'Ready or Not 2: Here I Come' Review: A Disappointingly Unnecessary Sequel
This frivolous sequel pales in comparison to radio silence’s original outing.
In the seven years since Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s (colloquially known as ‘Radio Silence’) Ready or Not, the film has become a staple of modern horror iconography. Maybe it’s the star-studded ensemble from the likes of Henry Czerny to newly anointed scream queen, Samara Weaving (and scream she can!), but Ready or Not has stood the test of time as a contemporary horror classic. After taking a detour to direct the fifth and sixth Scream films and the vampire-comedy Abigail, Radio Silence return to the fray with Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. Or, at least I hoped. Another frivolous exercise in how a studio and a group of filmmakers can mine a sequel out of any IP kind-of-affair, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, ends up as an over-plotted and wheel-spinning disappointment.
Ready or Not is a wonderfully paced, ninety-minute romp that felt pretty open-and-shut, which is why I was already tilting my head to the side when I saw the announcement for its sequel. Despite my apprehension, I was swiftly swooned by the casting announcements, including Kathryn Newton (who was very funny in Abigail), Shawn Hatosy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elijah Wood, and the legendary David Cronenberg. With a cast like that, how could I not dive headfirst into a movie by filmmakers who, up until this point, had yet to let me down? Unfortunately, it seems that I dove into the shallow end of the pool. Where the first Ready or Not had wall-to-wall action, Here I Come trades that for lore-heavy world-building.
Picking up not even a millisecond after the original, Here I Come follows Grace (Samara Weaving) after her in-laws tried to kill her via a game of satanic hide and seek. After being quickly arrested due to nobody believing her, Grace is Sarah Connor-style hospitalized until her estranged sister, Faith (Newton), shows up as her emergency contact. It starts as a fast-paced Terminator 2 pseudo-riff with serious promise, keeping up a solid sense of momentum for the first half. The bloody, literally explosive action and brutal fight choreography are ever-present, with no holds barred when it comes to the violence. By the second half, those moments come few and far between. Here I Come tries to have its cake and eat it too, losing the charm of what made its predecessor so great.
Here I Come’s second half is where everything takes a complete nosedive. Due to Grace’s in-laws being glorified wall art, a power struggle emerges between members of their satanic cult, prompting a double-or-nothing rematch of deadly hide-and-seek. Here I Come’s brutal and sometimes creative action takes a complete backseat to political scheming, which would be cool in anything but an action-horror movie. Writers R. Christopher Murphy and Guy Busick aren't exactly Tony Gilroy when it comes to this type of thing. It’s a narrative risk, sure, but that doesn't mean it works. The fundamental problem is that the fun stops, and everything from that point on becomes an utter slog.
I’ve been stewing on what makes Here I Come different from similar lore-expansive sequels like John Wick Chapter 2, and I think it's because the latter remains an action film at its core. What happened to “if it ain't broke, don't fix it?” There’s a missed opportunity to make this Ready or Not’s Kill Bill vol. 2, as it’s unfortunately crushed under its own weight. At no point during Ready or Not did I feel like it needed a sequel, and at no point does Here I Come even justify its own existence. If you're more interested in half-assed Satanic cult politics, this is the movie for you. If you want to watch an action-horror-comedy in the vein of Ready or Not, I'm afraid you'll be sorely let down.
At the very least, Here I Come excels in its cast. Kathryn Newton and Samara Weaving have a funny sisterly dynamic that’s mirrored by Shawn Hatosy and Sarah Michelle Gellar as David Cronenberg's insane kids. Elijah Wood is essentially doing a toned-down version of Stanley Tucci from The Hunger Games, which is pretty funny, even if he's mostly just standing there. The assorted cannon fodder are also pretty funny, though Radio Silence needs to find a new way of killing characters other than having them blow up. It was cool in Ready or Not, it was tolerable in Abigail, but it’s just tiring here. Not only do they start to feel like cop-outs to avoid directing action, but it’s become tediously predictable.
As a huge fan of the first Ready or Not, it brings me no pleasure to say that Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is a massive letdown. I can't name a reason why this movie exists, and it does nothing to prove me wrong, either. There’s fun to be had in bits and pieces (mostly because of the cast), but I was under the impression that, in the case of Radio Silence, fun was both kit and caboodle. It’s violent and silly enough to be mildly entertaining, although it’s punching below Ready or Not’s previously set standards. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come tries and fails to go big, and goes home as a reminder that less is more.