FILM REVIEW: "SMILE 2" EARNS A SCOWL
There is an adage: it takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown; evidently, it takes fewer muscle to write Smile 2 than it does to write Smile 1.
After witnessing a tragedy, pop-star Skye Riley is plagued with disturbing visions that threaten to destroy her career and sanity.
Smile, as a concept, is plagued with genericism: judas grins, jump-scares, and chain-mail demons. The first film was able to avoid these pitfalls by offering an entertaining thriller, wherein the main character chased the bloody thread left by former victims. Smile 2, however, neither expands the mythos or shifts the trajectory of the franchise.
On paper, Smile 2 is a riot: a pop-star cursed by a shape shifting monster during a world tour - unfortunately, other than a freakish flash-mob, the film fails to capitalise on its concept. Too self-serious to have fun, not brave enough to take risks. Twice the length and half as scary, Smile 2 is Smile 1 with a coat of lip-gloss.
Skye, an amicable Naomi Scott, neither investigates the demon, nor tries very hard to escape its grasp; the demon itself, does utterly nothing to exceed its first foray. As act succeeds acts, Skye's accursed experiences become repetitious, contrived, and fatally dull. Writer/director Parker Finn has done half a job yet beams a full smile: his directing is sleek and smart, though his writing is ill paced, unflinching, rife with unearned jump scares, and full to the brim with tedious monologues about mental health.
Double the smiles, half the joy; those afraid of smiles and dark corridors will find themselves aptly sated, those seeking something fresh or truly fiendish may exit the theatre with a frown.
