Smile 2 (2024) – What’s The Use of Crying?

Released: 25th July
Seen: 9th November

So… how was your week?

For people who might stumble upon this in the future, this review is being written in the direct aftermath of America looking at a female prosecutor and a convicted felon who a court has determined to be a literal rapist who also has people who study the rise of Adolf Hitler going “Hey, this guy feels familiar” and decided to give the fascist the practically endless power of the United States presidency so I’ve been a little depressed lately (and I’m not even from the US so god knows how I’d feel if I had to live in the same country that did that). It’s been a hard week full of intense emotions with a lot of people just feeling like the world is crumbling around them… seems like a perfect time to go watch the sequel to a movie about how mental illness can drive you to the brink of suicide and beyond, because it seemed like a more fitting option than that cute looking movie about round robots who raise ducks.

Content warning, this film deals heavily with ideas of suicide and mental illness and those will need to be discussed in order to properly discuss this movie. If that is too much for you… this movie will be too much for you, there’s your review. If even reading this far has stirred up emotions, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or the service in your country.

Smile 2 follows one of the standout horror films of 2022, Smile, by picking up a mere week after the absolutely horrifying ending to that film. After a truly incredible opening scene done in a stunning-looking long take, we’re introduced to Smile 2’s protagonist Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), a pop star who is about to embark on a massive comeback tour. Her comeback is pretty important to her since a year ago she was involved in a devastating car crash that killed her partner and caused her some serious mental and physical trauma that has left her permanently scarred. Still, no time to properly heal, Skye’s stage mom Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt) along with the label are pushing Skye to get on with the tour, a tour that will surely be ruined after Skye witnesses someone committing suicide in the most violent way imaginable which in turn infects Skye with a strange constant feeling of dread and anxiety that won’t go away no matter what.

If Smile was about how the healthcare system fails people with mental illnesses, Smile 2 questions how we can treat mental illness for anyone considering we have to get them back into the world to work (while throwing in a little bit of critique of celebrity worship for good measure). The pressure of stardom is a topic that’s not easy for Hollywood to present because it’s hard to make it relatable (we’re not all superstars living in fancy apartments with a team of people helping us survive), but Smile 2 makes it relatable. Smile 2 presents a woman who has been through an incredible trauma but the realities of her profession make it impossible for her to take the time needed to recover properly, leading to her being overwhelmed mentally and making her even worse. What Skye should probably be doing is not only physically healing but taking time to just not be in a high-pressure situation so she can deal with the trauma of watching someone die in front of her but she’s denied that and thus she slowly mentally unravels throughout the film.

It also helps that Smile 2 is so tense that it feels like it’s seconds away from having a full-on anxiety attack. Every single frame of the film is so perfectly crafted to create tension that it’s kind of stunning, from the horrifying several-minute-long take that opens the film through to the massive climax there is not a second that doesn’t work. Every shot holds for the exact length it needs to have you curling up in your seat, every violent action is lingered on just long enough for the brutality to sink into your soul and god damn when the film wants to carefully set up a hallucination it does so in such an expert way that you won’t notice you’re in a hallucination until it’s far too late.

A lot of what makes Smile 2 so stunning is the brilliant cinematography (seriously, so many of these shots should be studied by any film student wanting to learn how to make an effective horror film) and the first-class direction by Parker Finn. This is only Parker’s second feature film after the original Smile but you would never know it based on what’s presented. This is a horror film-maker firing on all cylinders, combining a glorious use of metaphor with perfect framing, timing and understanding of just when to let the tension out before ratcheting it back up again. It’s honestly exciting to see a new horror director rising up so quickly, hopefully there’ll be a whole bunch of Parker Finn horror hits coming out that make use of the undeniable creative talent the man has.

However, the real powerhouse of this film, what makes Smile 2 feel bigger and better than the film that preceded it, is the delightful Naomi Scott who has finally been given a role worthy of her undeniable talents. I’ve been hoping for this kind of role for Naomi for a while, she was the high point of films like Power Rangers, Aladdin and Charlie’s Angels and I’ve been begging for someone to give her an original character that she can turn into something great and god damn it she does that with Skye, creating this complicated character with a rich history full of trauma and pain who has more than enough talent to be a superstar. Naomi does so much in this film that it’s astounding, from the emotionally destructive scenes where she’s a live wire of raw nerves to being more terrified than any human has ever been to just being a pop star (because yes, they let her perform some of Skye’s songs in the movie and you get why this person would be a major celebrity in the world that’s been created). If the Oscars were cool, we’d be having serious discussions about Naomi being a nominee next year but because the Oscars are never cool when it comes to horror, this will be a snub that I don’t plan on getting over any time soon.

Smile 2 took what Smile did and went even bigger, that’s pretty much all you want a good horror sequel to do. It turbocharges the powerful metaphor, leans into the tension so much that it’s hard to breathe at times while watching it and has some of the most shocking deaths shown in a horror film this year and I would remind you that Terrifier 3 is still in cinemas so that bar is high. Smile 2 is a truly great horror sequel and makes me excited for where this franchise might go if they decide to make another one, though I would also understand if they decided to resist doing that since they’ve managed to nail it twice and it’d be really damn hard to top this one but I would love to see them try.