Smile 2 (2024)

 

**This post contains spoilers**

The Story- A drug dealer named Lewis (Lukas Gage) violently commits suicide in his apartment, passing the curse to troubled pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott). Skye, preparing for a comeback tour, slowly unravels, while fighting her inner demons, as the curse tightens its grip.

Supported and monitored by her mother, Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt), her assistant, Joshua (Miles-Gutierrez Riley), and the head of Skye’s record label, Darius (Raul Castillo), Skye tries to hold it together before the tour starts. But she’s haunted by memories of a turbulent past with her boyfriend, Paul (Ray Nicholson), and physically, Skye is struggling to adjust to life after a brutal car accident. 

Skye reaches out to Gemma (Dylan  Gelula) in an attempt to repair their broken friendship. Meanwhile, Morris (Peter Jacobson), a nurse with a personal connection to the curse, cooks up a risky plan to stop the entity.

My Thoughts- Skye Riley is a diva, she’s kind of a brat, and Skye has some anger issues. But she’s feeling the pressure of making a big comeback, one last chance to get it right, and almost everyone in her circle is depending on her. Oh, and she’s the new target for the curse. 

Naomi Scott is truly fantastic here. She cranks it up to eleven for an energetic all gas, no brakes performance. Whether it’s chugging Voss water, the hysterical fits, or the scenes, where Skye is clearly hitting her breaking point, you’ll always know Scott is the center of attention in all of her scenes, because she brings a spark to Skye’s quirks and her tantrums. 

Three films in, and by now, we already know the curse is something that’s capable of driving you insane, with constant mind games. Scott never lets up, when the curse takes a hold of Skye, not once. 

Where is she getting all of this energy from! It’s a question I constantly asked myself throughout the movie. The outbursts (“FUCK the tour!”), repeatedly slapping her own face with a bloody hand, and the emotional breakdowns. So far, Naomi Scott’s performance is the measuring stick that shows how the curse will destroy your life, and it’ll completely break you, no matter how hard you try and fight back. 

Skye has her problems, and she’s not perfect. There’s no denying it, but she’s also someone, who hit a rough patch in her life. The pressures of being a big mainstream pop star, abusing drugs before the car accident, and she’s currently dealing with an addiction to painkillers. 

The flashback to the accident with Paul works to show just how bad Skye’s issues were before she hit rock bottom. She was a complete mess before her attempted redemption tour. You can see it in the scene with Paul, and the brief flashback, with Skye sobbing and tearing off pieces of her hair. All in all, Skye Riley is a complicated character, but Naomi Scott effortlessly nails each layer of the problematic pop star, who’s reluctantly chasing a second chance.

The majority of the mind games from the entity are more cruel in the sequel. The charity banquet, where Skye has a meltdown is one scene that sticks out. Paul slowly walks towards the stage, with that creepy smile on his face, and Skye completely freaks out. Paul is a ghost from Skye’s past. She’s not ready to deal with him, because Skye clearly feels responsible for what happened to Paul. Awesome scene, with Ray Nicholson’s sinister smiling facial expressions, and Scott’s reaction (“STOP SMILING AT ME!!”) to him. 

Something that’s easy to notice, is Skye and Rose’s different paths in their attempts to stop the curse. With the exception of Joel, Rose from the previous film was shunned and abandoned by her fiancé and her family, when she reached out for help with the curse. Skye? You get the feeling she actually had a more solid and caring support system around her, including her dance choreographer, Anton (Jon Rua). 

Yeah, maybe you could say Skye’s inner circle pushed her too her hard, and the big expectations played a part in Skye’s downward spiral. Maybe Elizabeth was too demanding? Having to deal with your mother, who’s also your manager is a tricky conundrum. 

Skye’s team genuinely cared about her. Skye also didn’t make things easy by sneaking around to buy Vicodin, and hiding her addiction to painkillers. Was there a chance for Skye to have a happy ending, if she just told someone about Lewis’ suicide and the curse? A small possibility for a positive outcome, but on the other side of that, Skye’s secrecy and bottling up too much works to add the essential layer for a tragic character, who just can’t catch a break. 

Hold on a minute. Gemma was never with Skye in the beginning or towards the end? Skye didn’t bury the hatchet with her? Yep. More mind games and illusions from the entity. To take things further, Skye imagined a good seventy to eighty percent of the events in the movie! The reunion with Gemma, meeting Morris at the bar, and the fight with Elizabeth at the wellness center. None of it happened. 

Take a good look at the blue/turquoise costume Skye is wearing during the early stages of the movie, the same costume she was afraid to wear, because you could see her scar from the surgery? That’s the same costume Skye is wearing, when she snaps back into reality. 

I have mixed feelings for how the ending played out. I never believed for one second that Skye realistically had a chance to beat the entity. It would’ve been a great shocker if she did survive, but I had too many doubts. Yes, Skye, stuck in the entity’s web of tricks and mind games, survived one close call after another, but that’s the problem. After a while, it’s clear the entity is just throwing too many haymakers at her, and at some point, Skye was inevitably going to end up on the losing end of the struggle. 

Morris’ solution? Eh, it was too far-fetched to work. I get the idea of “killing” Skye, or brining her to the brink of death to break the chain for the curse. But the chances for a successful attempt were too slim, a big long shot in the realm of miraculous last-ditch efforts.

Still, Smile 2 manages to deliver a thrilling and emotional finale. Skye’s devastated reaction, when she realizes Gemma was just an illusion is terrific. Skye was clinging to the renewed friendship with Gemma for support. Gemma was supposed to be one of her anchors, and the entity used that against her.

The final moments, where Skye, now fully consumed by the curse, jams the microphone into her head to commit suicide? Nasty stuff. And some good gross out moments, when the entity appears, tearing and ripping through the smiling version of Skye’s body before stretching the real Skye’s mouth wide open. 

Parker Finn choosing to focus on the crowd’s horrified reactions to Skye killing herself, instead of showing Skye actually doing it, was a nice touch. You just see the aftermath of Skye’s corpse lying on the ground, with the microphone stuck in her head. Give the viewers a chance to imagine how horrible Skye’s demise truly is, without showing everything step by step. 

Also, taking a few steps backwards, the ending manages to deliver another good emotional blow, when you realize Skye was defeated by the entity in the form of Skye after the car accident. All the bad memories, the drugs, and her rocky relationship with Paul. She was the final demon, who Skye couldn’t overcome, the absolute worst version of herself. In the end, Skye couldn’t forgive herself for causing the car accident with Paul. The regret completely consumed her, so that was the catalyst for her undoing.

Smile looks and feels more established in the sequel. Parker Finn sticks with some of the dizzying and inverted shots from the previous film. Just taking a stab at this, but the topsy-turvy shots are used as a visual representation for the current cursed victim’s world being turned upside down, and there’s no way to escape it.

Rose was put on a bumpy road, but Parker Finn raises the stakes with Skye as a victim for the curse. Remember, the entity (or The Monstrosity) feeds off of trauma, and there’s one particular traumatic event that Skye just couldn’t let go of. 

To make matters worse, Skye is someone, who’s constantly surrounded by people, making it nearly impossible to avoid the demonic smiling faces. The scene, where Skye is cornered by her dancers in her apartment? Freaky stuff, especially the unified and choreographed slinking movements before the group corners Skye. 

Skye dealing with extreme amounts of stress for being a young pop star undeniably made things worse. So many people pulling you in different directions, the expectations, and the exhausting grind that never seems to end. She’s also dealing with a curse! Yeah, too much.

Morris’ plan to stop the entity was a bit too loopy. I get it. Skye needed a miracle to survive, but her chances were always too slim, especially when you know what happened to Rose.  

But there’s no denying Smile 2 is still an outstanding follow up to the 2022 film. This is you want from a sequel, a film that lets you know the original wasn’t just a flash in the pan or a fluke, and it’s one of the rare cases, where the sequel surpasses the original. And a nice effort to add some realism with Skye appearing on Drew Barrymore’s show for the first big interview before the tour.

After the first film, you know what to expect for the fake-outs and the illusions, but a few of them still managed  to catch me off guard. The argument between Skye and Elizabeth at the wellness center is easily my top pick. And the Gemma twist is a good shocker. 

The curse turns into a worldwide epidemic in the next film? Think about an arena filled to the brim with thousands of people, fans recording, and the chances for live streaming the concert. Lots of possibilities!

Similar to its predecessor, Smile 2 is consistently tense, delivering stronger thrills, while the story moves at a much faster pace. Some nice spooky moments, the right amount of bloody gore, and a handful of unnerving moments. 

The scene with the creepy stalker fan at Skye’s autograph signing is a wild one. Ivan Carlo’s Alfredo is someone, who’ll make your skin crawl. The angry screeching voice, his disgusting poor hygiene (e.g. the skid marks in his underwear), and his unhealthy obsession with Skye. A real weirdo, and Carlo is pretty damn good during his brief appearances.

Smile 2 gets an extra bump over the original for Naomi Scott’s excellent performance. Third or fourth time rewatching this one, because Smile 2 is one of my personal favorites for 2024 horror films. 

A truly bonkers horror flick from start to finish, including Joel’s (Kyle Gallner) botched attempt to pass the curse, complete with a vision of Rose engulfed in flames to maintain the continuity between both films. A frazzled Gallner makes the most of his short screen time, starting the movie off with a real bang for a smooth transition into Skye’s story. Solid emotional depth, and a balanced supporting cast for the story about a controversial celebrity, who could’ve avoided a lot of problems, if she didn’t secretly go to a drug dealer’s apartment in the middle of the night to score Vicodin. 

Rating- 9/10