Smile 2 (2024)
Directed by: Parker Finn
Premise: A pop music star (Naomi Scott) witnesses an apparent suicide. She is haunted by macabre visions that are increasingly violent.
What Works: The original Smile used its supernatural premise as a way of dramatizing trauma and how abuse and other ordeals can haunt us. The suicide victims are actually afflicted with a curse and the witnesses to those deaths have the curse transferred to them. The sequel applies the concept in a slightly different way. The story centers on a pop music star in recovery from substance abuse and in Smile 2 the curse plays as a metaphor of addiction and toxic behavior. The concept fits well here and by making the lead character a celebrity musician the filmmakers riff on the clichés of show business cautionary tales in which entertainers are chewed up by a lifestyle and an industry that treats them as a commodity. Smile 2 puts us inside the head of someone whose life is out of their control and the way that must feel like insanity. Naomi Scott is terrific in the lead role. Scott is required to be on edge throughout much of the film and she brings a lot of energy and pathos to the role. Like its predecessor, Smile 2 is handsomely produced. It’s polished in a way that suits the subject matter and the use of camera movement and sound is distressing. It’s an effectively scary movie, in some ways more so than the original picture. The very end sets up an idea that could pay off in big ways if there is a third film.
What Doesn’t: Smile 2 doesn’t innovate or develop the mythology around the curse and the overall plot of the sequel adheres quite closely to the original. In fact, if the two Smile films were played side by side the plot beats would likely line up very closely. Smile 2 lacks the novelty of the original film and because its plot and premise so closely resemble its predecessor, the audience is mostly one step ahead of the story. We know where this is going and we’re waiting for the story to get there. The filmmakers try to outsmart the audience in the finale with a bunch of last-minute twists. These reveals are confusing instead of surprising. It’s also unclear what the film is trying to say. If this curse is to be taken as a metaphor of substance abuse and toxic behavior, the story suggests a fatalistic view in which there is no hope.
Bottom Line: Smile 2 outdoes its predecessor in filmmaking craft and it is just as frightening if not more so. The sequel doesn’t innovate on its core idea but the sequel does apply it in a slightly different way that results in a mixed message. But Smile 2 satisfies as a sequel.
Episode: #1018 (October 20, 2024)