If anyone is parched after viewing this movie, fairly certain a bottle of Voss will quench thirst. Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is stepping back into the spotlight after a most difficult year. The ultra-famous pop artist has had to deal with the aftermath of a horrifying accident driven by the singer’s substance abuse. She’s taken the steps to get sober and assume responsibility for her wrongdoings. The world loves a comeback story, and what better place to begin the climb back up the mountain than with her new tour beginning in New York City?

Only one problem. Skye’s wounds aren’t only mental, but physical, as the pain in her back becomes unbearable to deal with. Seeking relief, she tries to score Vicodin from her old drug dealer (Lukas Gage). Immediately, she’s greeted by a manic Lewis. But what begins with anxiety turns into trauma as Lukas kills himself gruesomely, with a smile on his face. A shaken Skye starts to experience her own horrors shortly after. Could it be the stress of the impending tour compounded with what she witnessed? Or has an actual, ancient terror leeched itself onto her?

Finding it legitimately hard on where I land with regards to Smile 2, the obvious sequel to 2022’s sensation Smile. On one hand, it’s bigger, louder, and bloodier than its predecessor, all things that usually mean a follow-up is overcompensating heavily for poorer quality. In the case of Smile 2, these things are actually solid additions that add a lot to the atmosphere and even scares. But on the other hand, returning writer and director Parker Finn’s screenplay struggles to anchor itself to any foundational pillars in the world he’s created, making his feature at its worst feel weightless and as lengthy as its two hour plus runtime.

It is evident early on that Finn has more monetary resources at his disposal, beginning his sophomore effort with a 5-7 minute sequence reminiscent of the best sequences of True Detective and Wind River, starring a returning Kyle Gallner to connect the two movies. From there, he uses the backdrop of singing superstardom as a playground for the dissolution of sanity, with a heaping of gory imagery and shrill sounds. Finn favors close-up shots, which work as intended to put us in the mind of Skye Riley. The close-ups also double as a way to keep the frame tight before he goes to the well with a jump scare—of which they’re used as liberally as the bottles of Voss water.

The thematic overtones of grief and longstanding trauma Smile 2 has are ones that Smile carried, as as such, Finn’s script is devoid of the novelty the first Smile had from that angle. However, the change in scope does allow for more breadth as it pertains to the exhausting feeling of always needing to be “on” for a public eye figure and being examined as less of a human and more of a commodity to fans and family alike. The aftermath isn’t pretty. Smile 2 does create significant anxiety and fear; at times it’s a stressful viewing that gave me flashbacks to Uncut Gems, particularly in the scenes that Skye Riley shared with her manager mother, played wonderfully by a businesslike Rosemarie Dewitt. Two films in though, there still is a general haziness on the rules—or rather, the restrictions the frightening entity is beholden to. With seemingly no vulnerabilities and the ability to warp an infected host’s reality effortlessly, it’s less of a balanced fight and more of a two-hour steamroll.

The anguish Rose had to deal with in Smile was no joke, but comparatively, the pain the entity puts Skye through makes Rose’s experience look like a walk in the park. Scott’s performance goes a long way in solidifying that. It’s a multifaceted turn that asks her to convincingly portray a believable mega-popstar in personality, choreography, and singing in addition to bringing the audience along every step of the way in her descent into psychological hell. Despite her in-movie fame, she makes the character relatable. Like Toni Collette way back when in Hereditary, don’t expect Scott to get any late-season awards buzz simply due to the way the genre tends to be overlooked, but this is one that is deserving of accolades beyond what is found on X.

Could Smile 2 be the Disturbia song come to life? Lot of similarities with those lyrics and the themes found in this movie, and it’s not too big of a leap to make as Finn was inspired by fallen superstars of yesteryear who succumbed to the pressures of the business. Not without its imperfections, Finn’s sequel to Smile generally benefits from a larger sandbox, an assured direction, and Scott’s sublime starring turn.

B-

Photo credits go to digitalspy.com, cleveland.com, and yahoo.com.