worked without it either way.
Decide for yourself and check out Smile 2 in theaters now from Paramount.