In 2022 when Smile was released, it had all of the elements that make a horror film click including gore, mystery, jump scares, and creepy smiles that sent a shiver down your spine. The idea of an entity harassing and trying to kill our protagonist is something seen on repeat in the genre. However, Smile found a sadistic and unsettling trope that was its winning lottery ticket for audiences looking for a genuine scare.
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The film had a dramatically ambiguous, yet conclusive ending that was enough to be a standalone film. With the marketing for Smile 2, it was a sequel that wasn’t needed to continue the story but boy, once it gets going audience will wonder how we could have ever let the story die back in ’22. Smile 2 is an enhanced sequel that is bigger and more developed with one of the best performances of the year by Naomi Scott.
Skye was on the top of her game as one of the biggest pop performers. That is until a horrific car crash left her in shambles emotionally as a result of her drug addiction. One year after her fall from grace, Skye has gone into treatment and is ready to get her life back on track by going back on tour for all of her adoring fans. After getting injured at rehearsals she seeks out her friend Lewis for some Vicodin to help with the pain. When Lewis begins acting strange and yelling about someone who is following him and smiling at him, Skye finds herself trapped in the entity’s chain slowly going insane amid her upcoming comeback.
Smile 2 intensifies the film’s stakes through Skye’s status and environment as it impacts her ongoing struggle with recovery from her addiction. Where Smile followed Rose Cotter as a therapist in a more remote setting, Smile 2 explores the demonic entity from the first film through a much larger scope. Given Skye is world famous, her outbursts and “hallucinations” do not just impact her immediate family and friends, but her actions are viewed by the entire world. This allows the sequel to create a vast environment all through Skye’s point of view as the audience gets an inside glance at her terrifying reality and the fear of her condition from the outside world.
Naomi Scott gives the best performance this year in cinema with Smile 2 being her own personal comeback since she played Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin (and best role next to Mo in Lemonade Mouth). It makes the audience wonder how it took the industry this long to shine a spotlight on Scott for her acting chops and vocal abilities. Where performances rarely make or break a movie for this critic, this is Scott’s film through and through, the entire weight of it landing on her shoulders. She commands the screen effortlessly in her performance as pop singer Skye Riley and recovering addict Skye Riley.
Where Smile (2022) made it apparent the entity feeds on people’s trauma, Smile 2 expands its own themes through Skye’s previous addiction and ongoing recovery. In the ways that Skye acts out because of the sinister sightings she is experiencing, it is a parallel to the eccentric actions typically seen in famous individuals who struggle with drugs or alcohol. In this way, the film draws connections between trauma and addiction by choosing someone in the spotlight to expand its own themes.
Horror films are generally built off of a concept or evil, where characters are placed within the story to let it all play out. Smile 2 is a rare film that is written like a personal character study where Skye is the focus and the fear/entity surrounding her is the side character. There are a lot less constant scares in the runtime of Smile 2. Instead, it is paced out to amplify the dire situations Skye finds herself in and the actions she takes without knowing if she is living in the entity’s world or her own.
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Smile 2 is a fantastic example of a film capitalizing on a great concept and execution while seeing its own ability for improvement and expansion. If this is the last of the franchise we see, it will go out with a bang. But, if there is more to the story, director Parker Finn has this critic already in the theater chair waiting for what he writes next.
Follow Steph (the Author) on IG – @cinemasteph_7
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