A One Mann’s Movies review of “Smile 2” (2024).
“Smile 2” is the sequel to the 2022 sleeper-hit from Parker Finn. That was a novel concept and delivered pretty well on its premise. But it wasn’t half as much of a blast as “Smile 2” turned out to be!
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“Smile 2” Plot Summary:
Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is an international superstar about to embark on a sold-out concert tour. But an encounter with a drug dealing friend Lucas (Lukas Gage), who is the current holder of the Smile curse, throws her already turbulent life into freefall.
Certification:
UK: 18; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong bloody violence, gore”)
Talent:
Starring: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, Raúl Castillo, Kyle Gallner, Drew Barrymore.
Directed by: Parker Finn.
Written by: Parker Finn.
Running Time: 2h 7m.
“Smile 2” Summary:
Positives:
- Genuinely creepy at times with the hallucinations that Skye experiences.
- Buckets full of gore.
- A stunning award-worthy performance by Naomi Scott.
- Really effective sound design and music choices.
Negatives:
- A “previously, in Smile” would have been appreciated as I was a little lost tying the pre-title sequence to the plot.
Refresher on “Smile“.
Before seeing “Smile 2”, it is well worth reminding yourself where the original film left off. (I’ll obviously make the assumption here that you’ve seen the 2022 film “Smile” so won’t mind me dropping Spoilers for that). You’ll remember that the Smile entity can propagate to a new ‘host’ by the target seeing the current host kill themselves (while, of course, smiling horribly at them). At the end of “Smile“, the possessed Rose (Sosie Bacon) tried to destroy the entity by burning herself alive in her old family home. But at the last minute, police officer Joel (Kyle Gallner) breaks in and witnesses Rose smiling at him as she dies, passing on the curse.
Review of “Smile 2”:
Linkage from the first film to the second.
We begin “Smile 2” with a caption that says “Six Days Later”. Six Days Later from what, I thought? It is actually six days later from the end of “Smile“. We see Joel (Kyle Gallner) trying to pass the curse on to two gangsters, but this is witnessed by drug dealer Lewis (Lukas Gage) who now owns the curse after Joel dies (horribly!!). It is Lewis that our protagonist, Skye (Naomi Scott), goes to visit in his apartment later in the film.
I was frankly a bit lost with this linkage since I didn’t recognise Joel and didn’t associate Lewis with the guy we meet later in the film. Perhaps we should have started the film with the final scene of the first film to at least anchor in Joel’s character? (There is a random burning body in the background as Joel walks across the first scene, but frankly I’d even forgotten that!)
A proper pop star.
Aside from this initial confusion, I very quickly got engaged with this story. Naomi Scott portrays the Swift-like megastar Skye Riley. This is the second time in as many months that we’ve seen the portrayal of a pop superstar: Saleka Shyamalan was the other one, playing Lady Raven in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap“. Although Saleka Shyamalan was ‘fine’ as the pop star, I always felt she was an actress playing the role. Here, I absolutely believed that Scott was the pop princess as she impressively sung and danced her way through the numbers.
Naomi Scott really is award’s worthy.
I listened to the “Kermode and Mayo” podcast where they interviewed Naomi Scott and afterwards in reviewing the film, the pair suggested that – if there was a level-playing field for awards – then Scott should be considered for an Acting nomination. I agree! I think she delivers a phenominal performance in this film delivering on the necessary shock, despair and utter terror that the role requires. It also requires some skill to down a bottle of Voss water in one go!
Scott is best known of course for playing Princess Jasmine in the live-action version of “Aladdin“. But this performance should shake any illusion that she is a ‘novelty act’ in movies. It would be great to see her in a A-list drama in the future.
The stuff of nightmares.
I go to see a lot of so-called horror films in a year and most of them are pretty weak. This one though had some seriously spooky moments as Skye experiences the entity’s hallucinations: a scene where multiple dance characters terrorise Skye in her apartment, scuttling along the corridor like any number of grotesque spiders, is quite unnerving. The film is also very, very gory and various sequences in the film reminded me of the body horror of “The Substance“.
Horror movies don’t typically give me nightmares. And it probably didn’t help that I saw this in a late evening showng. But I will admit that I found myself waking up in the night last night with various scenes from the film playing in my head!
A memorable finale
The finale of the film is well-written by writer/director Parker Finn (who also did the first film). We get wrong-footed by a solution from Morris (Peter Jacobson) but then end up in a very surprising place indeed. The final ‘reaction shots’ are just perfect and raised any number of questions for “Smile 3”!
Sounds ominous
Technically, the film is really nicely put together as well. The practical special effects are well done and the sparingly used CGI is also effective. But an outstanding aspect for me was the sound design of the film (by the ‘Formosa Group’) mixed with some really strange atonal music by Cristobal Tapia de Veer. There are some deep, resonant and absolutely deafening filling-loosening noises that really set your nerves on edge.
Summary Thoughts on “Smile 2″
I wasn’t expecting much from this one, but it really exceeded my expectations. One of the best horror films I’ve seen this year. Well recommended, if horror is your thing.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Smile 2”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18MgQ-2B6XM.
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!
[…] to break free from the curse. Skye’s death during her concert is a watershed moment in Smile 2, proving that her tragic conclusion is not a myth, but a harsh truth. Smile Movie Was Based on A […]