Smile 2
Greg Rath-Pribyl

Review by Greg Rath-Pribyl Patron

Smile 2 2024

★★★★

Watched 18 Oct 2024

I enjoyed the first Smile movie. It's not phenomenal storytelling but the filmmaking techniques were what made it an enjoyable experience for me. Parker Finn seems to be a guy who outdoes himself with every film he directs and....Smile 2 proves that he keeps getting better and better.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked this one! The story had me guessing what was real and what wasn't, the tone is creepy and intense, I like how it ties into the first one, the jump scares are really effective, there are some good twists, and Naomi Scott gives one of my favorite performances in a horror film this year!

As for issues, I would say there are two things that come to mind. One is the climax gets a little lost. I was still with it and I was entertained but it is the only part of the film where I thought there was too much going on.

The other is the CGI on the Entity. It wasn't very convincing in the first film but it wasn't too bad either. This one on the other hand.....it's a straight up cartoon! I hate being critical of CGI because I have dabbled with it before and it is a LOT of work to making anything look convincing.....but I'm really not kidding when I say this creature reminds me of early 1990s CGI. While its not on screen for very long, it does stick out like a soar thumb in what is otherwise a solid and engaging horror sequel.

Despite those issues, I had a real good time with this one. It's a sequel that is much better than the original and it gets me excited for Smile 3.

If you are a fan of the first one or you get into horror films focusing on celebrity life like Perfect Blue, then you might like this one as well.

Block or Report

Greg liked these reviews

' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_f3367854-91ee-46d0-a41b-290d08a7dffa" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-f3367854-91ee-46d0-a41b-290d08a7dffa'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-f3367854-91ee-46d0-a41b-290d08a7dffa'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-f3367854-91ee-46d0-a41b-290d08a7dffa'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_2cf4888b-9fef-4c54-8555-9f991be96f96" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-2cf4888b-9fef-4c54-8555-9f991be96f96'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-2cf4888b-9fef-4c54-8555-9f991be96f96'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-2cf4888b-9fef-4c54-8555-9f991be96f96'));