by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, David Cronenberg, Elijah Wood, Néstor Carbonell, Olivia Cheng
Intro:
… if you’re looking for a compelling (albeit not terribly scary) little flick with some great performances, funny gore gags and two extremely likable leads, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come will fit the bill nicely.
The original Ready or Not dropped in 2019 and it was pretty good. Starring the resplendent Samara Weaving, the film sketched out a pacey little yarn about a young woman named Grace marrying into a rich family … who it turns out are evil satanists who want to sacrifice her to the Dark Lord. She turns the tables on them, survives until dawn, and all the remaining baddies explode in geysers of blood.
It was a fun flick, with a few sharp observations about the callous wealthy, and most people walked away with a smile on their face. Few, however, thought to themselves “that thing needs a sequel.” Despite this fact, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have got the band back together for Ready or Not 2: Here I Come and the result is fun, although a bit superfluous.
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come begins literal seconds after the previous film ended. Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving), wearing a blood-spattered wedding dress, sits on the steps as the Le Domas family mansion burns behind her, trying to enjoy a well-earned ciggie. Then the night from hell catches up with her and she passes out, waking up in the hospital where her estranged younger sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) is there to check on her. Before the awkward family reunion can get too spicy, both Grace and Faith are kidnapped by a different group of sociopathic rich bastards, and another game of hide and seek – with higher stakes this time – is about to begin. Grace is now joined by Faith, and the pair will need to fight for their lives, as soon as they can stop fighting with each other.
Despite coming out seven years after the original, Ready or Not 2 feels a lot like one of those quickly knocked out sequels we used to get that would come out a year after the first flick. Often, those movies were near carbon copies of the original with maybe a location change or a different antagonist. Ready or Not 2 features both, and the new big bads Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Titus Danforth (Shawn Hatosy) are a lot of fun. Elijah Wood is also delightful as the creepy but oddly amiable Lawyer for the various rich families competing in the blood sport and Kathryn Newton is terrific as Grace’s younger sister. The problem with this good enough sequel is that it’s really just a slightly less elegant retread of the previous film, with additional lore but few surprises. There’s also significantly less snarky subtext about the rich wankers, which seems particularly odd in a year where most people are still reeling from the Epstein of it all.
Still and all, if you’re looking for a compelling (albeit not terribly scary) little flick with some great performances, funny gore gags and two extremely likable leads, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come will fit the bill nicely. It’s just a shame that the film didn’t shoot for something a tad more ambitious.
