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Young Critic

Smile 2

Updated: 13 hours ago

The horror follow-up's increased scale dilutes its haunting nature



Smile (2022) became a viral sensation before its release; the Paramount marketing team employed one person to stand behind home plate of MLB games and smile creepily at the camera for the entire game. The film itself also proved to be a refreshingly haunting and character-driven horror film. Undoubtedly, the critical and box office success demanded a sequel.

 

Smile 2 follows pop-star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), who is mounting a come-back tour after a stint in rehab prompted by a fatal car crash. However, Skye has become infected with the haunting smile curse of the first film, wherein she sees people smiling creepily everywhere, testing her perception of what is real.

 

Parker Finn returns to direct and brings with him a bigger scale and ambition alongside an enlarged budget. This allows viewers to believably buy Skye as a worldwide pop star as well as making the the make-up and gore effects more elaborate. Finn’s ambition also stretches to his technical abilities, showing off impressive single-take scenes. These long takes give a greater sense of immersion and claustrophobia, with viewers sensing that a cut away isn’t going to save them from a spooky image. There are also visual call-backs to jump-scares of the first film, but in general the new scares are earned.

 

The first Smile was the last film I’d seen that made it hard for me to sleep the night after; Finn’s patient use of imagination and shadows to convey dread helped viewers see all kinds of figures in their bedroom darkness. Sadly, with Smile 2’s increased budget, Finn leaves less to the imagination, bursting the bubble of suggestive frights that are always scarier than anything conjured up by make-up of visual effects teams.

 

Smile had a tight pacing, led by the discovery of the curse’s functions and potential solutions. Smile 2 meanders for a large portion of the runtime. Most of the second act is a series of redundant frightening sequences that fail to move the story forward. The third act is the messiest, with Finn incapable of choosing between two endings, instead there is a cop-out plot twist that delivers both, contradicting each other.

 

Scott takes over the lead after the impressive performance from Sosie Bacon in the first film. Scott is spectacular as Skye, delivering the paranoia, delusion, and desperation that a Smile protagonist requires. Scott has been an actress exuding charisma and talent in previous films, but was hamstrung by vanilla blockbuster rules in Power Rangers (2017), Aladdin (2019), and Charlie’s Angels (2019). Smile 2 allows her to push the limits of her acting range to an impressive degree.

 

In the end, Smile 2 recaptures much of the creepiness of the first film, yet it undoubtedly is diluted with the increased scale. This loosens the narrative hook and an indecisive finale hampers the gut-punch ending the first film delivered. Scott showcases her best performance on screen to date, and while Finn showcases a grasp of cinematic techniques, this follow-up required the focused and pared approach of its predecessor.

6.7/10

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I've been writing on different version of this website since February of 2013. I originally founded the website in a film-buff phase in high school, but it has since continued through college and into my adult life. Young Critic may be getting older, but the love and passion for film is forever young. 

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