For the fans of Radio Silence’s (directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett) Ready or Not, it’s been a long seven years leading up to this sequel. Unfortunately for scream queen and immediately iconic final girl Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving), she wasn’t given the same respite audiences had before finding herself once again tossed to the wolves. Picking up moments before the ending of the original film, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come offers no breathing room to its heroine whatsoever. In fact, the short amount of time Grace is given to be with her own thoughts, she’s haunted by the shocking memories that replaced what was otherwise supposed to be a beautiful wedding ceremony. It’s a simple, quick way to refamiliarize audiences with the events of the previous film. But then again, it’s not all that necessary considering how beautifully simple and efficient the plot of the first film was. This overt expository moment is one of many that holds this film back from genre greatness a fair amount. And that lack of graceful efficiency to match the original film’s storytelling is an element that feels sorely missing. Still, there’s a fair amount of fun to be had here once Radio Silence returns to the madness they love tossing their characters into.
Before returning to Grace in the aftermath of her Ready or Not experience, Radio Silence and the original film’s writing team assemble the ensemble cast of lunatics who will be leading the gruesome games this time around. The filmmakers call their shot quite early by having the legendary David Cronenberg cameo as the powerful figurehead setting off this particular chain of events. After a few scenes of exposition solely for the sake of manufacturing intrigue, we’re back with a confused and shell-shocked Grace. But we’re not alone in the hospital with our bridal veiled-heroine for long. Her younger sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton), has been called in as the primary emergency contact, despite the two having not seen or spoken to one another in years. It’s a fairly mundane premise that’s easy to mine drama from, but luckily, Weaving and Newton make quite a fun pairing in this film. They’re very brash with one another, and the chemistry can make for largely enjoyable banter. One sister often seems ready to cut the other one off, and considering the stakes in these films are basically always ramped up and dependent on keeping a low profile, their inability to keep away from the other person’s neck adds some tension, even if it’s not of the most particularly engaging variety.
This is an issue that seems to plague a fair amount of Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. So much of its screenplay feels bogged down in a self-seriousness that clashes with the overall tone of the film. The first film leans into the solemnity and gravitas of the Le Domas family, but its greatest asset is watching the seams of their regal air become tattered to shreds the longer Grace makes them out to be fools. The rival families present in this sequel are still ludicrous and preposterous to a degree. But nothing involving the antagonists in this sequel ever rivals something like Henry Czerny from the first film shouting obscenities and gibberish out of pure bewilderment. The original film’s mocking breakdown of its antagonists is sorely missed, even if one of the key goals of the screenplay this time revolves around a much darker set of ideas to impart. Whereas Grace’s experiences with her in-laws represented a very personal struggle, this sequel seems more than eager to directly wrestle with larger systems of power that parasitically consume anything and everything in their collective paths. It’s undeniably a noble and timely goal. But when the special spark which centered the original film is missing, it throws the sequel off its pre-established axis a noticeable amount.
Though one glimmer of the original film’s wonderful spark still burns bright: Weaving’s performance. Grace’s shell-shocked demeanor quickly hardens into a justifiably fed-up and jaded character trait, wasting zero time before she’s flinging curses, guttural screams, and all sorts of weaponry at those who have assembled to hunt down her and her sister. And Grace and Faith end up fighting for their lives against quite the collection of power-hungry lunatics in this sequel. As far as the story’s necessity for tormenting Grace once again, it’s a bit convoluted and needlessly muddled in lore. Absurd worldbuilding can definitely be fun (the John Wick franchise continues to impress in this regard), but this sequel sees itself bogged down a bit too much for its own good. It might lack the simplicity of its predecessor, but Ready or Not 2: Here I Come nevertheless persists in spite of its desire to build out a series of ancient rules and power struggles amongst its antagonistic families. It’s a persistence which is depicted through the pointed nature of the film’s constantly escalating violence. The cruelty doled out to Grace and Faith is legitimately shocking. There’s practically no punches pulled as the lust for domination only emboldens these antagonists to stray further and further towards purely animalistic tendencies. It can admittedly feel a bit gratuitous at times. But that largely feels as if it’s by design. In not shying away from such upsetting violence, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett not only embolden the key ideas of the script they’re working with, but allow for greater comeuppances to be doled out in equal measure. Make no mistake: despite the absolute hell these films put Weaving through, they are undeniably head-over-heels obsessed with the character of Grace. This adoration is solidified in just how cruelly the villains of this film are dispatched whenever necessary. It’s a key facet of this sequel that rocks every single time.
With Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, the odds are ridiculously stacked against Grace and Faith. It places the heroes of the film in a virtually impossible scenario to escape. This works both for and against the film. On one hand, its action escalates fairly quickly and never slows down until the third act. The climax is quite entertaining, but again pointedly takes its characters to a point that seems a fair bit unearned even if it ties into the script’s larger ideas thematically. A central element of this film explores how our idiosyncratic sparks and personal identities can ultimately be destroyed by the unchecked pillars of power and greed ruling the world. And seeing Weaving swap her strikingly vengeance-fueled anger for a complete emotional shutdown is exciting for fans of her performing abilities. The film smartly captures how disheartening it is to see such a clear cinematic personality be snuffed out without a care in the world. But having a performer switch from one mode to the other is interesting. To have them revert back and forth, on a script level, is the more challenging element. In that regard, the shift in the third act just feels like it comes out of left-field. It’s the obvious trajectory of this film, but is nevertheless unearned despite thematically having noble intentions. Still, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come ultimately delivers on enough of the splatter-fueled madness and genre promise of the first film, even if it’s to middling effect. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett may not have been able to capture a second bolt of lightning this go-around. But they do show that their previously bottled up bolt still carries a fair amount of fun to behold, even if it’s lost some of the luster in the gap between films.