Starring: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lucas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson and Ray Nicholson
Distributor: Paramount Pictures Australia
Runtime: 128 mins. Reviewed in Oct 2024
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
| 
| 
About to embark on a world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events.
Smile is a beguiling word. And many smiles themselves are beguiling. But, this is not the kind of smile in the title of this film. Rather, there is that other aspect of a smile – a grin, sometimes a fixed grin which might look immediately cheerful but is ultimately sinister.
In fact, this is the opening for this reviewer’s take on the original Smile. And it applies to this sequel – even more so. Smile was a popular and critical success or a horror/terror film in 2022. Now, fans and critics seem to be united in the view that Smile 2 is even better. One might say that if the two film were submitted for an examination, Smile might be awarded distinction while Smile 2 gains a higher distinction.
But this does not mean that this is a film for every audience. Rather, it presupposes in its audience an interest in horror and terror, some bloodthirsty scenes but much more than this. And the crass language is gratingly incessant.
The original film was written and directed by Parker Finn. With the original success, he obviously feels that he can let himself go – and the film runs 128 minutes. There is a clever and tantalisingly filmed prologue, headed ‘six days later’, so the continuity. And the actor, Kyle Gallner, reprises his role to pass on the deadly smile, some kind of evil parasite that takes over a person, their descent into hysteria and hallucinations, into madness, and the compulsion to pass on the parasite. The audience needs to pay attention to this opening sequence to appreciate what is happening later in the film.
But, this is a story that take place in the world of a rock’n’roll singer, Skye Riley (Scott, in fact a singer who has her own music videos). There is also Riley’s show business mother (de Witt) and Riley’s entourage and supporters. This is her comeback after recovering from addiction, and a car crash which killed her husband (seen in flashbacks and played by Nicholson, reminding audiences of his father, Jack Nicholson’s smile.)
Scott gives a powerhouse performance, and then some. She is on screen for most of the film, having her normal moments, the musical productions, the personal relationships, the aftermath of her husband’s death, her insecurities, and her being possessed by the smile parasite, leading to all kinds of hallucinations, a descent into violent madness. Scott is persuasive at every moment.
In many ways, the plot here is a variation on the original film, but taken in different directions, often spectacularly, frighteningly (and, whether it was the editing plus the sound volume, several jump shocks – and the man sitting behind this reviewer jumping, kicking the seat and exclaiming loudly). For audiences who like terror of films and their psychological dimensions.
12 Random Films…
