Review: Smile 2
The recently released Smile 2 does exactly what a good sequel should: it takes what worked in the first movie and ramps it up to new levels.
Naomi Scott takes over the lead role as Skye Riley, a troubled pop superstar on the verge of starting a big comeback tour. While trying to get some painkillers from drug dealer Lewis (Lukas Gage), she witnesses him horrifically kill himself after sinisterly smiling at her. Things start to get horrific for Skye when she starts seeing other people smiling, loses time, and has terrible nightmares and hallucinations. Making the main protagonist a pop star with past issues is a great way to elevate things from the first movie. It also helps make Skye’s situation even more frantic and tense as a demonic entity is now cursing her on top of all the pressures of pop stardom. It also provides the characters with an easy way to believe she’s using drugs or too stressed out, further isolating her and driving her more and more unhinged. Naomi Scott does a fantastic job playing Skye’s descent into madness, with lots of wide-eyed horror and increasingly manic outbursts. No offense to Sosie Bacon, but Skye is a more interesting and compelling protagonist. The “Smile Entity” has also ramped up its tricks this time, with some of the most interesting bits being that it seemingly takes complete control of Skye’s body at points, locking her into hallucinations and then deviously letting her back out to wear her further down. There are some fantastic manifestations of the smiling people, including an incredible sequence involving an entire troupe of evil dancers. There are also some excellent and extremely brutal deaths that help the movie earn its R rating. There may be a bit of an overreliance on jump scares for some, but it felt like a good blend of eerie slow burns and jump scares throughout the movie.
Along with Scott, there’s a brief but fun return from Kyle Gallner, who was cursed in the final moments of the first movie. The always great Rosemarie DeWitt plays Skye’s mother/manager, Elizabeth, who brings the stage mom energy and keeps pushing Skye to perform even as she’s clearly on the verge of a psychotic break. Peter Jacobsen plays an interesting character in Morris, a paramedic who informs Skye precisely what is going on with her and has an extreme plan to try and save her and stop the Smile Entity once and for all. Miles Gutierrez-Riley and Dylan Gelula bring some much-appreciated comedic relief as Skye’s assistant and best friend, respectively.
Smile 2 is an extremely solid and entertaining horror movie that improves on everything that its predecessor did well and brings plenty of solid scares and gory violence. If you were a fan of the first Smile, you’ll definitely enjoy Smile 2.
