The beginning of this movie is so satisfying. I love the way we pick up with the Bride directly echoing the ending of the last one, adding on with a panic attack and her trip to hospital. Samara Weaving delivers such a harrowing recap of the last movie’s events from that hospital bed, and I feel sorry for her – I mean, I watched the movie, but I didn’t register how terrifying it was from the first-hand experience; to me, it was a sometimes hilarious and tantalizing bloodbath 😊 The high table gathering together international candidates indicates how the stakes are going up, and it intrigued me. It’s not too dissimilar to the sequels of John Wick, and this sort of oozing out spread of lore as the world gets bigger. And we jump right back into the action with Kevin Durand showing up to attack Grace (Samara Weaving) at the hospital, which was never going to go well for him because… Mr. Le Bail has rules! But it allows Grace to return to her shivering best, and clue in Faith (Kathryn Newton) to the actual stakes of this game that Grace is clearly still playing. Of course, I applaud the attention to detail, with Grace’s hand severely out of action, since it has a hole through it; and there’s no chance to reset since Grace is still heavily affected by the knocks of the first movie. Grace then decides that her only course of action is to reclaim her wedding dress, and yellow sneakers, since the movie rightfully assumes how iconic that look was in the original and it makes sense to have it back again 🥰 The beginning of this movie is exactly what you want from a sequel, and it’s like baking shortbread – some sequels are store bought shortbread, and they look the part, perhaps coming in a fancy packaging, but don’t quite taste so great. But Ready or Not 2: Here I Come knows to use the richest butter, treat the movie as an indulgence, and affirms a bristling pace to get us straight into some savoursome delight.
But then, I won’t say it gets bad, but the movie becomes rote and a little questionable. The rules of this exchange are explained, and knowing movies, you can start ticking boxes. You can be pretty confident that Grace isn’t going to die, which means our new colourful characters are going to get killed, in order to allow other family members to join the game, and opposing families are going to accidently kill each other so their entire bloodlines will explode – both scenarios have been foretold, both scenarios will and do happen, and we’re just waiting for the order of events to reveal themselves. The movie must also slow down at times to fit in Grace and Faith working out their differences, explaining their backstory as to why they became estranged, and either the movie holds one of those scenes too many or the movie doesn’t do a thrilling job of keeping the tension alive, in fact sacrificing the tension for these two to have their heart to hearts. And again, we know they’re going to be best friends by the movie’s end, and they are. I personally was taken aback by how long it takes Grace and Faith to decide to find weapons and fight back – we know they’re good people, but this is certainly a kill-or-be-killed scenario, which isn’t new to Grace, nor as surprising or abrupt as the situation she found herself in last time, nor is it against family members she’d rather impress. Also, Grace killed the mother-in-law in Ready or Not so I’d think we wouldn’t have to build up to the thought of it again, even though it is satisfying when Grace finally nabs a shotgun and goes ham. But before that, there are moments in the movie where I’m internally screaming, “look for a weapon… grab that machete… shoot them now” while they prolong the fight or avoid defense which just isn’t smart. Moreover, this movie twice relies on that old lamb of “hunters not knowing how to use their own weapons” – it was funny in the first movie, but increasingly convenient here. The hunters also stall once or twice themselves, and you’d think they’d want to kill as quickly as possible, not only for the stakes, but since somebody else at any time could sweep in and claim their prize. During the middle of the movie, the only real instance that made me beam was the pepper-spray-affected fight scene, with Grace and Francesca (Maia Jae) swinging blind 😄
Having said all that, and how predictable this movie can be at times, the ending did fire me up again and found a way to come across as brand new. Grace now has a new dress, a black one, as she descends into the gloomy heart of this satanic organisation, to get married again. She cleverly outwits the rules of the high council, and the death pit in the middle of the floor makes for a visually mucky and cruddy place to brawl before the anticipated explosions signal victory. I will say though, that the best character of this movie is actually Titus Danforth (Shawn Hatosy), who goes on a great villain arc, from lamb to wolf in a sense, becoming the most formidable opponent out from under his family’s thumb. When Titus is choking Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar), I must admit, I did not see that coming 😯 I’m actually not familiar with that actor either – Shawn Hotosy: seems he’s been mostly on TV I’ve never seen before 🤔 When he and Sarah Michelle Gellar are first introduced, I did ponder if it would be cooler if the role was played by Ryan Phillippe, having that cunty affluent reunion following Cruel Intentions; but since they’re supposed to be twins, forget it. He can’t put his thing in “anywhere” 🍆 Unless they’re huge fans of Cersei and Jaime Lannister 😱🤣
Annnyyyway, Samara Weaving also doesn’t get to be as funny in this movie as she was in the first. But these events are happening the very following night, and she’s got her sister to worry about now, so you can forgive Grace for being tired and serious. Plus, people are trying to kill her, I suppose. One of the earlier scenes in the hospital bed is easily her best, and she is somewhat funny along the way, culminating with her resigned to the fact that she’ll be going to jail. Through the few press snippets I saw, leading up to this movie, Kathryn Newton just seems like a bundle of fun to be around, doesn’t she? I can’t forget her kooky little zombie dance in Abigail either, and the character swap she has to play up for Freaky too – both are enough to thankfully overshadow any actress assassination attempted by Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; need I say more 😯 Although Newton has been around for a while now, I feel like she’s yet to really hit it big, and I’m here for it when she does.
I thought this group of bad guys were instantly more charismatic than the family in the first movie too. Because during the heart of the battle previously, the movie still had to work to outlay the minutia of how this extended family all interconnected with each other; whereas here, the crop of would-be killers are instantly boldly outlined, especially through their limo introductions, and we understand how they’re annoyed by each other in pursuit of ultimate power. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is highly enjoyable, and in many ways, I think it exceeds beyond the original. Elijah Wood, as the lawyer, always watching on with his piercing beady eyes is another fun element too. I only ask that if we are to have a Ready or Not 3, perhaps we give Grace a night or two to gather herself and sleep off the pain. Oh hell, maybe not. Fire it up, Mr. Le Bail, and put her through the ringer again, for a third night, back-to-back-to-back!
3.5
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