I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted a sequel to the enjoyable Ready or Not. Starring Samara Weaving and directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the original was fun and brutal, and it just seemed like a pleasant, refreshing surprise when it came out during the relatively peaceful times (in comparison to today) before the pandemic. It was a wonderful “little” movie that ended with a punch that left everything to the wild imagination of the audience to play with in their heads. Why, then, do a sequel?
In this updated version, I can’t help but see similarities and parallelisms with these elite families and the real-world discourse surrounding the Epstein Files. The film doesn’t shy away from comparisons to how the rich rule the world – evidenced by a hilarious scene that establishes the Danforth’s control over media and global politics in an earlier scene – and how they own everything, down to the police.
Luckily, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett return alongside with screenwriters Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy to expand on the world and to really explore the cult that Samara Weaving’s Grace’s in-laws were a part of. To raise the stakes and to really get down into Grace’s character, the sequel introduces her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) along for the ride. The story picks up exactly where we left off in the first movie: the Le Domas mansion is on fire, and Grace is having a cigarette as the paramedics and police come to the rescue. However, her injuries send her into unconsciousness. She wakes up in a hospital, not a victim, but as a suspect for arson and murder. When her emergency contact, which is Faith arrives, it reopens old wounds. There is a palpable friction between them, a huge rift caused by unsaid words and broken promises. Yet, they don’t get to hash this out properly, as members of the Council, the cult the Le Domas family were part of, arrive to take Grace.
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Once again, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come pits the ordinary folks against the elite class; the obscenely wealthy families who run the world and who can get away with anything. Due to a complex set of rules, which adds dark humor while giving Grace a sort of fighting chance. Grace and Faith must survive until dawn as representatives from the five of the six families (the Le Domas line are now gone) try to bring her down as a means to wrestle control for the seat of power. Leading this ruthless charge are Ursula and Titus Danforth (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy), the current titleholders for the seat of power.
Their vast wealth makes them inhuman, portrayed by their lack of respect for any other human being other than those of the family and their idiosyncrasies and individual indulgences. Strangely enough, they only abide by the Council’s rules because a supernatural force holds them at bay. They only respond to a higher power.
But the film is never political. It’s there in the imagery and in the drama of Grace and Faith, two orphans from the foster system, trying to stay alive as the elite hunt them down like sport. Instead, the film is centers on whether Grace and Faith can resolve their rift long enough to see the dawn. It is a film focused on brutal and bloody fight scenes, massive explosions, and darkly humorous takedowns. One hilarious fight scene between Grace and Francesca (Maia Jae), the daughter of a rival family and was the fiancee of the Le Domas son whom Grace married instead. Both dressed in wedding gowns – Grace wearing hers for practicality’s sake while Francesca wore hers as a symbol of her rage – they go at it in full force at an empty ballroom, using anything they can get their hands on, and with a handicap (I won’t spoil it here but it’s hilarious).
Samara Weaving is in fine form as Grace. Exhausted and frustrated, yet emboldened by her previous survival, she is unafraid to be brutal, delivering a performance with her entire body. She gives it enough seriousness to make the world believable, while simultaneously camps it up to match the film’s overall tone. Kathryn Newton serves as a great counterpoint to Weaving, allowing Faith to be completely overwhelmed by the proceedings but quickly matches her sister’s ferocity at a believable pace.
Meanwhile, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy offer an interesting brother-sister dynamic. With Hatosy going full-on rich boy psychopath, while Gellar, as expected, finds a nuanced approach. Allowing Ursula a little more texture and layers that makes her interesting, even if the script never digs too deep into it. Gellar truly makes fantastic work of the limited material she’s been given.
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come doesn’t necessarily do anything different from the first movie; instead, it expands the world, makes the enemies tougher and crazier, and provides Grace someone who brings out more of her character. The film is hard rebuke of a world where billionaires can get away with anything and everything, yet it does it by having a lot of bloody, brutal violent fun in the process. It is a riotous survival story that remains funny all the way.
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
The hunt is back on. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is currently slashing through theaters nationwide. don’t miss Samara Weaving and Sarah Michelle Gellar in this year’s most wickedly fun thriller, horror-comedy. Check showtimes here.
