Smile 2 (2024), directed by Parker Finn, stars Naomi Scott, Kyle Gallner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Dylan Gelula, Peter Jacobson, Lukas Gage, Ray Nicholson, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Raul Castillo, and Drew Barrymore. The film takes place a week after the events of Smile (2022) and follows Skye Riley (Scott), a famous pop star who begins seeing sinister smiling faces all around her after witnessing the brutal suicide of her drug dealer (Gage). Already struggling with the immense pressures of fame, Skye’s mental state quickly begins to deteriorate when she realizes she has no one to confide in. She soon realizes that to overcome this sinister entity, she first has to come to terms with her own dark past. 

No offense to Sosie Bacon’s lead performance in the previous film, but it’s immediately clear that Naomi Scott is a step up in terms of acting ability. She’s honestly everything you’d want out of a horror protagonist: emotional, relatable, flawed, smart (but not too smart), and unafraid to show some anger. There are countless scenes where her character has some kind of emotional breakdown. This could easily come off as grating, but Scott is so damn firey in her delivery that it’s compelling almost every time. Wherever the movie stumbles in terms of originality (compared to its predecessor), Scott makes up for it. In other words, we’re often ok with retreading some ground creatively if Scott is the one leading us through it. Although everyone else is good, they don’t particularly stand out. The only exception would be Ray Nicholson as Skye’s famous ex-boyfriend. He’s on screen for no more than maybe 5 minutes, but he’s immediately memorable. He’s definitely his father’s (Jack) son. Saying anything else about his role would spoil a bit too much, so I’ll leave it at that. 

From the first 10 minutes, it’s clear Finn has taken advantage of the much larger budget. Although scary sequences aren’t as consistently subversive as the first film, they’re undeniably a step up in terms of scale. They’re bigger, louder, longer, and more visually disturbing, they just aren’t as original/surprising. It reuses a lot of the same tricks as the first movie and they work for the most part; they just feel like a second serving of the same (but delicious) meal. 

Compared to the first movie’s tight pacing, this feels like it drags a bit in portions. The second act, although entertaining, doesn’t feel like it has much forward momentum in terms of plot. During this portion, it can feel like it’s just jumping from scary sequence to scary sequence without pushing the story forward. It’s a strange choice to make this movie almost 20 minutes longer than its predecessor when it clearly has little new to offer. However, as I mentioned previously, it still finds a few ways to subvert and surprise (even if it’s not half as often as the first movie). 

It helps that the movie starts with one of the most exciting opening sequences I’ve seen in a while. Because it follows a character we already know and care about, the tension is immediately cranked to the max, therefore quickly putting a stranglehold on the viewer’s attention. The movie starts well, but it likewise ends well. I appreciated that the ending here retains the spirit of the first movie’s ending. It’s similar in outcome, but not in terms of the ideas it plants in the head of the audience. It would feel derivative, but instead, it feels like a welcome improvement. In this ending, the film archives the rare “meta-scare.” In other words, it implies that we the audience could be the next victim of this curse. If that doesn’t chill you walking out, I don’t know what will. 

Overall, this is a great follow-up to the first film that suffers slightly from “sequelitis.” It struggles to find original ideas and scares, but it succeeds in improving (mostly) the specific style established in the first movie. Pound for pound, it’s as great of an experience as the first movie,  improving in some ways and regressing in others. If you liked the first movie check this out. I imagine some will like it more than the first installment, but for me, it’s on a level playing field. That being said, boy, did I love the ending. B