Ready or Not 2: Here I Come offers more of the darkly funny fun of its predecessor.
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The original Ready or Not is one of my favorite horror movies of the last decade. I love the actors, I love the movie's wild swings between tones, and its takedown of generational wealth, and wealth in general, was a standout theme in the genre....it also might've been released a few years too early. Cut to 2026 and the call of "eat the rich" is sounding more appetizing by the day as business ghouls and the wealthy are doing insider trading around wars, the cost of living keeps spiking, and the tech sector tries to recreate all human creativity by taking all of our creative efforts to date and spitting them back in packages with less personality. But since time machines don't exist, why don't we revisit the concept in bigger badder ways with a sequel complete with a joke we didn't make in the first movie with Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.
The Setup
After barely surviving her wedding night, Samara Weaving's Grace might be screwed. Her former in-laws are all dead, their house in on fire, and their blood is all over her clothes. But the police are the least of Grace's worries, because unbeknownst to her, her furious and successful fight for survival has triggered a new round in the game. There's just one problem, Grace isn't going through this gauntlet alone. Her estranged sister Faith has been roped into this lethal contest as well. Can the two sisters survive the night?
Ready or Not 2 did what I wanted it to do. Don't mess with the formula that works too much, bring back Samara Weaving and expand the world of Mr. Lebail and his deadly games.
It's not quite as strong as the original film, for reasons we'll get into, but this is best case scenario for a seven years later sequel. Let's start with what works.
A Logical Progression That Expands the World
Here I Come pulls from two threads that the first movie that work really well together. The first is expanding Grace's situation and what we know about her. All we really got last time is that Grace is an orphan and doesn't note any family in the previous movie. So when a sister, Kathryn Newton's Faith, shows up pissed off, we know that's something Grace and Faith are going to have to sort out in the least opportune scenario. We also directly address Grace's wounds and how screwed she would be after the end of the first film before diving headfirst into the expanded world of the ultra-wealthy who control the world, and the Satanic cult behind it.
Now instead of a single wealthy family, we're looking at a worldwide collection of wealthy families that are all in a kill contest for supremacy, while also trying to stay within the rules (more on this later).
Now instead of a single wealthy family, we're looking at a worldwide collection of wealthy families that are all in a kill contest for supremacy, while also trying to stay within the rules (more on this later).
But instead of delivering all of the information through frantic exposition, and because we know how real the stakes are based on the last film, the movies basks in going over the rules via it's chosen vehicle for exposition Elijah Wood's Lawyer (literally his character name is The Lawyer).
Which might be irritating in other films, but between Wood's pitch-perfect deadpan delivery and how integral the rules are to the plot, it never stops being fun. Just the casual way Wood constantly says things like "Hail Satan" or wordlessly moves to cover the book of rules when violence, death or violent death are about to happen was an endless supply of laughs from me.
Which might be irritating in other films, but between Wood's pitch-perfect deadpan delivery and how integral the rules are to the plot, it never stops being fun. Just the casual way Wood constantly says things like "Hail Satan" or wordlessly moves to cover the book of rules when violence, death or violent death are about to happen was an endless supply of laughs from me.
Sisters Working S*** Out
The original Ready or Not had 2-3 main ideas at its baseline. The first is a survival horror thriller with a lead who doesn't know what the stakes are. The second is a running commentary about the wealthy. And third is the moral conflict that arises between the two demonstrated by Grace's husband and her new brother-in-law played to sad boy perfection by Adam Brody.
Since the first two elements more or less have to come back, Here I Come smartly fills that third gap with Grace and Faith being estranged and on the outs for a number of years before Faith gets contacted by either the hospital or police.
It's a great new wrinkle because it means that Grace now has something/someone else to worry about besides herself and we can see Grace's rougher emotional edges that weren't present in the last movie, since she both demonstrated humanity and had built-in perpetual moral high ground.
Also the banter/sisterly chemistry between Weaving and Kathryn Newton is dead-on. Both a bit snippy. Both able to throw out barbs that hurt. Very messy with a lot of complicated emotions involved. Which means it is extra satisfying when they work together.
We also get points of comparison with the other rich siblings and family who, despite being more involved in each other's day to day lives, are notably disconnected.
Fun New Tweaks to Set Pieces and Formula
The appeal of a survival horror thriller is based around a number of pitched skirmishes between our hero(es) and our villains. Usually our hero takes some heavy damage but they either fend off or kill their opponent to fight another day and this is the formula Ready or Not used.
They still use that formula here, but make a number of tweaks to keep things interesting. First idea? Go bigger. This means including some weapons/items that were off limits last time, like giant sniper rifles, the estate we're on is substantially bigger (and somewhat pointedly looks/feels like a golf course), and we're featuring a number of 2 vs. 1 or 2 vs. 2 bouts vs. what had been a 1 vs. 1 scenario before.
The second idea is to try out some novel ideas and locations including a hilarious bout between two nearly incapacitated opponents, some gnarly work in this compound's subbasement, and some classic "this is the cult shit we hinted at last time that we're diving into this time" stuff.
Maybe not as fresh, but plenty of fun.
And because we now know how serious the rules are this time around, and the fate of anyone who violates them, the movie is much more focused on literal gamesmanship as players reveal or use rules to their advantage after finding the literal devil in the details. So instead of being a momentary, what thing can I use to stab this guy and escape, it becomes a "how can I manipulate the game in my favor?"
We also add what I'll affectionately call a "bench" where players who cannot currently play get to watch the proceedings from an office and react in real time to each failure. A recurring bit I love because of Varun Saranga being god damn hilarious. I'm absolutely convinced he had a bit part and was meant to be killed off early, but he was too charmingly funny to get rid of.
Mixed Bag: Political Commentary
A big part of the reason this movie can't hit as hard as the first one is that it's a sequel. The idea of the rich literally hunting someone for sport to maintain their wealth and power is still effective, but it's a lot more effective when it's an entire family incompetently using every advantage at their disposal to kill one woman who didn't even know what game she's playing until it was explained to her. Versus now where everyone knows the stakes, it's two people who are definitively working class and our families are apparently rich enough they can control world events with a phone call.
Still pointed, but not as pointed the first time around.
Much like last time, the movie's most effective commentary on the wealthy and how they operate is when their entitlement, incompetence, and inability to read the motivations of the person in front of them blow up in their face. That a number of hilariously on the nose set pieces and images that hammer home the pointlessness of playing "the game" their way or trying to "win." We also reinforce the idea that agreeing to the game or joining this gang is akin to selling your soul (literally to the devil) and juxtaposes their motivations and morals vs. Grace and Faith's.
There's also a couple of ideas that needed more time to marinate and really hit home represented by the Danforth twins, Ursula and Titus, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy. So on paper, I get why these two are here. We want a direct comparison to Grace and Faith, who despite their arguments, are highly competent at working together and are willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the other person.
Whereas, Ursula and Titus also bicker, but are also less successful because they don't truly appear to care about one another and are laser focused on gaining power. This is demonstrated by Ursula constantly trying to keep Titus in check by chastising him, telling him he wasn't their father's choice to run the empire, and other little jabs. Which means Titus quickly becomes a coiled spring ready to explode.
Whereas, Ursula and Titus also bicker, but are also less successful because they don't truly appear to care about one another and are laser focused on gaining power. This is demonstrated by Ursula constantly trying to keep Titus in check by chastising him, telling him he wasn't their father's choice to run the empire, and other little jabs. Which means Titus quickly becomes a coiled spring ready to explode.
That much works. What works a lot less is when these two become our thematic focal point about what wealth does to be people in general, with Titus being our "worst case scenario." Without getting too into the weeds, I think the film would be more successful if it went more personal vs. arch and painted Titus as a monster that's been made vs. one that's always existed finally rising into a scenario that will reward him for his ruthless desires.
Basically there's a number of scenes before the finale that feel like they belonged in the first movie with those characters vs. this movie with these characters.
The Verdict: What I Wanted
While it may lack the personal visceral punch of the first film, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come offers more of the darkly funny fun of its predecessor. 7/10
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