Spoilers or treat 🙂
Okey, if it wasn’t blatantly obvious, this is the movie I was going to review for this week. I thought I couldn’t quite get the experience without watching the first film, but to be honest the concept is quite easy to grasp. There will even be exposition later on for the late arrivals. If the first one was the first look, this one definitely goes further. It’s a more sleek production but there’s something to be said about the prototype.
Smile 2 (2024) is written and directed by Parker Finn. Global pop artist Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) has been recovering after substance abuse ended in tragedy and a terrible accident. This has left her with scars both physical and mental. Dealing with the pain, she visits her former dealer Lewis (Lukas Gage) to score some vicodin. Unfortunately, as we learn in the prologue, Lewis happens to be the latest recipient of a parasitic curse. Smiling freakishly at Skye, he commits suicide in front of the young pop artist. Now Skye is plagued by hallucinations and episodes where she cannot trust her own memory or the person in front of her. To make things worse, she must try to balance a comeback tour, fans and presentations without knowing what’s real and what’s not.
I found the execution of this sequel, using the context of the pop artist’s life and inside circle brings about a more interesting storyline than most horror films nowadays. If regular horror usually tries to isolate their protagonists in the middle of nowhere, this is more of a psychological isolation. Unable to trust anyone around her, Skye ends up reaching out to her estranged best friend Gemma (Dylan Gelula). She never even tries confiding in her own mother and manager Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt).
It works. The world of the pop artists, with their agents, managers, handlers and obsessive fans is shown but the entire film is carried by Naomi Scott’s strong performance as the very human Skye Riley. The ending does rise the stakes considerably for the franchise, but as crazy as it gets seems the scarier moments are always when the young performer is alone with her own thoughts and demons. Unable to trust her senses, or the memory of any event, the movie manages to convey the feeling of loneliness in a crowded room.
Strongly recommended. Full on production values and strong performances, this is a sure fire winner. Naomi Scott’s portrayal of a pop star trying to make a comeback but isolated from the world gives us a protagonist that is both vulnerable and charismatic. Very much worth a watch.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 