Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2 1/2 stars out of 4)
If you saw the first “Ready or Not” film in 2019, your reaction should probably be a safe gauge for whether you’ll like the follow-up. Like its predecessor, “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” is a fairly predictable showcase of mean-spirited comic gore and violence, with enough swagger to see it reaching for a higher level of achievement.
“Here I Come” picks up where the first film left off, with newlywed bride Grace (Samara Weaving) blood-soaked and traumatized after surviving a sadistic hunt by her now-dead clan of Satanist in-laws. Whisked off to the hospital, you’d think our heroine safe, but instead she is accosted by the local police before learning that her encounter is just the start of a much more consequential problem.
It turns out that the Le Domas family were just branch of a secret council of Satan-worshippers who effectively control world events, and by surviving their deadly game, Grace has now triggered a bigger council policy involving competition for the group’s high chair. In short, Grace now has a dozen more people gunning for her, and for them the stakes are a shot at total world domination.
Even if the scope has changed, the premise effectively resets the same plot from the first movie, and “Here I Come” is just a brand-new “survive until dawn” battle with the evil contenders. Fortunately–or unfortunately, given family tensions–Grace gets a partner to help this time: her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton), who showed up at the hospital since she was still listed as Grace’s emergency contact.
The new group of assailants includes some familiar and less-familiar faces, drawn from across the globe. “Lost” and “Dark Knight” fans will recognize Nestor Carbonell, and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fans will enjoy seeing Sarah Michelle Gellar back in action as one half of a sadistic brother-sister duo. And Elijah Wood is suitably prim and creepy as Satan’s proxy, a lawyer (of course).
But as with the first film, “Here I Come” ultimately comes down to Grace navigating a sequence of violent encounters. Luckily Weaving works well as the beleaguered bride, and the new dynamic with Faith gives the proceedings a little more to work with.
Still, aside from the redundancy, “Here I Come” suffers from some of the same abrasive qualities that hampered the first movie. The violence is one thing, but this is another of those movies where characters constantly spew profanity that sounds more like someone trying to sound tough rather than actually being tough. It’s forced and phony, and not organic at all.
So again, if you liked the first one, you’ll probably enjoy the new one. But if you found all the violence, profanity, and cornball Satanism references tedious, there are a lot better options on the horror-comedy list, like Sam Raimi’s “Send Help”. I look forward to the next effort from Samara Weaving, but I hope it doesn’t come in “Ready or Not 3.”
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“Ready or Not 3: Here I Come” is rated R for consistent, bloody violence and abrasive profanity, along with (mostly comic) references to Satanism.