nickryan99

My initial reaction as the credits rolled were "what did I just watch", and not with any positive connotation. With a horror movie genre I am delighted to see a movie get such high praise and do well at the box office, which is why I was very excited to see this. Considering how much I enjoyed Barbarian I had set my expectations relatively high.

Let's start with the structure and pacing of the movie. This movie is broken up into various chapters and each chapter follows a character from their POV. My main gripe about this film is that the first chapter is around 45 minutes long and is quite boring and this unfortunately drags down the film. I am fine with not getting a horror movie's plot or connecting with the themes but not with being bored. There is at least 5 or 6 chapters to this film and when the movie reaches the conclusion it is clear that this film doesn't really have a purpose or clear direction. It feels like a 2 hour collection of 6 random stories.

On a positive note there are some shocking, scary, and graphic scenes. These moments are quite memorable and give the film much needed excitement. I can see from the divided story telling and shocking nature the director has a style which is seen in Barbarian. In the case of Barbarian I feel it is built up and played out much better.

If you are going into this movie just to have a good time and turn your brain off then you'll enjoy this film. However, as someone who became obsessed with the Final Destination franchise nearly 2 decades ago after watching the choose your own fate edition of Final Destination 3 with the tanning bed scene permanently seared into my brain, I'm a bit more harsh.

Cons:

• The CGI blood and kills. Nothing takes me out of a scene more than dark red cartoon blood. With a film that is built PRIMARILY on deaths it should be quite limited on the usage of CGI. We've seen great use of practical effects which is why this feels like such wasted potential. The biggest reason these movies work is because no matter how ridiculous the set up is the death still feels real (4th sequel excluded). It doesn't have the same effect if the person dying sudden looks like an animated character.

• This might be the most useless protagonist since the 4th installment. The main character might be the blandest character in the whole movie, and she has some tough competition because only 3 people stand out in this movie. I can forgive throw away characters if the deaths are memorable but both are lacking here.

• There have been rumors that there were reshoots and I believe them because the final act has some pacing issues and ends somewhat abruptly.

Pros:

• I will say that this film had the 2nd best opening scene/disaster behind the pile up.

• Tony Todd's goodbye was moving and possibly the best dialogue he has given in the franchise.

• The hospital death scene involving an MRI machine has a great build up of suspense and emotion and is up there with other iconic final destination death scenes.

• While there is more cons then pros for me I still had a good time and still fun to see in theaters. While some FD sequels miss the mark there is always another sequel that can surpass it. Can't wait for the next sequels!!

After a consistent let down of various sequels, many of which being horror movies, Smile 2 feels like a needle in a haystack. So many sequels, reboots, and horror movies that just miss the mark but when the trailer for this movie was released I was intrigued. This first movie was pretty good so I decided to check this one out and it exceeded my expectations.

I didn't love the first movie because I didn't connect to the performance of the lead actor as much, however, the lead in this film was excellent!! I am a horror fan so I tend to be hard on these films and I truly enjoyed this film. This film is more fun, more shocking, and more gruesome than the 1st. It is definitely worth a watch.